Question to Atheists?

Of course, this is nothing but an opinion, but I think a lot of atheists perceive themselves as a minority. Members of said minority could grow frustrated and bemused at the members of a majority, ie. Christianity, especially if they consider that majority to be misled or ignorant. I myself am an atheist, but I too consider a lot of atheist attacks on Christianity as being particularly aggressive. My opinion above stems from my knowledge of other atheists, and my perception of the atheist mindset.

You bring up a several different points here, so I will try to address them one at a time.

First, while I wont attempt to speak for all atheists, I certainly dont believe that Christianity doesnt exist. Now, the god that Christians believe in is of course another issue, but I cant deny for a moment that Christians exist.

Second, the reason that you are seeing atheists target mainly Christianity is simply because Christianity is the largest religion in our society and thus Christians are the religious people we are most likely to encounter and interact with. To be fair, I myself was a Christian and most of my friends and family are Christian. The vast majority of them are deeply beautiful people. The tyranny of the majority, however, is something that I do worry about. Well meaning Christians, whether good people or not, can advance and pass laws that discriminate against nonbelievers like myself. For example there are many states in the US where you cannot legally take an elected office if you do not believe in some kind of god or higher power.

Third, I think that whenever atheists address a subject that people consider to be sacred in a critical way that some level of offense is inevitable. Yes, some atheists are far too blunt when it comes to their critiques of religion in R&S but its also true that many believers could stand to be a bit more thick-skinned. I may be attacking an idea that you agree with, but that doesnt mean I am attacking you personally.

Just my $0.02

Rants like this are really annoying because they are so hypocritical. They ignore the hammering Christians do on other Christians; saying that Catholics, SDA, LDS and others aren't really Christians. They also hammer Muslims and other non Christian religions.

The question is also not very well thought out. Of course Christianity exists. No atheist would deny that. What doesn't exist is the God which Christianity and other faiths worships. The religions themselves certainly exist. The way the question is written forces me to conclude that you don't understand the difference between theism (the opposite of atheism) and religion. Finally, this is a board frequented primarily by English speaking people who live in countries that are primarily Christian. So of course when a specific religion is discussed it will be the one that people on the board encounter most often.

There are several people blocking your view in a movie theater.

One is a midget, 2 are skinny nerds, and 2 are big wide body-builders, of which one of those 2 is wearing an outrageously large hat.

To get the biggest improvement of restoring your view on the movie, you start by asking the BIGGEST blockage to move away, or at least take of his hat.

Christianity is the largest religion with the biggest impact on our daily lives, regardless if you agree with them or not. After Christianity has be pulled out of the government, the next religion will be filtered out of the government, until no law is based on illogical 2000 year old concepts, but on logical reasoning... and money.

We will have to deal with money later.

Maybe something for the people in 4000?

EDIT:

In that case let me rephrase my answer:

Christianity DOES exist for atheist when Christianity is used as a basis when setting up laws.

I do not agree with the practice of HITTING people in the face, yet by opinion in this matter will NOT change anything when this practice is applied to my face. Can you understand this concept?

When a law exist that fines you for using God's name in a curse, there is something fundamentally wrong considering the divide of state and church, Can you understand this as well?

And there's another level of idiocy to this law, what if we would apply this for ANY fictitious character? A fine for insulting the toothfairy, santa, easter bunny. I use this example to give you the idea how this law must look like for non-belivers. Can you grasp this concept? Can you understand this?

Anti atheism is doing so much damage to Christianity that it is in reality anti Christianity – David Manley

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion. - William Ralph Inge.

Why so blind to what causes the backlash against christianity?

ALL the other religions and atheists live in peace and are ONLY attacked by BAD christians which causes all GOOD christians to despair at the damage they do!

Up until about 40 years back Christianity was thriving and there was no conflict with others but in just those few short years the modern christians have become intolerant, hate filled, bigoted and persecuting resulting in a growing backlash against christianity and causing christianity to loose over ten percent in less than a decade with the loss accelerating!

The self destruction of Christianity is underway and the only thing that can stop it is to abandon the terrible human emotions, seek to rediscover the idea of a loving god and act like it!

Posts like yours that drive people further away from God are driving you towards hell.

So who are you working for the devil or the antichrist because it sure ain't the loving god!

