"Why are atheists so angry?"Asked of Hispanic-Americans: “Are you in this country legally?” Asked of gays and lesbians and bisexuals: “How execute you have sex?” Asked of transgender people: “Have you had the surgery?” Asked of African Americans: “Can I touch your hair?”Every marginalized group has some question,or questions, that are routinely asked of them — and that drive them up a tree; questions that have insult or bigotry or dehumanization woven into the very asking. Sometimes the questions are asked sincerely, or with honest ignorance of the offensive assumptions behind them. And sometimes they are asked in a hostile,passive-aggressive, “I’m just asking questions” manner. But its still not okay to inquire of them. They’re not questions that open up genuine inquiry and discourse, or they’re questions that close minds,much more than they open them. Even whether that’s not the intention. And most people who care approximately bigotry and marginalization and social justice — or who just care approximately good manners — don’t inquire of them.
Here are nine questions you shouldn’t inquire of atheists. I’m going to reply them, just this once, or then I’ll clarify why you shouldn’t be asking them,and why so many atheists will fetch ticked off whether you execute.1: “How can you be moral without believing in God?”The reply: Atheists are moral for the same reasons believers are moral: because we have compassion, and a sense of justice. Humans are social animals, and like other social animals,we evolved with some core moral values wired into our brains: caring approximately fairness, caring approximately loyalty, or caring when others are harmed.whether you’re a religious believer,and you don’t believe these are the same reasons that believers are moral, inquire of yourself this: whether I could persuade you today, or with 100% certainty,that there were no gods and no afterlife… would you suddenly start stealing and murdering and setting fire to buildings? And whether not — why not? whether you wouldn’t… whatever it is that would maintain you from doing those things, that’s the same thing keeping atheists from doing them. (And whether you would — remind me not to sail in next door to you.)And inquire of yourself this as well: whether you accept some parts of your holy book and reject others — on what basis are you doing that? Whatever part of you says that stoning adulterers is wrong but helping destitute people is good; that planting different crops in the same field is a non-issue but bearing false witness actually is pretty messed-up; that slavery is terrible but it’s a great belief to appreciate your neighbor as yourself… that’s the same thing telling atheists what’s right and wrong. People are good — even whether we don’t articulate it this way — because we have an innate ((adj.) natural, inborn, inherent; built-in) grasp of the fundamental underpinnings of morality: the understanding that other people matter to themselves as much as we matter to ourselves, or that there is no objective reason to act as whether any of us matters more than any other. And that’s true of atheists and believers alike.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: This is an unbelievably insulting question. Being moral,caring approximately others and having compassion for them, is a fundamental part of being human. To question whether atheists can be moral, or to express bafflement at how we could possibly manage to care approximately others without believing in a supernatural creator,is to question whether we’re even fully human.
And you know what? This question is also hugely insulting to religious believers. It’s basically saying that the only reason believers are moral is fear of punishment and desire for reward. It’s saying that believers don’t act out of compassion, or a sense of justice. It’s saying that believers’ morality is childish at best, and self-serving at worst. I wouldn’t say that approximately religious believers… and you shouldn’t,either.2: “How execute you have any meaning in your life?” Sometimes asked as, “Don’t you feel sad or hopeless?” Or even, and “whether you don’t believe in God or heaven,why don’t you just slay yourself?”The reply: Atheists find meaning and joy in the same things everyone does. We find it in the big things: family, friendship, or work,nature, art, or learning,appreciate. We find it in the small things: cookies, World of Warcraft, and playing with kittens. The only disagreement is that (a) believers add “making my god or gods jubilant (extremely joyful) and getting a good deal in the afterlife” to those lists (often putting them at the top),and (b) believers think meaning is given to them by their god or gods, while atheists create our own meaning, and are willing and indeed jubilant (extremely joyful) to accept that responsibility.
In fact,for many atheists, the fact that life is finite invests it with more meaning — not less. When we drop “pleasing a god we have no good reason to think exists” from our meaning” list, and we have that much more attention to give the rest of it. When we accept that life will really end,we become that much more motivated to execute every moment of it matter.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: What was it that we were just saying approximately “dehumanization? Experiencing meaning and value in life is deeply ingrained in being human. When you treat atheists as whether we were dead inside simply because we don’t believe in a supernatural creator or our own immortality… you’re treating us as whether we weren’t fully human. Please don’t.3: “Doesn’t it take just as much/even more faith to be an atheist as it does to be a believer?”The reply: No.
