Why do those who don’t believe in God always seem to disrespect your choice to believe?

[Anonymous]

I personally feel, as a Christian, it’s nothing wrong with not believing. Everyone has that right to choose to believe in a higher power or to not to. I’m not one of those believers who feels that anyone doesn’t believe in God or that Jesus died on the cross for our sins is gonna be sent to hell and “pay” the price for not believing. I also don’t thump people over the head with Bible scriptures all day trying to get them to believe. Which is why I don’t get why those who are non believers choose to disrespect our religion (s) and those of us who choose to believe by saying things like “Your” God. Like being very sarcastic and mean or saying things like “Your God has killed children and allowed bad things to happen.” “Praying to a invisible man in the sky”. I never get uptight about people not believing but things like that get to me because you can be a non believer without being so nasty toward our belief in itself. It just isn’t necessary. That’s almost like flat out yelling to a kid who believes in Santa Clause saying “He isn’t real, get over it.”

[CountessSarah]

But it /is/ 'Your' god. When I refer to 'Your god', I'm specifically addressing the god claim of the person I'm responding to. Just using a nebulous 'god' could be referring to any number of other hypothetical claims. This is a problem caused by weird wording on the part of theists - they all just want to claim 'god' as a singular title for the god they believe in, while other theists use the same name for their totally different claims.
An analogy I can think of would be like if I said 'The president said X' and you say 'President Biden didn't say that'. Well... I never said Biden, I said 'The president', that could be any world leader based on where in the world I come from.

"Your God has killed children and allowed bad things to happen.”
“Praying to a invisible man in the sky”.
But nothing about those lines is... untrue. I'm sorry you think you're entitled to tone police people who disagree with you, but you're not. I think it speaks volumes that in order to mock theist claims, all we need to do is honestly represent them and that's enough for theists to get upset about it. Perhaps you should take a closer look at /why/ these lines offend you so. You don't dislike them because they're untrue, you dislike them because they're uncomfortably true and on some level, you know it.

"That’s almost like flat out yelling to a kid who believes in Santa Clause saying “He isn’t real, get over it.” "
That is an extremely dangerous analogy for a theist to use. Because it works too well.

[Asker]

But you see what I mean, you just deemed that when atheists say “Your god kills children.” “You Pray to an invisible man in a sky.” That it isn’t disrespectful because it’s true. That’s disrespectful in itself. Like okay fine you believe God as an invisible man in the sky and that he’s someone who kills innocent people and children, that’s fine but it’s clear that those of us who believe in him don’t see God in that way. We don’t see him as someone who kills innocent people and children because in our faith, the enemy and our sins kills us and each other not God and as far as the invisible man in the sky part, we can’t see him but in our faith he still exist. To us, that’s what having faith is, believing in something you can’t see, physically hear or touch but we truly believe in our hearts he still exist, deeming him not an invisible man in the sky to us. So for you to say “We’re not saying anything that’s false, therefore it isn’t disrespectful.” Is very disrespectful because you claim it to be true/facts only from your personal non belief and point of view. You can’t speak for everyone and say it’s true altogether.

[CountessSarah]

It's not inaccurate, though.
Your invisible sky wizard is exactly that - It's intangible and works through what can only be described as magic.
You didn't say anything to actually address the issue, just reiterate that you don't like the wording.

[Asker]

I really wasn’t trying to reiterate what you said. In my post I specifically said I don’t think it’s anything wrong with choosing not to believe in any God but that I don’t see the point of those who don’t believe disrespecting the religion (s) of those of us who do. This post wasn’t meant to be a debate about if you’re right about God not existing or if I’m right about him existing, it’s about not understanding the reason to disrespect because they have a different belief than you, but if you want me reiterate what you said about God being invisible I will say, if he’s invisible like you say how could he kill innocent people and children? And the last I checked people kill people not God, but that’s once again my view. I don’t speak for everyone like you’re trying to do.

[CountessSarah]

"but if you want me reiterate what you said about God being invisible I will say, if he’s invisible like you say how could he kill innocent people and children?"

Well it sounds like you just don't understand what's being meant.
When we talk about your god being 'invisible', we're referring to your total lack of evidence for the claim. Theists deliberately define their god to be completely intangible, meaning it can't be seen, detected or measured.
And then we're proceeding to point out that this undetectable force somehow also controls various things, such as nature, resulting in deaths. So theists believe in a being they can't demonstrate and have no compelling reason to beleive, which knowingly does things we assume the believer would find immoral, yet the believer doesn't see a problem.
If I believed in an invisible man that did things I couldn't prove it was doing, and I couldn't justify, I would have to conclude my invisible man didn't exist or that it did immoral acts and would no longer worship it.

"And the last I checked people kill people not God, but that’s once again my view."
Read your bible. If the bible is accurate, your god is directly responsible for the deaths of many without the involvement of any people. The flood for starters.

"I don’t speak for everyone like you’re trying to do."
I have done no such thing.

