Shocker: Atheists Live Near You

It will be a great day when most of the US will look at this story and go “so what?” The shocker shouldn’t be that there are atheists, but that there are theists so insecure in their own positions that the mere existence of atheists should create such strong emotions.

Oh no…what if one lives near me?!!? I think there’s one in my building…omg on my FLOOR…AHHHHH IN THE SAME APARTMENT…oh wait, it’s me. AND I’M HARMLESS.

Morons. Unbiased journalism – yeahhhhhhhh.

That is probably the most fair, non-slanderous report I’ve seen on atheists recently.

Kate’s comment reminds me of a book I loved when I was five. The book was “The Monster at the End of This Book” and it featured Grover of Sesame Street, who tries to get you to not turn the pages until finally he turns out to be the monster.

hahahaha I thought of that, too. 🙂 That was a book that I used to read to my brother…over and over and over. It was so exciting to read. But it makes a good point. All hype for nothing.

Tina – my boyfriend’s mom said that to him when he broke the news (ha) that I was not only not a Christian, but atheist. Her exact words – “But that can’t be…I like her! She’s so nice!”

Kate – Interesting point. Racism and religious-based intolerance was practised unabashedly not long ago, but because of the gains they’ve made, most people are conscious of when they judge others based on superficial traits. Not that it’s gone away, but it has improved a lot.

These “scare” pieces may still serve the purpose of getting people to think of atheism/theism in similar terms to Jew/Catholic or black/white. Conscious awareness of bias is the first step in eliminating it, but it’s a long road.

It was nice to see this. It’s not often that happens. 🙂

Man, I love “The Monster at the End of this Book”. It’s my 4-year old’s favorite!

My kids loved that book too, back in the day. I must’ve read it hundreds of times to them over the years! 🙂

Now I remember what I wanted to say on another thread before I lost my train of thought (which happens often with me) 😉 —

Not only are there atheists living next door to us; if we are willing to be truly honest, there is an athiest living inside each one of us (yes, even the most religious) at least part of the time. It’s just that no one wants to admit it, not even to ourselves…

Here’s a recent thought that I’ve pondered over why some Christians (or the religious) hate atheists so much: Perhaps what we hate is what we fear, and what we fear is what we are most vulnerable to. Your thoughts?

By all appearances, the Lows are a tight-knit, loving family. Ron and Alice are devoted parents. Daughters Morgen and Maddy are good students involved in wholesome activities…

…but underneath this facade lies a dark, terrifying secret.

Anyway.

Perhaps what we hate is what we fear, and what we fear is what we are most vulnerable to. Your thoughts?

I suppose you could make a case that fundies hate atheists because they feel guilt about/are afraid of the doubts that (hopefully) occasionally enter their minds. Just like the common joke that the religious right is so homophobic because of their own repressed homosexuality. 😛

I dunno, that may be it, but I’m no psychoanalyst.

Not only are there atheists living next door to us; if we are willing to be truly honest, there is an athiest living inside each one of us (yes, even the most religious) at least part of the time. It’s just that no one wants to admit it, not even to ourselves…

Here’s a recent thought that I’ve pondered over why some Christians (or the religious) hate atheists so much: Perhaps what we hate is what we fear, and what we fear is what we are most vulnerable to. Your thoughts?

I think you’re onto something there. Many believers do a lot of hard work covering up their doubt, squelching it, suppressing it and denying it.

The difference with atheists is that we’ve stopped ignoring that little nagging thought (what if … ? is there really… ? how could it be … ?) and eventually let our inner atheist out to play. That’s scary for people who spend a lot of time keeping their doubts and questions at bay.

