Why do you think that some theists try to connect the evil that
some atheists do with their atheism, rather than their political philosophy or
any other reason?
Simple. To the dogmatic-religious mindset, religion is an integral part of any
person. Having no religion is as inconceivable to them as a square circle. To them,
atheism is pegged as yet another religion -- and therefore, they assume that
atheists are motivated by atheism as Muslims are by Islam. (Petteri Sulonen #1442)
I think that behavior of this sort is due to the fear that theists have that
they will be identified as atheists themselves. After all, they all know that
prayer doesn't work for them, and they probably generally think that prayer does
work for other members of their church. And they all must have doubts about the
existence of god, but none of their peers express any corresponding doubts.
So, they are constantly concerned that other theists will discover their secret.
One of the best ways to defend against this is to divert attention - point out the
evil atheists and hope nobody notices their own shortcomings. (Geoff Sheffield)
As a way to reinforce what they've been told: that without religion (or without
their particular religion), then there is chaos. That only fear of 'god(s)' can
prevent humanity from destroying one another. To justify their own belief on
'humanitarian' terms: 'I believe in god, which is a good thing, because if I didn't
I would be raping and pillaging... I mean, look at all those atheists...'
And because they are ignorant. (Arturo Magidin #257)
I think one of the highest priority items in the xian way of life is the
demonization of infidels. The ad hominem attack is pretty much second-nature to
the "true believers. (Nemo #1331)
Believers always seem to be very defensive about their religion. I wonder if
this is due in part to the fact that throughout history, each group had to defend
itself against attacks from other groups. Look at the number of 'Holy Wars'. As in
most wars, leaders try to encourage the troops by among other things 'demonizing'
the opposition. (In this case maybe more literally!) Since they are defending the
True God, who they believe is all good, their enemies must necessarily be all evil.
There are certainly bad atheists as well as good ones. There are even good theists.
Many theists do works of charity for the poor and the sick. The reasons why they do
these may be misguided, but the deeds are still good. One thing I have learned is
that no group has a monopoly on good or evil.
Since I don't see everything in black or white, I suppose that would make a poor
True Believer. (John Hachmann #1782)
I'll have to concur with the majority of respondants: in most cases, people are
taught that their faith is the only way to be a good person. At the very least,
SOME faith is necessary to be good and moral. Since atheists don't have the THE
FEAR OF GAWD, they can't be moral and must be evil. Not all theists respond
this way, but many do. It most likely has something to do with the relatively
small number of atheists...many theists either never have occasion to speak to an
atheist or don't know that they are (the issue never comes up).
It's easy to maintain a stereotype if you never meet anyone from the group you're
stereotyping. The more atheists a theist meets, the more likely it is that they
won't see all atheists as evil just because of their lack of faith. (The Jester #774)
I think it's because atheism and other heresies are a threat to their beliefs.
A threat primarily to the politcal heirarcy that lives off the masses and to the
beliefs, brainwashing and indoctrination that keeps those masses supporting the
heirarcy. Religious leaders would like to paint atheists and heretics as evil as
possible to prevent their followers from becoming too familiar with these outsiders.
They want to protect their "phoney baloney" cushy jobs. So most of the masses who
believe this system of propaganda find it easy to project their ideas of evil unto
atheists or heretics.
The greatest weapon we have against this is to simply be ethical, honest, courteous,
responsible, etc. Our very act of being "nice" people refutes their beliefs.
(Not to say that this is the only way to help people overcome their religious
indoctrination. But that is a different subject.) (Woden #1796)
For some, it's probably doctrine. Martin Luther, for example, taught that humans
are evil and can't help but do evil deeds. The only way one can do *anything* that
might be construed as good (he argued) was because the Holy Spirit was in him.
To someone who accepts this "All goodness comes from God" doctrine, the rejection
of the Holy Spirit is the primary reason why any non-Christian does evil. Why do
you think they were so fond of the "godless communist" epithet? In their minds,
anyone who had the Holy Spirit in him *couldn't* be a communist; the Holy Spirit
wouldn't allow it. (Carl Funk #1229)
I think it's because people have a natural tendency to pigeonhole others based
on one's own belief system...which is a really fancy way of saying stereotyping, I
suppose. However, I think it's more stereotyping with a slant...the slant being,
in this case, theism.
Also, many theists I've spoken to (when I have to speak to them about such things..
:::sigh:::) believe that atheists have no morals, no ethics and no ability to judge
right and wrong, because they believe that all this comes from believing in the
bible. (I'm talking about Xtians specifically of course, I've had little personal
contact with those of other faiths.) Therefore, when someone who happens to be an
atheist also happens to commit a crime, it follows their logic to assume that a
theism caused them to do so.
I think the reason that theists don't blame the political philosophy or any other f
actor of the person who committed the crime is simple: Theists, IMO, believe that
if the person were not an atheist to begin with, they would not have had these other
factors to contend with. In other words, the person's atheism is the root of all
the other factors involved. (Liquid Grace #1752)
Simple. They claim that Christianity makes people good. Even more than that we
have seen Christian after Christian get on here and say that if it was proved that
Jesus never died on the cross for them, then they would have no reason not to
commit any sort of atrocity you care to name. The idea of people being good on
their own, without their God threatinging constantly to sear the flesh from their
bones forever in a pit of fire, is anathma to them. They can NOT believe it. I
don't just mean that they are unable to believe it, it is a belief that must not be
allowed for them because to admit that you can be good without believing in God is
to admit that maybe humanity doesn't NEED their religion. We all know the steps
that follow that in their minds: Once they figure out that they don't need these
myths to be good people they might start thinking about other aspects of their
religion, like if it's really all that moral in the first place, and the next thing
you know they're spouting blasphemy and heresy as they question everything the
church has taught them, and more importantly they're no longer listening with blind
faith to the shamen and priests, and that must not be allowed.
To put it bluntly it's a fucking mind control cult, even the liberal ones to some
extent, and if they shamen and priests don't do their damndest to make sure that
you consider non-members to be untrustworthy and evil then you might end up losing
members as they examine their faith. This holds more true for the monotheistic
religions than for the polytheistic religions though. Those polytheists are
generaly naive enough to go ahead and allow their members to think. While many
christians have not even read the bible and rely on the priests to tell them what
they believe the many polytheistic religions tend to involve more study on the part
of the members, with disagreements on points in the holy works being an ok thing.
What the Christians do is no different in principle to what the Scientologists do.
THe Scientologists merely take it to a greater extreme with even worse threats for a
ny who commit apostasy. The mormons can be bad. After my mother quit the church it
was some years before most of her siblins would speak to her again. Witholding your
family is a pretty strong threat for a religion to be able to make if you quit.
(Rian B. Jensen #317)
