sullster

My question is this: Do people who become atheist sometimes retain the prejudices that they had if they were previously a member of a certain religious sect?

We all know that Protestant Fundamentalists and virtually all other protestant sects are anti-catholic. The anti-Catholicism is under wraps in the mainline Protestant sects but is in the open among the fundies.

If one was a Protestant and raised with anti-Catholic sentiments does one loose those sentiments after one becomes atheist?

Are there ghosts of old prejudices lurking among the views of atheists, who should universally and evenly be rejecting all theisms?

sighhswolf

Everyone fights with their own demons.
The ones who win are the ones who can replace their old demons with rational thought and reasoning.
To face your own prejudices and confront them with truth, is a monumental task.
It is a testament to the struggles of those who claim the title of atheist that they have the fortitude to face those "evil" thoughts and purge them from their lives and refuse to be "slaves"
to those destructive forces.

The reality of "evil" lies in the discrimination bigotry and elitism of most of the world organized religions.
And that "evil" is perpetuated by god's earthly representatives on a daily basis.
As long as those who struggle, continue to struggle there is a chance that those ideas will eventually die forever.

Wolf

sullster

Thanks Wolf,
Interesting and sincere ideas and feelings from your post. I actually do feel that most atheists are on higher moral ground than most theists who hold many prejudices.

My motivations for this thread were some of the nasty postings made about the Catholic priests. I think some atheists who came from Protestant backgrounds are still very anti-Catholic. There is a big difference between criticising a religion and wishing death on all who practice it. There is something bad going on in the background.

Anunnaki

You`re way off. Let me try to explain my situation and reason for saying what I said:

1.)First of all I never wished death on anyone although it might possibly change if this fallacy is implied one more time.

2.) My problem with the Catholic church has nothing to do with coming from a Protestant,Baptist or other church based anti-Catholic background. I was a Catholic and it`s the only form of Christianity I`ve ever really known and I didn`t even know what a fundy or Protestant was all about until I found this website.

The Protestant church has never had any effect on me or my entire family. My father,uncles,aunts and grandparents are not at all impressed with some dancing and babbling coming from a clapboard church. In fact they think these people are a bit crazy.
What does impress them and get their`s and their parents attention was and still is the Catholic church.
They see the massive old brick buildings,the wealth,the pagentry of the ceremonies. They see the fancy robes and hats and giant Pope-world in Rome with thousands upon thousands of people huddled together waiting for the Pope to wave to them with his white hanky from the window.
They see the life-size statues and see the priests performing mysterious rituals they don`t understand,but still seem very important anyway as if they were shown to the priests by god himself.

Do you lnow what all this says to my family and millions of other Catholics? It says God is real. How can all of this be for nothing? How can such an elaborate tradition continue after all these centuries if there is no God and Jesus is not the son of God?

My father and relatives might not go to church anymore on Sunday,but this is simply out of laziness and busy lifes. The church still makes appearances at every wedding and funeral and all my little cousins and nephews have been indoctrinated. They all get up and march in procession to get their Jeezit when it`s time for the priest to dole them out.
They will still side with the all powerful Catholic church on any issue and take whatever side goes along with the church come time to vote.

Some Waltons mountain type church with a Ken Hamm looking minister shaking a bible means nothing to my family and never will. They will not just pick their rosaries up and move into a fundy church if the Catholic church crumbles.


Btw,I said I was leaving these forums,but I find myself dragging myself back in. Ugh. I`m going to try and avoid the Christian arguments as much as I can for mental health reasons.

[ May 26, 2002: Message edited by: Anunnaki ]</p>

sullster

Anunnaki,

Your history and insight about your family's religious ideas were very interesting and obviously sincere. I am not accusing you of anything now. When I first came to the Secweb, I made a bunch of statements which got me flamed by an equal bunch of regulars. Fortunately, no one seems to kick my butt anymore, or they just don't read what I write. Anyway, it's over. I said my reaction and you are a free slate as far as I am concerned.

What do you think of my concept of religious prejudices carrying over into the thoughts of atheists? I see that is not part of your view as you were raised a Catholic. Yet, given the anti-Catholicism which runs rampant in US society, could it not be a factor? Also, as your posting well describes, Catholicism is more ritualistic and materialistic than the prods,(bigoted term), and is an easier target.

One last idea. Do you, as a former Catholic and atheist, still bristle at anti-catholic sentiments?

Thanks..

Toto

I think you have to differentiate between anti-Catholic prejudice (because the Catholics in this country were stereotyped as low class drunken Irishmen or Italian mobsters) [do I need to add that I do not agree with these stereotypes?] versus anti-Catholicism, which is based on valid criticisms of the Catholic church, its authoritarian structure, its wacky sexual practices, its irrational beliefs, its desire to raid the public treasuries to fund its own religious schools and institutions, its hypocritical political stances, etc.

Anyone who criticizes Catholicism will automatically be accused of Catholic-bashing in violation of modern multi-cultural norms of tolerance. This is a technique of obfuscation.

IvanK

To make your "anti-Catholicism" valid then, I think, you'd also have to make and publish valid criticisms of the authoritarian structures of certain corporations, the wacky sexual practices displayed on pay-per-view TV, the irrational beliefs of some socialists, the desire on the behalf of farmers to raid the public treasury to keep themselves in an unprofitable business, the hypocritical political stances of most party animals, etc. (or substitute appropriate targets of your own choice).

That would make the argument that you're opposed to authoritiarianism, wacky sex, irrationality, raids on the public treasury and hypocracy -- as opposed to being opposed to the Catholic religion per se -- that much easier to swallow.

There is a broad streak of anti-Catholicism running through freethought in the U.S. As you note it dates from the mid-1800s and is based in increased immigration from Catholic countries, appeals for public support of Catholic schools equal to that for secular public schools, worries that allegiance to a religion and its leader might come before allegiance to a nation and its leaders and so forth. To a certain extent it mirrors attitudes found in broader society.

I happen to be married to a Catholic convert and, through her, to have come to know a lot of Catholics both lay and religious. We were married in a prayer service in a Catholic sanctuary, which would have been unthinkable for a Catholic marrying outside the faith only a few years ago. I think we realize almost on a daily basis how far we all have come in overcoming our less rational prejudices. I personally am of the opinion that more contact between freethinkers and theists must lead to better understanding on both sides. And that's a good thing.