Linda, I agree completely with the idea that Christians fear Atheists because they fear having to confront the doubt that lives within themselves. It’s not unlike the theory that the most ardent homophobes are the ones who are repressing their own (however mild) homosexual feelings. I haven’t talked to a lot of Christians about my atheism, but I certainly get the impression that when I do some feel personally attacked, as if my lack of faith will somehow weaken theirs. I think many people are Christian because they seek the certainty of belonging to a group, of being told how to behave, and (to a certain extent) of feeling superior to others. So if an intellingent, well spoken, decent (I’m flattering myself, but you get the point) person rationally argues against their faith, then they’re presented with the possibility that making that ‘leap of faith’ really isn’t necessary,and in fact doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

It’s risky to psychoanalyze people en mass but for at least a handful of Christians with whom I have had extended conversations, Linda’s idea seems to have merit. These individuals (It’s important to not generalize) believed that only someone who was undeniably stupid, crazy or depraved would not believe in God.

When faced with an atheist who was clearly intelligent, sane and decent they began to feel increasingly perplexed, then uncomfortable, then frustrated and finally threatened. It was as if the fact that they themselves were intelligent, sane and decent could no longer disqualify them from the possibility of losing their faith.

This is a big reason why I think it is so important for atheists to conduct themselves with good manners when talking with Christians. When they cannot dismiss us with any of those three stereotypes, at least for these few their fortifications might, just might begin to weaken.

And paraplegics… aren’t they just angry with locomotion?

I’ll admit, I laughed…I sealed my ticket to hell. 🙁

Linda, interesting point. I’ll have to think on that more, but it makes sense.

Richard,

It’s risky to psychoanalyze people en mass but for at least a handful of Christians with whom I have had extended conversations, Linda’s idea seems to have merit.

I wasn’t psychoanalyzing a group of people to put them in a category. I was just looking at human nature as a whole, looking for commonalities. It was not an ‘us and them’ observation, if that’s how it sounded. I was thinking that perhaps we are not as different as we would like to think.

Consider this paradox:

I think people want to belong and be accepted and yet stand out and be unique at the same time. That’s why we are constantly organizing into groups and sub-groups and then separating ourselves from the whole. We want best of both worlds. We look for people who are like us, but when the likes become too many (say… three?), then the differences surface agin. Yet one is not an acceptable number. So like continues to attract like. Grow – split – grow – split – grow – split. hmmm….. sound familiar?

Interesting piece (though that reporter always cracks me up… we call him The Mortician at our house) but I was disappointed in Ms. Van Maren’s answer to what was admittedly a silly question. She made us sound like we’re just cast adrift on a sea of loneliness, and any Christian watching that would end up feeling sorry for poor us. We in fact depend on friends, family, society, laws, pets, etc., all the same things Christians depend on (minus one). It’s really pretty straightforward.

Now must go build up my perimeter defenses… rumor has it there’s an ATHEIST NEXT DOOR – aayiiiiieeeee!

The tagline at the end was great. Overall it was a good piece. Even the two christians made sense (well forgiving the minister’s last bit about trust). The one pointed out how we’re ignored by both political parties and therefore frustrated. The minister said something though that was VERY telling. He said it’s possible that there might not be more atheists now, but that they feel safe now saying so. That both points to the efforts by the religious to hold us down (and their great success in the past) plus an issue some of us have debated theists over, and that’s the existence of atheists in history. They like to point to the lack of evidence (ironic, no?) of there being many if any in history and we usually answer with the fact that they couldn’t say so if they wanted to no doubt.

OMG, the atheists are coming from inside my house!!11!!

LOL! How about “inside my own head!” Now, that’s scary. 😉

Hello, and thanks for the linking this article. Atheists are remarkably lifelike! They walk and talk! They come with everything you see here! They hide their horns when on the playground!

The section that slays me is this one:

As a man of faith, Bishop Hanson still has a key question for those who don’t believe in God.

“Where do you place your trust in times of need? Where do you place your hope in the time of a crisis of confidence?” Hanson said.

At first, I thought he was advising atheists to acquire faith as a resource for times of crisis, like a good 401(k) plan. Then I took it as curiosity – he genuinely does not know how people with no faith get through low points in their lives. I wish I could reply to him. I’d say we have lots of faith – in humanity. So in times of crisis, we get through by marshaling our resources and counting on people to come through for us (or not come through, as the case may be). We have faith that tomorrow will be different, better. We look outward, not (just) upward. And in our experience, we’ve found the results to be exactly the same as for those who believe in God.