Why do Atheists Hate Religion?

[legendster]

So I see 2 threads of why islam hates people or why people hate Islam. I dont see the point of such a mundane debate based on religion any debate for or against religion would be stupid. Either you are stupid to believe what a prophet / god / divine entity said or you are stupid enough to believe you can change the minds of the bleak minded people who follow such a prophet / god / divine entity.

But since its fun let me initiate my own brand of 'why do' topic.

WHY DO ATHEISTS (like me) HATE RELIGION ?

Seriously what has to happen in a person's life for them to seriously give up hope on the one true everlasting brand (of religion) which their ancestors have followed for generations.

Everyone has their own story even I have mine, so lets hear some of it.

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[legendster]

-Update-
My story


I was a kid raised up in a brahmin Hindu family, its one of those most 'pure' casts you could find in the Hindu society, offcourse every branch of the brahmin cast claims to be such but 'Chatterjee' or 'Chattopadhyay' s are the top ones - or so I ve been told.
So with that backdrop you can pretty much say that I had the most stringiest of religious teachings one could ever get.

Being a brahmin kid, traditionally you have to go through a ritual or a sort of rite of passage called 'poita' in bengali or Upanayana in sanskrit. This has to be done before the age of 15 and no earlier than the age of 7.

So I remember as the days went by my parents were beginning to talk more & more about this rite of passage how my father had to go bald and stay with a step mother (part of the ritual - no that mother has no relationship with the father of the pupil) and has to beg around and eat only boiled vegetables through out these days. Obviously this was getting kinda scary for me, I was already the odd fat kid in school and the thought of getting more attention because of a bald head was nerve wracking for me. Among all the discussions that my father and I had I remember him vaguely mentioning that only when I go through this ritual would I be called a purified soul reborn on earth worthy of going to heaven.

That got me thinking, it was a bewildering fact for me which I couldnt get my head around. I and only all the other brahmin kids had a free ticket to heaven while the rest are automatically considered unworthy ? What about my best friend who had a surname of Moitra ? What about that girl I had a crush on with a surname of Kundu, wait a second, "what about mom?" I asked my father.
I remember this distinctly as my father explained to me that girls dont have a caste, they belong to the man they marry and since my mother was married to him she will be worthy of going to heaven with him. But what if she married a muslim ?? Dont remember if I ever asked this back then but I certainly did have this thought from around the same time.

This did not sit well with me, I began questioning every aspect of 'Poita' my tantrums got so bad that my parents eventually considered to not force me to go through this ritual. However, my tantrums back then were fueled by the desire of eating chicken.

But this small victory of not getting the poita was a good enough spark in my mind to raise questions on all aspects of religion.
Then at the age of nine, I got the greatest gift I ever thought I could get in my life; Cable TV and with it the Discovery channel.

Hence began my journey into the world of science, off course we had physics / chemistry / maths in our schools but for the first time all of it actually meant something to me. I was fascinated by how gravity works. I was spellbound when I first saw an animated version of the milky way. I found out that there was a real person named Pythagoras. Basically cable TV was the fuel that my spark required to become a full fledged atheist.

.. and that is my story.

[erikalui]

I don't hate any religion but yeah, some facts and rituals are quite unfair. Almost all religions have different rules for men and women. I don't think any religion should differentiate between two genders.

My religion as well has some facts I don't agree with. "If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other cheek as well." "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner".

Religion shouldn't make someone lose their self respect or make anything compulsory for a person else they are called sinners. I'm not an atheist but do criticize religion at times.

[irfan_pak10]

I don't hate any religion but yeah, some facts and rituals are quite unfair. Almost all religions have different rules for men and women. I don't think any religion should differentiate between two genders.

My religion as well has some facts I don't agree with. "If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other cheek as well." "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner".

Religion shouldn't make someone lose their self respect or make anything compulsory for a person else they are called sinners. I'm not an atheist but do criticize religion at times.

