Why Atheists are “Jerks” v1.0
One of the things I’ve learned since becoming born again is that we atheists are regarded by and large as immoral jerks by everyone who isn’t atheist. I’m not going to address the immorality question here because it’s stupid and also because I’ve already typed my title, and it doesn’t say “immorality”.
I’ve been reading a lot of Christian apologetics lately as well as other atheist and theological treatises or articles. I’ve discovered that I’m becoming more smug about my atheism and have developed somewhat of a condescending thought process towards religion and those that believe it. It’s not that I think I’m better than believers or that I’m necessarily smarter than them. Rather, I think it comes from the ability to see the world clearly for the first time without brainwashing, and to be able to truly appreciate just how broken my mind was.
If a friend of yours who was otherwise a sane human being were to continually argue that the world is flat, you would at some point become fed up with the stupidity of the idea and would become annoyed. I think this is the crux of why atheists appear to be jerks. The world makes sense to us. We don’t need fairy tales and invisible monsters and magicians to control the universe for us, and we sincerely wish everyone else would see the obviousness of how silly religion is. And yet, it is impossible for most people to cast aside the chains that religion puts upon the human mind.
What’s more, atheists are persecuted because we fail to believe in figments of the imagination. We are the adults while everyone else plays make-believe, and yet we are treated to words of love like this:
It’s like my friend the flat-worlder calling me an idiot and the source of all evil because I refuse to believe that the world is flat. I’m especially going to hell because I refuse to believe that there is a stack of turtles holding the earth up. It’s just dumb, and we atheists know it.
Sure, atheists might seem bitter and angry, but it’s because we are frustrated by the lack of religious change in the world and the amount of vitriol we receive. We tend to be the smartest people in the room, but we’re made to feel like common fools.
(More polishing to come later. It’s too late now to put a good ending on this….)
N.B. Note how the author in the above letter conveniently lists only Christian sects as ways to believe in god. If I were a Muslim would I receive the same respect, or would I still be admonished to leave the country? I love the fact that “In God We Trust” being printed on money is regarded as some kind of authority to refer to. Like I always say: Go Team God! You never cease to show the world what a beacon of love and respect religion can be.
Maybe people think you’re a jerk because you assume by default that you’re more intelligent than all the “common fools” who comprise 90 percent of the population, oh great man of science. Since you apparently know the secrets of the universe that the rest of us are unable to understand, can you explain why blindly accepting the theories of Dawkins makes you better than blind followers of religion?
Incidentally, I’m agnostic, but I’d be more inclined to “convert” to atheism if the majority of atheists weren’t so damn arrogant.
Comment by Lynn — 13 May, 2009 @ 16:09
Hi Lynn-
Thanks for the comment. It’s a fact that as education and intelligence increase, belief in religion and superstition tends to go down. Most people just believe what they’re told, whether this is from a politician or their priest. To actually be a skeptic is to imply intelligence and discernment. The fact that you’re agnostic tells us that you are more than likely of higher intelligence than the average person.
Consider the recent case of soldiers raping pygmies to gain supernatural powers, or the belief that having intercourse with an infant cures HIV/AIDs. Do you really think these are the beliefs of intelligent or educated people?
Also, I don’t think any of us believe Dawkins is correct no matter what. He has some intriguing ideas to be sure, but so do a lot of other people. Even so, I’d be more interested in trusting someone who poses testable ideas over someone who tells you that testing their idea is heresy.
Comment by jake — 16 May, 2009 @ 12:38
Just wanted to reply.
I think that in this post you are attempting to excuse the smugness that you sense yourself developing. I’ve seen a lot of this growing militancy in the conflict between theism and anti-theism lately. I don’t like it, it’s just not going to solve any problems, and it’s creating unnecessary friction.
Let me offer a solution to you, as an atheist. A simple statement of truth. We don’t know anything for sure. This was realized as early as Socrates, it’s the foundation of all philosophy, the wisest person is the one who is aware that he knows nothing.
Science is a model, it is a map of what we have observed of reality. The map is not the territory, and it never will be, because a computer cannot compute itself. We will never understand the universe because we are part of the universe.
Then there is relativity, and the fact that every observation is relative to yourself and the tools you use to measure with.
It is not worth getting upset about theist intolerance, because ultimately it is a dieing philosophy. Nietzsche killed God, now the rest of society is catching up.
But one should never presume to know. Truth is what you can get away with, if you can’t get away with it, it ain’t the truth.
Good luck
Comment by AnarchoRationalist — 24 February, 2010 @ 13:08