I can only speak for myself. The reason why I "target" Christianity most, is because Christianity is the largest religion in the country where I live. I would not call it "targeting" myself though, but simply "discussing". Christianity exists, no atheist will deny this. Atheists simply do not believe in the existence of any god. The difference between an atheist and a Christian is that an atheist believes in one fewer god. The reason why I discuss religion with Christians, Muslims, et cetera is because I find religion interesting. I have a master degree in theology even. To come back to the word "target", it is not the Christian who is targeted, but the atheist and those who believe in a different god than the Christian god. It is Christians who try to influence our governments, our schooling systems, when shops are allowed to be opened and when they should stay closed. I have no issue with Christians and their beliefs, as long as they keep their beliefs to themselves. They however do not. By trying to influence our governments and such, they are forcing their beliefs on others. In the country where I live many shops are not allowed to be open on Sunday, only because Christians object to this, whereas they could simply not go shopping themselves on Sunday if they please and let those who do not believe in their specific god go shopping on Sunday. This is where Christians, Muslims, et cetera cross the line, when they try to influence society. Feel free to believe whatever you wish to believe. All I ask is that Christians, Muslims, et cetera do not bother me in any way.

The ones who rant and get very upset at Christianity have mostly been personally attacked by certain overzealous Christians and are lashing back (not that I am justifying their rudeness, just giving an explanations). Others are just trolls who like to feel smug and superior to the religious. Also, the Christian God is something that does not exist to an atheist, but nobody, religious or not, denies the existence of institutional Christianity.

Christianity does very much exist to an atheist as we live in a world that has Christian morality enshrined in law

It is illegal to end your own life, to sleep with someone for money, to marry more than one person, to marry someone of the same gender, to experiment with your own consciousness, to be naked in public, the list is endless, all acts that are logically not immoral as they involve consenting adults, but are illegal because of Christian morality.

We also live in a world where Christians push to have their beliefs taught in a science class.

A truly secular nation is yet to be achieved, where Christians and atheists alike can do as they please without interference from the other group. The tide is turning, secularism is being achieved and the ancient illogical rules are being reversed, but it will take a lot more atheists speaking up about it.

I don't target them, unless they personally attack me. If they don't agree, that's fine. If they call me an evil sinner with no morals... that's not okay. Who are they to judge how good or evil I am?

Honestly, if they're going to attack me they better have a sensible reason, and they don't. So I point out their lack of sense.

As for other people in R&S, well, most people here are Christians and atheists. At least, they're the loudest people. So "targeting" a Christian is likely to get more answers then a question directed towards Buddhists or something.

“Jesus never forced anyone to follow him…”

He didn’t exactly give them much of a choice. To say that Jesus never ”forced” anyone, in a physical or aggressive sense, may very well be true (presumably, I never met the guy). But according to the gospels, this was a man who walked around his community (a Jewish community) declaring that those who heeded his message will be granted access (or special access) into the kingdom of God, whereas those who rejected the gospel will be relegated to a lower position, or worse, not be included at all (depending on your theological-outlook). Map this onto the god-fearing community Jesus was preaching to, and you discover that Jesus was giving them a rather crappy choice. To put this in hell-fire preaching terms: follow God… or burn in hell.

Whatever brand of Christianity you follow, and whatever you think the consequences are for not heeding the message of Jesus, most Christians would agree that there will be some sort of ‘separation from God’ if one rejects the gospel. And this is the problem with Christianity; not the religion, but the basis for the religion itself. It turns the followers into pushy fanatics who are hell-bent on ‘saving’ people. This is especially true when considering fundamentalists who have atheist family members. Christians in this position are not going to give-up saving their loved ones, and this is what turns Christianity into an aggressive, invasive religion—all be it done out of genuine concern by its adherents.

You wrote, “I do not believe because I fear, I truly believe in an afterlife.”

I’m glad to hear that you don’t follow Christianity out of fear, Dunkin. Nonetheless, Christianity claims that consequences will follow for those who reject the message of Christ—literal hell or otherwise. And some Christians take this very, very seriously. So seriously that, although they might not be following Christianity out of fear themselves, they will probably be concerned about the fate of those who reject Jesus’ message—especially their loved ones.

We can split hairs about the nature of the consequences, or what your personal beliefs are about the afterlife. However, the fact remains that the Bible views the rejection of Jesus’ message as a negative, and that there will be consequences to this rejection (whatever that may be). Couple this with the fact that the Bible places urgency in spreading the gospel, and you have yourself a cocktail which is bound to cause friction in society – especially in a modern, secular society.

You wrote, "Long story short everyone respect every ones beliefs what ever it may be."

No, I will not be forced to “respect” beliefs that I don’t actually hold any respect for.

"Christianity is something that does not exist to an atheist"

You do not understand! Atheists don't believe in God...they don't doubt that Christianity exists. I bet you don't believe that Muhammad was a prophet of God...so do you deny that Islam exists? See all those people in the middle east walking around that big rock in Mecca? Do you think they aren't really there because you don't believe that Islam exists?

Edit

"The Christianity belief does not exist to an atheist." You still don't get it!

The Christian belief exists! It is just wrong! If you can't understand that simple bit of logic then your problems are much deeper then can be addressed here.