Everything that your heart says is wrong, its wrong. Like you said your religion say you to "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner". its wrong because your heart did not believe on it. Because NO one religion bound you to pray. There are out comes if you dont pray, but not the boundness.

[Lethn]

For me it's quite simple really, they've managed to make behaviour which otherwise would be considered a violent crime, pathological lying and brainwashing acceptable because an invisible man in the sky that only they can see told them to do it. The only reason people get away with it is because of their religion, if someone who wasn't religious used the excuses used to commit crimes they would be declared clinically insane, but wait, the very problem we have here is that there are deeply religious people in power! So no wonder nothing every gets fucking done, they're naturally covering each others' backs.

Everything that your heart says is wrong, its wrong. Like you said your religion say you to "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner". its wrong because your heart did not believe on it. Because NO one religion bound you to pray. There are out comes if you dont pray, but not the boundness.

Don't forget that they've made a contradictive statement about that for centuries, they say God is everywhere, so why the fuck do they need a Church?

[cryptodevil]

You ask why rational people try to engage theists into critical thinking, then go on to detail how you, like most atheists, began as a child being conditioned to believe the theist myths of your parents until you discovered the skills of critical thinking and objective reasoning.

So you prove that theists can break their conditioning but then question why we bother trying to free the minds of others who, like us once, were brainwashed.

[erikalui]

Everything that your heart says is wrong, its wrong. Like you said your religion say you to "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner". its wrong because your heart did not believe on it. Because NO one religion bound you to pray. There are out comes if you dont pray, but not the boundness.

I agree with this but probably 99% of Catholics believe in this as it's written in the Bible. One person who lives in my neighborhood goes to Church twice a day and then he himself beats up dogs for sitting on the streets. Isn't this a sin to beat innocent people? That's the reason I don't believe in this and I don't go to Church every Sunday. Let them say that I have committed millions of sins till date and I will go to hell. I proudly will accept that.

Don't forget that they've made a contradictive statement about that for centuries, they say God is everywhere, so why the fuck do they need a Church?

People believe that God is only present in Churches, Temples, Mosques, Fire Temples and so on when God is in our heart. I can say my prayers even at home but that's not called a prayer according to the priests.

[BADecker]

Atheists don't hate religion. They simply don't recognize that the Atheism that they love is really a religion in disguise, and that they are the gods of their religion.

Atheism is similar to Bible religion because, both Old Testament and New Testament say that people are gods.

Atheism is different than Bible religion because, both Old Testament and New Testament say that it is only people who accept Bible religion who are gods.

[CoinFoxs]

Atheists have no interest in religion. It's not a lot different from having no interest in bowling or having no interest knitting. There's a specific part of the brain that determines if you have a 'spiritual' need. Those without this area of the brain never develop an interest in religion, or at best only a mild interest. The science behind this is compelling; anyone can look it up.

[BADecker]

Atheists have no interest in religion. It's not a lot different from having no interest in bowling or having no interest knitting. There's a specific part of the brain that determines if you have a 'spiritual' need. Those without this area of the brain never develop an interest in religion, or at best only a mild interest. The science behind this is compelling; anyone can look it up.

Even if this is true, atheists can force themselves to believe the things about God and salvation, and so be saved.

A person who loses an arm or a leg in life can still function. Life is simply more difficult.

People who lose the religion part of their brain can still believe God and be save. It is simply more difficult.

[Prosperityforall]

You ask why rational people try to engage theists into critical thinking, then go on to detail how you, like most atheists, began as a child being conditioned to believe the theist myths of your parents until you discovered the skills of critical thinking and objective reasoning.

So you prove that theists can break their conditioning but then question why we bother trying to free the minds of others who, like us once, were brainwashed.

+1, David Hume and Kant had similar views. Humans are rational beings, believing in a "god" without any objective reason(Evidence) to is irrational, and disregards the entire concept of having the ability to reason and think. Theists are quite possibly the dumbest people on the planet. It's almost as if they "want" to give away their ability to reason, like mindless zombies.

[Okurkabinladin]

Considering someone mindless might be rational, hating him for it is not. Atheists (also represented by nazis and communists, who replaced God with an idea of "collective good") might be just as militant as their religious neighbours. The point is, that you cannot judge person by ideology he was brought up in.

[Prosperityforall]

Considering someone mindless might be rational, hating him for it is not. Atheists (also represented by nazis and communists, who replaced God with an idea of "collective good") might be just as militant as their religious neighbours. The point is, that you cannot judge person by ideology he was brought up in.

The core difference is that those that are religious and are brought up to believe in a mono-theistic god, and currently still believe in their faith(Or self-assign themselves as (x) i.e Muslim, Christian, etc), must believe in their holybooks as well, of which promotes violence, murder, rape, hate, etc. Being selective is not an option when it comes to theists, or they are not theists anymore.

While an atheist is not self aligned to any such medium. There is no book that they follow.

That is why some people such as those in "Terrorist" groups like ISIS, etc, use their holybooks to justify their actions, because their actions are indeed promoted in their books by their "god" and "prophets".

[Spendulus]

For me it's quite simple really, they've managed to make behaviour which otherwise would be considered a violent crime, pathological lying and brainwashing acceptable because an invisible man in the sky that only they can see told them to do it. The only reason people get away with it is because of their religion, if someone who wasn't religious used the excuses used to commit crimes they would be declared clinically insane, but wait, the very problem we have here is that there are deeply religious people in power! So no wonder nothing every gets fucking done, they're naturally covering each others' backs.

Everything that your heart says is wrong, its wrong. Like you said your religion say you to "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner". its wrong because your heart did not believe on it. Because NO one religion bound you to pray. There are out comes if you dont pray, but not the boundness.

Don't forget that they've made a contradictive statement about that for centuries, they say God is everywhere, so why the fuck do they need a Church?

Far worse than that, all this mindless shit resulting in fighting over the "Holy Lands", "Mecca", "Jerusalem", blah blah blah.

[Okurkabinladin]

Prosperity,
you are simply mistaken. Indeed there many variations on practice of Islam or Christianity (two religions I am most familiar with), while there also exist many variations on national socialism and communism (or rather international socialism), aswell as liberal democracy. All of those systems have rather strict hierarchies and binding taboos, vices and virtues.

Interracial sex is taboo in NS, seen indefferently in communism or Islam (aslong as the pair is married), while it is virtue in libdem.

Arming yourself and fighting in defense of faith or family is considered virtue in NS, communism or Islam, but is seen as taboo in christianity and libdem.

Premarital sex is seen indifferently in atheist systems, while religious ones frown upon it.

Similar differences exist in views on antisemitism, drug use, eugenics, social state, technology and role of a family.

Etc. Etc.

[Prosperityforall]

Prosperity,
you are simply mistaken. Indeed there many variations on practice of Islam or Christianity (two religions I am most familiar with), while there also exist many variations on national socialism and communism (or rather international socialism), aswell as liberal democracy. All of those systems have rather strict hierarchies and binding taboos, vices and virtues.

Interracial sex is taboo in NS, seen indefferently in communism or Islam (aslong as the pair is married), while it is virtue in libdem.

Arming yourself and fighting in defense of faith or family is considered virtue in NS, communism or Islam, but is seen as taboo in christianity and libdem.

Premarital sex is seen indifferently in atheist systems, while religious ones frown upon it.

Similar differences exist in views on antisemitism, drug use, eugenics, social state, technology and role of a family.

Etc. Etc.

What does that have to do with anything I've said? I said that a theists views are largely dictated by what's said in their holy books, at least when concerning the three abrahamic religions, while an atheists views are not restricted by such a medium. Someone who self identifies as "Catholic" for example, cannot be against treating women as being less than men, because of things like this:

"Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (I Timothy 2:11-14)

Yet, we see Catholics all the time treating women as equals, but why? According to the bible women are less than men and should be treated as such.

This just goes to show how clueless Theists are about their own faiths. #dumbpeople

[Okurkabinladin]

Prosperity,

evidently nothing, since you "smart person" are incapable of having argument not engulfed in hatred.

Burning Quran out of spite is "mortal sin" in Islam, as is bad-mouthing somebody for their skin color in the west. Why? Becauseee...

The fact, that western "light-bearers" are not churned out by mosques, but by universities doesnt change this paradigm. Both are based in irrational ideologies without regards for science, both shield themselves with love and piece, while their fervent supporters are often quite violent. In fact, Ill give Islam a slack, since it survived several devastating depopulations of its key regions, no such longevity exists among modern day secular Westerners.

The point is, no matter the ideology, it cannot "unbastard" a damaged brain of an individual. Or mob.

[BADecker]

You ask why rational people try to engage theists into critical thinking, then go on to detail how you, like most atheists, began as a child being conditioned to believe the theist myths of your parents until you discovered the skills of critical thinking and objective reasoning.

So you prove that theists can break their conditioning but then question why we bother trying to free the minds of others who, like us once, were brainwashed.

+1, David Hume and Kant had similar views. Humans are rational beings, believing in a "god" without any objective reason(Evidence) to is irrational, and disregards the entire concept of having the ability to reason and think. Theists are quite possibly the dumbest people on the planet. It's almost as if they "want" to give away their ability to reason, like mindless zombies.

Makes sense. So here is a bunch of rational evidence that God exists. And there is much more when you think about how everything works.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=737322.msg10718395#msg10718395

[Spendulus]

Prosperity,
you are simply mistaken. Indeed there many variations on practice of Islam or Christianity (two religions I am most familiar with), while there also exist many variations on national socialism and communism (or rather international socialism), aswell as liberal democracy. All of those systems have rather strict hierarchies and binding taboos, vices and virtues.

Interracial sex is taboo in NS, seen indefferently in communism or Islam (aslong as the pair is married), while it is virtue in libdem.

Arming yourself and fighting in defense of faith or family is considered virtue in NS, communism or Islam, but is seen as taboo in christianity and libdem.

Premarital sex is seen indifferently in atheist systems, while religious ones frown upon it.

Similar differences exist in views on antisemitism, drug use, eugenics, social state, technology and role of a family.

Etc. Etc.

What does that have to do with anything I've said? I said that a theists views are largely dictated by what's said in their holy books, at least when concerning the three abrahamic religions, while an atheists views are not restricted by such a medium. Someone who self identifies as "Catholic" for example, cannot be against treating women as being less than men, because of things like this:

"Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." (I Timothy 2:11-14)

Yet, we see Catholics all the time treating women as equals, but why? According to the bible women are less than men and should be treated as such.

This just goes to show how clueless Theists are about their own faiths. #dumbpeople

Not clueless. Not at all.  Christians just ignore Bible shit that makes no sense in the world they live in.

But this measure of merit, it would be Muslims who were clueless, thinking they must obey every word.

LOL....

[Wilikon]

I don't hate any religion but yeah, some facts and rituals are quite unfair. Almost all religions have different rules for men and women. I don't think any religion should differentiate between two genders.

My religion as well has some facts I don't agree with. "If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other cheek as well." "If one doesn't go to the Church on every Sunday, he is a sinner".

Religion shouldn't make someone lose their self respect or make anything compulsory for a person else they are called sinners. I'm not an atheist but do criticize religion at times.

This is not a fact but an almost impossible act to follow. It's like trying to touch the horizon. You can't. But you have a path to follow, a direction the needle of your inner compass will point to... Some people have it naturally, others need guidance and a reminder why they are more than a animal, IF they chose to...

Same with judging. you cannot NOT judge at every moment, every time you breathe... Since those "orders" are impossible to follow to the letter, being the nature of human we will forever be sinners... I haven't open a bible in centuries but that is how I interpreted it.... I could be wrong, of course.