Why are atheists mistrusted in America society?

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   thunkfulthinkerposted 9 years ago

   Why are atheists mistrusted in America society?

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   cjhunsingerposted 9 years ago

   thunk
   
   Any one will be mistrusted if they first identify with a personal philosophy over their work ethic or profession. Being in business for a number of years and being Atheistic I never received any form of bias, primarily due to the fact that it never came up, nor did the personal philosophy of those I dealt with. Nobody cared. What was and should be important in interpersonal relationships with regard to work or business is the work ethic and trustworthyness.  If I first identify myself as an Atheist, a line is drawn. If I  identify myself as black, a line is drawn, as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim,as gay, as any other identity, then you divide and create a barrier to trust. You are setting yourself up as different and separate and that you are not willing to participate on common ground.
   Perhaps the best way to deal with people and to accomplish your goals, unless it is division that you want, is to see all others, as you are, a homo sapien-sapien, sapien, a reasoning being. that is until they draw lines and tell you that their philosophy is more important than yours.
   If your want trust, function in a trust worthy manner on common ground. This does not require that lines be drawn.
   I have found that if one first identifies with skin tone, gender, religion or politic they are not to be trusted, as their motivations are singular and selfish.

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   JThomp42posted 9 years ago

   This is your opinion of course. I think your best course of action would be to go on with your life and to be successful do not bring up such topics. Such as politics, religion, etc. As a Christian, this is your choice if you decide that you think there is no God. Of course, we would have to disagree. Saying that, everyone has their own opinion and will have to live and die with it.

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      thunkfulthinkerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Please refer to my latest comment and the article attached. It discusses a study that is the basis for my question. This question isn't an opinion, but it's based on the the results of the study.

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      JThomp42posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thunk...... Regardless of the article... I still stick by my answer. We all know how liberal the media is for sure in this Country.

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   mcbelposted 9 years ago

   The word 'atheism' seems to fluctuate as the years pass, and as the movement grows. The first atheist I ever met was somebody you just didn't discuss your religion with. There was some turning point, at least that I noticed, sometime in the past ten years that flipped a switch in many of the atheists I have met recently.
      At some point, atheism abandoned the theory of disbelief to something more akin to a 'belief in disbelief'. The vibe I get these days is not so different from that of an open-door policy cult full of closed-minded proof seekers. They seem to believe that people inherently want to know 'the answer to it all', and that as atheists, they are saved from the burden of that impossible search.
      While this way of thinking does not necessarily threaten a Christian, the aggressive Christian will feel sorry for the 'lost soul', and may try to quote some bible passages that the Atheist may or may not recognize or understand.
      From here, the discussion becomes a full blown, one-sided debate as the Atheist dumps the latest scientific facts of life upon the conscience of the believer, claiming that these facts are proof that the believer standing before them is a moron who believes in a lie.
      Atheists have recently become more open about their disbelief, and I that has caused the taboo factor to vanish. It's very possible that I'm not looking at this as objectively as I could, as this is all from personal experience. I'm doing my best here to stay neutral in order to answer this question. In my honest opinion, the rise of Atheism is prevalent in the stages of collapse in every great empire in history. Yeah, I didn't write this objectively did I? Shucks.

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      JThomp42posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Very well said!!

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      mcbel--"Atheism is prevalent in the stages of collapse in every great empire in history." Would you like to tell me what those empires were.  Pretentious would be the word.

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      mcbelposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's my right as an American to ignore facts, isn't it? I'm 20, lay off. I've done a lot less reading than you, I'm sure. Glad you were able to make it to the end of my answer. Readability isn't as much a problem as is research/ignorance.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      mcbel--You have a right to voice your opinion. You do not have a right to be ignorant and pass it off as truth. In your professed ignorance you endeared another JT and helped to perpetuate an obedience to deceit.

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      JThomp42posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      cjhunsinger... he said in his honest opinion.... are we not all allowed that even if you do not agree?

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      mcbelposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Woah, man. I don't eat at McDonald's because the Big Mac looks good on TV. I don't take part in pyramid schemes. I'm a college student who likes beer and freedom of speech. I on HP to escape accountability for my words, not combat fact trolls.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      mcbel
      I think that you are a college student is quite obvious and I am sure that once you graduate you will continue to escape accountability--bad habits are hard to break.

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      mcbelposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Zero accountability is the American Dream for my entire generation. It's a college major called Marketing.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      mcbel--I just read some of your other posts. I don't think your last statement is altogether true. There is depth and there is sincerity in your words. I wish you well.

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   peeplesposted 9 years ago

   I don't think atheist are mistrusted in American society as a whole. A big issue with the word atheist, is well, I doubt if most Christians know one personally. Most Christians are exposed, if at all, to internet atheists. Atheists online are a different breed than the majority, or are using the internet as their one place to vent. I don't go around in real life telling people I am an atheist, therefore no one has a reason to think any different about me. However living in the bible belt of USA surrounded by southern baptists I am just as likely to be looked down on for going to Synagogue than I am for being atheist. I hate to call people here "ignorant" because that isn't what it is. They just aren't use to anything other than Christians. Not trusting something you know nothing about is a natural human reaction. Over all I think real life Christians and atheist get along fine as long as they don't bring up their private personal beliefs.

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      mcbelposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's just that dang internet... I live in NH, the vast majority isn't quite as noticeable. Honestly I'm not really sure what ANYONE believes around here. Not too many people talk about it.

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      mbuggiehposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Being from New England we don't tend to focus too much on faith or lack of faith in the public sphere. In this neck of the woods, it seems, we also respect and understand the First Amendment as freedom OF and FROM  religion.

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      dashingscorpioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      peeples, I highly doubt an "outspoken atheist" could get elected president of the United States. Most people also associate Christianity with having "family values".
      Every president is sworn in with their hand firmly placed on the bible.

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      peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I said get along. Of course anyone who varies from a society's norm would not be likely to gain a majority when it comes to votes. Just as we will likely not have any openly gay presidents any time soon.

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   thunkfulthinkerposted 9 years ago

   Just for clarification sake here is the definition of an atheist according to Wikipedia:
   
   Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.Most inclusively, atheism is the absence of belief that any deities exist.Atheism is contrasted with theism,which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.
   
   My opinion on the matter is that religion is valued, by a lot of people, as been a virtue that is admirable in people. And I think that equating of religion to being a virtuous and moral thing makes someone who seemingly "lacks" those things as being immoral or mistrustful.
   
   And one other side note, my question is reference to a study that can found being talked about in the USA Todayday article.
   
   http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/rel … 51777612/1

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   dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

   People assume if you don't believe in God then you don't have a "moral compass". Therefore you are likely to do "anything" and can't be trusted. If you don't believe in "judgment day" there is nothing to keep you from taking advantage of others.
   Logically this makes little sense because our prisons are filled with felons who claim they believe in God. Believers and unbelievers have been known to be cruel to their fellow members of society.

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      thunkfulthinkerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      One could argue, based on statistics, that a society filled with religious people would have a higher crime rate than a society filled with non-religious people. And the non-religious would also tend to be more intelligent, based on the studies.

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      JThomp42posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      thunk..... your observations are comical at best. Yes, the world would thrive under "tyranny!"

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      thunkfulthinkerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … tific.html
      
      http://www.nairaland.com/121066/predomi … west-crime

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      mcbelposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Atheists think religious people are stupid because they don't care about science. Religeous people think atheists will burn in hell. I think roller coasters are quite fun. Someone always initiates these debates due to a lack of trust by both parties.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 9 years ago

   Somewhere along the line, religion became associated with morality. I have no idea when that was, but I'm convinced it all traces back to a pack mentality to survive. Protect the group and distrust groups you don't recognize. Religion is just an extension of that. So what is regarded as 'moral' is whatever the most powerful religion says it is. In some cases, this morality overlaps survival morality (such as don't kill or don't steal). And sometimes it doesn't (like in the cases of race and sexual orientation).
   
   The downfall of this intermingling of morality and religion is that it unjustly labels immoral people as moral (like corrupt politicians) and moral people as immoral (like many atheists and humanists). I do believe it is possible to detach morality from religion, but it is going to take generations of moral non-believers to dispel the stereotypes built during a time when religion was king.

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