[venus1997]

Im Pagan, I completely get it, I get shit from a lot of people, including "christians", Im not sure why people love to disrespect eachother. I guess some people are just to shallow to understand and accept that everyone sees and feels the world differently. Some people feel connected to one god, others to multiple gods, and some dont feel a connection to any deity, and its okay. None of it matters, what matters is you treat other people and how you feel. So screw those toxic mfers, do what you feel most comfortable doing.

[Asker]

And that’s completely how I feel about life as a whole. My life isn’t totally dedicated to just one thing. Though I put a lot of trust and faith in God and believe that most of my blessings come and have come from him and that he protects and has protected me in many situations etc I solely just believe in just respecting one another. Rather that has to do with Religious beliefs or not. Even when it comes to sexuality, gender equality, racism, discrimination all it comes down to, at least to me is respect. Treating others how you expect to be treated. People think so highly of themselves these days, which it‘s nothing wrong with being confident in the way you walk, talk think etc but it’s a difference between confidence, arrogance and cockiness and I think a lot of people confuse the three. People think what they say and the things they do, what they believe, how they live their life etc is the only way to go and will argue you up and down, disrespect you be very condescending etc just because you do things differently, say things differently and you live differently. It’s reality. Everyone comes from different cultures, upbringing and backgrounds. It’s not likely everyone is gonna move and think the same. Life would be boring if we all were the same and thought the same. I wish that more people would grow to see life that way rather than some competition on who knows more or best.

[venus1997]

Your God should be extremely proud of you :-)

[BCRanger10]

There are different camps of atheists, in my experience. In one camp, they've either had experience with Christians who are really terrible at defending their faith, they've spent too much time listening to Dawkins or Kincaid, or they're simply too given to the culture and their passions.

In another, they came from overbearing, fun-hating families who didn't let them watch Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. Anything and everything secular was offensive and satanic. Then they left home and saw that this in fact was not the case and swung heavily in the opposite direction and started looking at all believers with the same scope.

And then there are those who came from irreligious or lax families and simply want to be left alone.

So I really think it just depends on which ones you deal with. There's also the fact that the internet provides a platform and voice for everyone, so it could be hard to distinguish between the different voices.

[JBlade]

I'm an atheist, I usually don't comment on anything religious because it'd be a waste of time, not worth discussing. Some will believe and others won't, I just accept that. I don't bash either because in the end it doesn't really matter. They say those things because religious entities have had a large role/voice in society for hundreds of years and people can now push back about it now. Also, I wouldn't say that your example comments are "nasty," they could say way worse; technically they'd be true statements.

[Aerissa_Jade]

There are religious nuts out there that disrespect those who do not believe as much as those that disrespect those who don't. They also judge others like crazy despite the fact they should not. Everyone judges though, religious or not.

I always wonder what is wrong with people that leave a religion, claim to leave it behind but can't really leave. They have to come back and attack it every free chance they get. Seems very emotionally unhealthy.

They seem to have some sort of separation anxiety and just can't leave it alone.

I would bet anything that those that disrespect others for religious beliefs, also disrespect other people for other things. They are likely very disrespectful in many aspects of their lives.

[Anonymous]

Because your reasons for believing are not strong. They think you're stupid. I personally don't disagree with them but I think they are also stupid because they base their belief off of what you say. You being the people that they think are stupid. It's like saying math is stupid because a dumb guy taught you math. All in all them doing this and you can say me in the post doing it is a character problem. We lack courtesy. I am trying to work on it. It is actually my main focus, atm, as far as personality is concerned. But yeah they think you're stupid because you go by blind faith. I think the Bible is the best book ever written that I know of but I also do think religious people are stupid. There is no need to go off blind faith, anymore, and all it does is breed the opposite of what the Bible was meant to solve.

[SweetDumplings]

Christians always get attacked unfortunately, but every time that happens just ignore their comments, don't pay attention to them if they attack you for believing in God and Jesus. Trust me you're not doing anything wrong by believing in God. You make God smile down upon you when you ignore the people who don't believe in him.

[mark000h]

Because most atheists are incredibly intolerant and closed minded. I question whether or not God exists or how, but they usually just mock believers with an aura of arrogance that they're right and that they think religious beliefs are ignorant and stupid. Ignore them.

[NamerOfStars]

A lot of people grow up in environments where they're not socially free to choose their own religious beliefs. They CAN, but the social consequences will be enormous, which is devastating to a child. Consequently, they tend to grow up resentful, and it's a big part of why so few people can discuss religion respectfully.

[HighValue]

Because they have bad morals and do bad things, but they don't want to admit that there could be consequences for their actions.
They don't just choose not to believe, they choose to harass, insult, and sometimes damage the property of Christians. Notice how they ignore most other religions that are even more extreme, but they specifically target Christians?

[genericname85]

Cause certain opinions are just objectively and measurably worse than others. Like why can people not Respekt racists that never hurt anyone? Cause they're just wrong in believing what they believe. I'm not putting racism on the same level as religious faith. It's just that most people understand racism is wrong, so it's a simple example to make.

Do you respect racists for disliking certain ethnicities?

[Asker]

I don’t respect nor disrespect them, I just pay them no mind because to judge someone based off of race in ignorant to me.