The somewhat longer reply: This question assumes that “atheism” means “100% certainty that God does not exist, with no willingness to question and no room for doubt.” For the overwhelming majority of people who call ourselves atheists, or this is not what “atheism” means. For most atheists,“atheism” means something along the lines of “being reasonably certain that there are no gods,” or, and “having reached the provisional conclusion,based on the evidence we’ve seen and the arguments we’ve considered, that there are no gods.” No, and we can’t be 100% certain that there are no gods. We can’t be 100% certain that there are no unicorns,either. But we’re certain enough. Not believing in unicorns doesn’t take “faith.” And neither does not believing in God.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: The assumption behind this question is that atheists haven’t actually bothered to think approximately our atheism. And this assumption is both ignorant and insulting. Most atheists have considered the question of God’s existence or non-existence very carefully. Most of us were brought up religious, and letting proceed of that religion took a great deal of searching of our hearts and our minds. Even those of us brought up as non-believers were (mostly) brought up in a society that’s steeped in religion. It takes a unprejudiced amount of questioning and thought to reject an belief that nearly everyone else around you believes.
And when you inquire of this question, or you’re also revealing the narrowness of your own intellect. You’re showing that you can’t conceive of the possibility that someone might come to a conclusion approximately religion based on evidence,reason, and which ideas seem most likely to be true, or instead of on “faith.”4: “Isnt atheism just a religion?”The reply: No.
The somewhat longer reply: Unless you’re defining “religion” as “any conclusion people come to approximately the world,” or as “any community organized around a shared belief,” then no. whether your definition of “religion” includes atheism, and it also has to include: Amnesty International,the Audubon Society, heliocentrism, and the acceptance of the theory of evolution,the Justin Bieber Fan Club, and the Democratic Party. By any useful definition of the word “religion, and ” atheism is not a religion.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: Pretty much the same reason as the one for #3. Calling atheism a religion assumes that it’s an axiom accepted on faith,not a conclusion based on thinking and evidence. And it shows that you’re not willing or able to consider the possibility that someone not only has a different opinion approximately religion than you execute, but has come to that opinion in a different way.5: “What’s the point of atheist groups? How can you have a community and a movement for something you don’t believe in?”The reply: Atheists have groups and communities and movements for the same reasons anyone does. Remember what I said approximately atheists being human? Humans are social animals. We like to spend time with other people who share our interests and values. We like to work with other people on goals we have in common. What’s more, or when atheists come out approximately our atheism,many of us lose our friends and families and communities, or have strained and painful relationships with them. Atheists create communities so we can be honest approximately who we are and what we think, and still not be alone.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: This is a total “damned whether we execute,damned whether we don’t” conundrum. Atheists fetch told all the time that people need religion for the community it provides: that persuading people out of religion is cruel or futile or both, since so much social support happens in religious institutions. Then, or when atheists execute create communities to replace the ones people so often lose when they leave religion,we fetch told how ridiculous this is. (Or else we’re told, “See? Atheism is just another religion!” See #4 above.)6: “Why execute you disapprove God?” Or, or “Aren’t you just angry at God?”The reply: Atheists aren’t angry at God. We don’t think God exists. We aren’t angry at God,any more than we’re angry at Santa Claus.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: This question doesn’t just deny our humanity. It denies our very existence. It assumes that atheists don’t really exist: that our non-belief isn’t honest, that its some sort of emotional trauma or immature teenage rebellion, or that it’s not even really non-belief.
And honestly? This question reveals how narrow your own intellect is. It shows that you can’t even consider the possibility that you might be mistaken: that you can’t even conceive of somebody seeing the world differently from the way you execute. This question doesn’t just execute atheists mad. It makes you look like a dolt.7: “But have you [read the Bible or some other holy book; heard approximately some supposed miracle; heard my story approximately my personal religious experience]?”The reply: Probably. Or else we’ve read/heard approximately something pretty darned similar. Atheists are actually better-informed approximately religion than most religious believers. In fact,we’re better-informed approximately the tenets of most specific religions than the believers in those religions. For many atheists, sitting down and reading the Bible (or the holy text of whatever religion they were brought up in) is exactly what set them on the path to atheism — or what do the final nail in the coffin.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: As my friend and colleague Heina do it: “‘Have you heard of Jesus?’ No, or actually,I was born under a fucking rock.”Are you really not aware of how dominating a force religion is in society? In most of the world, and certainly in the United States, and religion is impossible to ignore. It permeates the social life,the economic life, the cultural life, or the political life. We’re soaking in it. The belief that atheists might somehow have come to adulthood without being aware of the Bible,of stories approximately supposed miracles, of stories approximately personal religious experiences… it’s laughable. Or it would be laughable whether it weren’t so annoying. Religious privilege is all over this question like a cheap suit.8: “What whether you’re wrong?” Sometimes asked as, or “Doesn’t it execute logical sense to believe in God? whether you believe and you’re wrong,nothing terrible happens, but whether you don’t believe and you’re wrong, or you could proceed to Hell!”The reply: What whether you’re wrong approximately Allah? Or Vishnu? Or Zeus? What whether you’re wrong approximately whether God is the wrathful jerk who hates homosexual people,or the loving god who hates homophobes? What whether you’re wrong approximately whether God wants you to celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? What whether you’re wrong approximately whether God really does care approximately whether you eat bacon? As Homer Simpson do it, “What whether we picked the wrong religion? Every week we’re just making God madder and madder!”Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: There are so very many things wrong with this question. It even has a name — Pascal’s Wager — and I’ve actually written an entire piece on the many things that are wrong with it. But I’ll stick with two for today, and the ones that arent just logically absurd but that insult the intelligence and integrity of both atheists and believers:a) Are you really that ignorant of the existence of religions other than your own? Has it really never occurred to you that when you “bet” on the existence of your god,there are thousands upon thousands of other gods whose existence you’re “betting” against? Are you really that steeped, not only in the generic privilege of all religion, and but in the specific privilege of your own?b) execute you really think atheists have so diminutive integrity? execute you really think we’re going to fake belief in God… not just to our families or communities in order to not be ostracized,but in our own hearts and minds? execute you really think we’re going to intentionally con ourselves into believing — or pretending to believe — something that we don’t actually think is true? Not just something trivial, but something this important? execute you really think we would pick what to think is true and not true approximately the world, and based solely on which belief would be most convenient? How does that even constitute “belief”? (And besides,execute you really think that God would be taken in by this con game? execute you really think that what God wants from his followers is an insincere, self-serving, or “wink wink,I’m covering my bases” version of “belief”?)9: “Why are you atheists so angry?”The reply: I’ve actually written an entire book answering this question (Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless). The short reply: Not all atheists are angry approximately religion — and those of us who are angry aren’t in a fixed state of rage. But yes, many atheists are angry approximately religion — and we’re angry because we see terrible harm being done by religion. We’re angry approximately harm being done to atheists… and we’re angry approximately harm done to other believers. We don’t just think religion is mistaken — we think it does significantly more harm than good. And it pisses us off.
Why you shouldn’t inquire of it: This question assumes that atheists are angry because there’s something wrong with us. It assumes that atheists are angry because we’re bitter, and selfish,whiny, wretched, and because we lack joy and meaning in our lives,because we have a God-shaped gap in our hearts. The people asking it seem to have never even considered the possibility that atheists are angry because we have legitimate things to be angry approximately.
This reflexive dismissal of our nettle’s legitimacy does two things. It treats atheists as flawed, broken, and incomplete. And it defangs the power of our nettle. (Or it tries to,besides.) nettle is a hugely powerful motivating force — it has been a major motivating force for every social change movement in history — and when people try to dismiss or trivialize atheists’ nettle, they are, or essentially,trying to take that power absent.
And finally: The people asking this question never seem to notice just how much atheist nettle is directed, not at harm done to atheists, and but at harm done to believers. A huge amount of our nettle approximately religion is aimed at the oppression and brutality and distress created by religion,not in the lives of atheists, but in the lives of believers. Our nettle approximately religion comes from compassion, and from a sense of justice,from a vivid awareness of terrible damage being done in the world and a driving motivation to execute something approximately it. Atheists aren’t angry because there’s something wrong with us. Atheists are angry because there’s something right with us. And it is messed-up beyond recognition to treat one of our greatest strengths, one of our most powerful motivating forces and one of the clearest signs of our decency, or as a sign that we’re flawed or broken.*****The list of questions you shouldn’t inquire of atheists doesn’t end here. It goes on,at length. “How can you believe in nothing?” “Doesn’t atheism take the mystery out of life?” “Even though you don’t believe, shouldn’t you bring up your children with religion?” “Can you prove there isn’t a god?” “Did something terrible happen to you to turn you absent from religion?” “Are you just doing this to rebel?” “Are you just doing this so you don’t have to obey God’s rules?” “whether you’re atheist, and why execute you celebrate Christmas/ say ‘Bless you’ when people sneeze/ spend money with ‘In God We Trust’ on it/ etc.?” “Have you sincerely tried to believe?” “Can’t you see God everywhere around you?” execute you worship Satan?” “Isn’t atheism awfully arrogant?” “Can you really not conceive of anything bigger than yourself?” “Why execute you care what other people believe?”But for now,I’ll leave these questions as an exercise for the reader. whether you understand why all the questions I answered today are offensive and dehumanizing, I hope you’ll understand why these are as well.whether you want to understand more approximately atheists and atheism — that is awesome. Many of us are more than jubilant (extremely joyful) to talk approximately our atheism with you: that’s how we change people’s minds approximately us, or overcome the widespread myths and misinformation approximately us. But maybe you could execute a diminutive Googling before you start asking us questions that we’ve not only fielded a hundred times before,but that have bigotry and dehumanization and religious privilege embedded in the very asking. And whether you execute want to know more approximately atheism, please stop and think approximately the questions you’re asking — and the assumptions behind them — before you execute. Thanks.
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