Why don't atheists and believers get along? How can we improve the situation?
Mankind has recently made many strides forward in promoting equality. We're becoming more accepting of varying races and sexual orientations. However, religious belief debates often turn to mere insult-tossing, even here on Hubpages. I know there are many reputable atheists and believers out there, but it seems like our "discussions" often go like this:
Disrespectful atheist: Anyone who believes in a divine power is stupid and needs to wake up.
Disrespectful believer: Anyone who doesn't believe is denying themself and throwing away their eternity.
How can we improve the situation?
Cant think of a way to make this not sound one sided.
If someone says something is true, they should be able to prove it beyond any shadow of a doubt to any random person they come across if they insist that they should believe them.
No one has, which is why atheists exist to begin with. Doesnt mean no god(s) at all exists, it just means no one seems to know what the hell they are talking about when they say theirs is the right one but then cant even agree 100% with people of the same faith, let alone any other faith.
Keep in mind, this really only applies to the wingnuts who go around trying to convert people with literally nothing to prove their point. If believing in whatever faith makes you comfortable, and you dont care if others share it, power to ya
No worries, you don't sound biased. And I agree; neither side can prove their viewpoint to be absolutely true. But instead of agreeing to disagree, they often resort attacking one another. Hopefully this trend will die out one day.
Because people have a hard time understanding a simple thing - Let people be.
Definitely true. Our nation is making progress in other areas (race, orientation) - hopefully, we'll soon do the same when it comes to religion.
It kind of gets on my nerves when an atheist claims that she is tolerant of others beliefs, and that those beliefs do not matter to her. Yet she spends her time instigating believers in stupid discussions by posting negative questions about Christianity, dissing Christians, and then has the audacity to block comments from people with whom she does not agree. I have no respect for such a person.
In general, atheists tend to belittle Christians, as they declare Christian beliefs to be silly and the believers to be devoid of logic and reason--but claim they have no problem with people of other beliefs.
Agreed; anyone acting like that is more belligerent than tolerant.
Yes, I think many atheists and Christians *believe* they are accepting of the other's views, but their actions and words show otherwise. Thanks for the input.
I think this is more of an Internet thing than a real world thing. I have many close friends and family who are religious and we get along wonderfully. They're some of my favourite people and they think very highly of me as well. I've even discussed religion with some of them, but it's always respectful and constructive. I think it's much easier to respect someone's beliefs when they're someone you know at least a little bit and you're face to face. Online things get a bit more heated because people are anonymous and likely don't have any real connections with the people they're talking to.
As for HubPages specifically, there are people who post almost exclusively on topics about Christianity and atheism and there's nothing wrong with that, but it comes to sort of define them. You see their name and the first thing that comes to mind is "vocal atheist" or "vocal Christian" and you know they're ready to throw down with you so the claws come out.
Ultimately I think if you're going to engage in online discussions about religion you have to be prepared to either fling crap back at those who fling it at you, or learn to just wipe it off and move along. It doesn't take long to learn that the discussions around here can get a bit aggressive - thankfully those who took it way too far in the past are no longer with us, but there are still some strong voices that aren't terribly concerned with being polite. You can choose to be a part of those conversations or not.
Not sure what to do about people in the "real world" who are completely intolerant of atheists or religious people, I would probably say it's best to just avoid them altogether as being intolerant of someone's beliefs when they're a person you know/care about suggests to me that they're not someone I care to give my time to.
Agreed; it's easy to attack others when you have the comfort of being many miles away. Hopefully, society can learn from the ideal format you and your family use. Thanks for the input.
There are a lot of problems with the current climate of debate on god and religion. The first, and foremost, problem is the media's tendency to focus on extremists. Religion is represented by terrorists blowing themselves up, and atheism is represented by elitist blowhards who get attention because they keep poking the bear. It gives a terrible image of both sides, an image that is carried into everyday life where it has no place. Your everyday theist and atheist are so non-confrontational that you would probably never know what side they fall on.
But, another problem is nostalgia. Whatever we experienced as children, by default, is going to be the 'good old days' when we're older. Movies were better, television was better, parenting was better, etc. So, whatever religion you were raised with, is going to carry this nostalgia, along with a perception of innocence.
For example, someone might have fond memories of church and a very nice pastor, so an atheist refuting the concepts of religion isn't just perceived as an attack on beliefs, but an attack on your personal nostalgia. It exists on both sides and makes it an incredibly difficult subject to discuss without someone's blood pressure rising. Debating this topic takes a considerable amount of energy, patience, and perspective. Things that are, unfortunately, lacking in most debates.
Indeed, the media focuses on the negative aspects of the world all too much. I agree that the everyday atheist and theist would probably do fine in a discussion - if it's not on the internet. Sadly, things tend to become vicious online.
Too many atheists are "anti-theists", seeking war on religion, creating animosity by Christians when they seek to take down crosses on century old landmarks and editing Christmas carols sung in schools.
Too many Christians won't live and let live with atheists, seeking to prove something the atheist as typically chosen to reject.
by roob 7 years ago
Why do atheists preach against God but hate when believers preach about Him?Atheists think Christians are foolish. Well it has been a long time & God has not been proven false! I constantly hear them preach against the Lord yet get angry when Christians preach to them. This is the...
by savvydating 10 years ago
Atheists, do you despise Jesus or just religions (in general) that worship God?Such God worshiping religions would include Judaism and Islam. Also, did something happen to you to make you angry about "God" or is this just a scientific decision you made in college?? Many atheists demand...
by Claire Evans 7 years ago
This topic is old, I know, but I'd like to ask it anyway. Many Christians will ask an atheist, "Why are you here if you don't believe God (should it be a Christian thread)?" Some will answer, "Because I'm trying to help you see the errors of your ways. Is this...
by M. T. Dremer 10 years ago
Why are some Christians threatened by Atheists?Atheists are not a particularly large or unified group, so why is there this impression (in religious media and discussion groups) that atheists are a threat? Usually it comes in the form of questions like "why are atheists so mean?" or...
by Gabriel Wilson 4 years ago
Why can't atheists and believers leave each other alone to not believe or believe?Why is it that atheists (not all, some) continuously question believers about their belief and vice versa; why do believers (not all, some) feel they have to justify their belief? Surely if you don't believe in God...
by Pauline C Stark 6 years ago
Why Do Religious People Get So Angry At Atheists?When it comes to Atheism, most religious people get angry and even combative when it comes to this subject. I wonder why, especially in this day and age, one would feel anger towards another human being with a different perception/outlook/belief....
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |