truthie

From this thread

All right, this is not the first time that I hear this kind of statement, especially from theists and recently, from a few agnostics, even so, when I was a theist, I thought the same and that made me to dislike atheists a lot.
But IMO, I see that most atheists usually perform constructive criticism however, that still offends religious theists.
Should atheists stop criticizing? Become tolerant of all people’s beliefs and ignore them as irrational as some of them may sound? Become UUists? Well, if people always did that, we would still be having human sacrifice for religious purposes.

We are talking here about a group of people (atheists) who are mostly skeptics and huge iconoclast streaks , yet apparently applying strong skepticism and criticism gives atheists a bad reputation.
Should I tolerate somebody’s belief in the efficacy of tarot carts despite the fact that he or she spends $60 on the tarot cart reader?

What I find quite ridiculous and funny is when I see people from different religions criticizing each other’s religious beliefs, totally ignoring the fact that their/all religions have many things in common, even in a parallel way, laws, principles, the supernatural, etc.
It is as if you were watching a dog of the Labrador Retriever breed criticizing a dog of the Golden Retriever breed.
Note: they are both dogs and family.

I do not think that atheists’ bad reputation is connected to any form of criticism of religious beliefs. There are lots of religious people who criticize religious beliefs of other religions and they do not gain such a negative status as atheists do, what makes an atheist to gain the bad reputation is when people suddenly discover that he/she is an atheist, the stigma and misconceptions that the word carries is the problem, not the behavior of atheists themselves.

IMO, the majority of theists cause the bad reputation that atheists have, it comes mostly from the misunderstanding that the religious folk have regarding atheism. Most religious people think that people turn to atheism because a loved one died or that they are depressed and have wretched lives and so on.
As an ex-religious theist, I used to find atheists evil and mean because you (atheists) denied god(s), the supernatural and other religious laws. Why I used the word deny? Well, something that makes many theists to think that atheists are not being logical at all is that if atheism is supposedly a skeptical/logical approach, then why isn’t atheism more popular?
Since the idea of religions, the supernatural, god(s) is more universal, popular and transcendent, then atheism is incorrect and atheists are denying and being close-minded of what is already there.

So, should atheists change their ways?
What do you (religious theists) think that the solution should be? That is, if you think that there should be “a change so our bad reputation is fixed.�?
Though, I kind of like the fact that atheism has a bad reputation, at least it won’t become a fad.

T.

dado

yes: they should start dialoging instead, otherwise nobody learns anything and nothing but bad feelings comes out the other end. criticism for the sake of criticism is boring and pointless. atheists and theists alike should keep in mind neither approach has shown special proclivity in producing decent human beings.

wildernesse

In most cases, it is not what is said, but how. When I have negative thoughts about atheists (and believe me, I've been here long enough to have plenty about atheists both as a whole and in specific), it's usually due to incidents involving what I see as a major lack of respect for people they supposedly care about--usually their spouses. This, of course, is a two-way street--and it's not any prettier when the roles are reversed and the theist is acting the jackass.

Maybe charm school should be mandatory.

[pyrrho

I work part time as a cashier at a local department store, and have engaged in several religious discussions in the past with customers and associates when it is slow. When i present my anti-organized religion views and back them up with proof, people get very annoyed and say i am misinterpretating the Bible and what they are saying. They usually get very frustrated and one lady even got pretty mad. I always try to stay considerate and never insult them, but they take offense to what I say. I live in a very religious city, so maybe that is it.

truthie

There are annoying/stupid atheists, but if your only knowledge of atheists is through the WWW and online, especially forums and chat rooms, then you have chosen a bad way of meeting atheists or other kinds of people in general.

T.

truthie

[pyrrho

That is what I mean, it is still offensive, even if you express your opinions in a polite manner. Criticism is helpful, IMO, people learn more among other things…

Dado

Dialoguing…I tried that, you know?
Unfortunately, when the certain person suspected my atheism, she forgot decency, politeness and so on. Perhaps, theists should first try to stop revering their misconceptions about atheists and when that happens dialoguing may be possible to perform.
By the way, you referred criticism as if it were a negative thing; it can also refer to analysis, exchange of ideas just as dialoguing…

T.

Starboy

truthie, I have to agree with you that atheists have a bad reputation but I have to say that in my experience it is more the cause of the prejudices of theists than it is the actions of atheists. Most atheists, such as my self, keep their mouths shut in public. The few times that I have announced my atheism it has to been to my regret. On one occasion the theist shrieked as if bitten by a snake and then proceeded to dump on me the standard load of Christian disinformation about science, the constitution and what it means to be an atheist. This board is anomalous because atheists can enjoy a certain amount of anonymity and let their hair down. In many cases you are seeing many decades of repressed anger at all the abuse heaped on atheists by Christians in our society. Many of the theists that post here are brave people.

Starboy

Magdlyn

Truthie? I think you have been an atheist for less than 2 weeks. How much "dialoguing" have you had time for already?

truthie

Actually, it has been more than 2 weeks, and even if it were less, it would not make me less prepared or advantageous. I would say that I am fond of talking about freethought with theists, exchange ideas and views, mostly, easy topics to talk about, since I am still learning, at least, I can learn what is the position of theists regarding those topics, which is quite interesting. Oh yes, I remember, you left an awkward post in one of my early OPs, can smell the animosity.

T.

truthie

Agree, I thought that I addressed this in my OP.
Anyway; I have a question, did Madalyn Murray O'Hair increase atheists’ bad reputation in any way or form?

I was reading old threads and it seemed as if some atheists qualified her as being a fundy/obnoxious atheist…

T.