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Why does "atheist" have such a negative connotation?

Being an atheist doesn't mean you worship "satan" or kill babies. So why does the word that merely means a lack in belief in an, in my opinion absurd, God make people cringe as it does?

Tags: atheism, biases

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Permalink Reply by gabriel nunez on February 28, 2013 at 3:19pm

Well said. I believe a third possibility may be "I know there is no magic or God, but pretending there is is really beneficial to me so I will continue to play along."

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Permalink Reply by Greg on February 28, 2013 at 3:40pm

That's along the lines of what I was going to say. If there's no price to be paid for doing so, most people will take the path of least resistance. It's hard standing up and saying the emperor has no clothes. Somebody might threaten to take away your corner office and the BMW along with it.

I think most people will sway with the wind. As long as the theists are the 800 pound gorilla, they will parrot the party line. I don't really think most people give it a whole lot of thought really as it's something they've been taught to believe.

Also, I think we'd be making a mistake in thinking our personal confrontations and arguments change the thinking of many believers. We're nothing but an annoyance to them. We hold no power over them so we're easy to dismiss. That's all part of the numbers game.

In time, if we continue to grow as a demographic, we'll be taken more seriously. Possibly too seriously for a time. Some of these people worry me.

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Permalink Reply by Earther on February 28, 2013 at 7:46pm

It is war over resources.

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Permalink Reply by EJN on February 28, 2013 at 9:06pm

Well in America we are all living in the wake of the Cold War. A lot of people associate atheism with communism. Also, I think you should be concerned with stereotypes. They play a significant role in xenophobia and what could be described as ultra-nationalism.

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Permalink Reply by EJN on March 1, 2013 at 7:36pm

There is a saying, if you want good people to do horrible things you need religion. Stereotypes (whether true or false) can encourage dehumanization. In the US, most minority groups are a tragedy away from persecution, both social and/or governmental.

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Permalink Reply by Steph S. on March 1, 2013 at 8:08pm

I agree with what you are saying Ethan.

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Permalink Reply by EJN on March 1, 2013 at 8:33pm

Lol Steph. Sorry if I came across as rather assertive.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew T. on March 1, 2013 at 12:05pm

I don't think it makes everyone cringe. I believe that a viewpoints cringe worthiness is dictated by the cultural zeitgeist of where it is presented. In other words, an atheist in New York city will enjoy a much more tolerant populace than an atheist in Tennessee. Or Alabama. Hell, anywhere in the southern United States, really.

I personally find most religious people to be insanely lazy, disinterested followers. Brother preacher tells them that atheists eat babies and ravage villages, and they believe it, because it's easier to stomach that we're inherently evil people than pose any question to their faith in an attempt to explain our conclusions. Many of them lack the staying power to actually, you know, learn anything at all. I don't know one SINGLE christian who can even remotely describe evolution, and infact some of my christian friends think evolution and the big bang are the exact same thing (not sure how, but they do). Then of course, you come up with those christians who will say something like "I believe in microevolution, but I don't believe that man came from monkey. Why do monkey's still exist, then?" *shudder*

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Permalink Reply by ha7237 on March 4, 2013 at 9:13am

Hello, Brittany. Honestly, I believe this can be explained as a bias. Does socalist have to a negative connation? No. However, to many Americans, it does. This is true, I believe, with atheist.

When you believe that all of morality, the world, everything dervives from The Creator, and someone says that he or she does not believe in said god that understandably will cause resitentment. The bias is probably that we, the atheists, stand against everything that we ought to support in their eyes.

Manst capitalists assert with a moral zeal that capitalism is fundamental to a free society.Therefore, a capitalist may see a socalist as morally inferior.

Imagine instead of their country, the belief in God is fundamental to their eternal soul.There is probably no greater afront than saying "I do not believe in any god.".

To many, atheism is immoral.Why does agnostic not carry a similar bias? Agnostism is claiming to not know. Even many theists could safety say such.They can respect it more than denial.