[genericname85]

So calling someone ignorant isn't "not respecting them"?

[Asker]

I didn’t call them ignorant I said choosing to not like someone because of the color of their skin is ignorant, not the person. Their choice of judgement itself is ignorant not them. And I also think racism and religion isn’t a bad comparison for this particular subject. It actually fits perfectly. People who don’t believe in God have gone very far with their choice of words towards us believers to the point I know I think as a believer “Was that really necessary?”. They say the meanest things all because someone has chosen to believe that their is someone or something of a higher being. That’s all. We’re not harming anyone because of a simple belief, so the disrespect is pointless. Some believers are disrespectful as well don’t get me wrong but it’s all pointless to me. Let people believe what they want or not what to believe.

[genericname85]

Well people say the meanest things to racists too. Because similar to religion it's a deluded, ignorant ideology that's not supported by factual evidence. And people just tend to disagree with that l, while those people who are part of that ideology certainly aren't any better in their ways nod trying to making their point when it comes to arguing with the other side. You can always be like "yeah but i as an individual aren't like that". There's still people behaving equally bad on both sides of the fence.

[genericname85]

So asking why people on one side of the fence behave bad is not the right question. People just are like that in general. So that's what one would explore. Because of you put your question like this, that is an implicit association, to wich people don't generally respond well.

[genericname85]

Accusation not association. Sorry my phone is trying to fuck me over really hard as you probably noticed already XD

[admles]

In my experience it's believers who get so pissed off and offended that I'm not a believer.

You even see people on this forum saying that "Atheists know god exists they just refuse to accept it".

Never see Atheists saying "believers know god isn't real they just refuse to accept it"

[Lyndsielee666]

I’m atheist and I don’t care at all what you believe in just don’t try to shove religion down peoples throats and it’s all good.

[Asker]

My post is literally me saying it doesn’t matter to me if you believe or don’t believe and that it’s nothing wrong with choosing not to believe and I also said I don’t shove my religion down other peoples throat. My post is a simply asking why people who choose to not believe have to disrespect our faith just because they don’t want to believe. It’s very much unnecessary, pretty much like your comment seeing as though I didn’t ask if you were a atheist or not. As you don’t care about what I believe I don’t care about what you don’t believe which is why the question/post had nothing to do with people telling me if they believe in God or not.

[Lyndsielee666]

So angry 🥴😂

[Asker]

Lmaoo girl 😂, you one of those I can tell. Looking for a reaction. I wasn’t upset I just matched your energy. I have no reason to be upset about anything. I’m too young to walk around being upset about things not even under my control.

[jahaims]

Probably because it is equivalent to believing in Santa as an adult to some. I would find it funny if a mentally sound adult believed in Santa and God is no different. I guess it mostly I can't take that person seriously.

[jshm2]

Because they are intellectually stunted and want you to follow them and their lead. Instead of making them feel retarded and insular.

[OfDeath]

It's more concern rather than disrespect. If someone was standing on a tall building with no parachute, saying they were going to fly, you'd be concerned about them right?

[OddBeMe]

funny us non believers think you religionists disrespect us more. you know... telling us we're going to hell.

[Asker]

Yea and I don’t agree with those believers. That’s just ridiculous because in the end us believers could be right and you guys could be wrong or non believers could be right and we could be wrong. No one knows what goes beyond those skies or what will happen once the world and everyone in it ceases to exist. So it’s really no right or wrong. Some people see it as it’s something greater in store after this life and others think it’ll just be the end. No heaven, no hell, no God, no judgement, you’re just gone and it‘s nothing wrong with either because either or could very well be how it turns out to but it‘s not our jobs to say “Don’t be stupid and believe that. It’s ridiculous”. Because who are you? We all know as much as we are taught, what we grew up around, and as much as our beliefs will lead us to. Therefore all of our opinions are just there, sitting waiting to see the outcome.

[OddBeMe]

all true. but why start with a god? isn't god really just an idea that your parents gave you? and their parents before them? And on and on...

[Asker]

Yes he is. He’s taught to most of us at a young age. Our parents drug us to church some were even forced to participate in the choir, be apart of every church event and stay for every service but as we get older we either stray away or we learn about God on our own time without feeling like we’re being forced to accept him, like when we were kids, and we either understand him more and continue to believe in him or we feel it’s all nonsense and we turn away.

[Asker]

It also has a lot to do with the church you attend, it’s members and the church board and the pastor plays a big part in rather you stay with that religion or stray away. You have shady pastors, that take their members money and use it for their own good. You have over judgement older members that are so set in their old fashioned ways and don’t want anything in the church and the way God is taught to change so they judge the way we dress, talk and the different form of praising we do vs back then, because then it was slow paced now we have upbeat gospel music. All of that will make you not want to believe anymore even if it was taught to you.

[OddBeMe]

so reinforcement of an idea makes you believe more?

maybe you should look for truth in more places.

[Anonymous]

Oh please, Christians are among the most judgmental people on the planet.

[Jmmmfi4]

I agree with your first sentence

[Anonymous]

you shall be hated of all men for my names sake