I'm relatively new to this site and I've been observing some atheist arguments, bashing, etc (from both the theists and the atheists) and I wanted to share my take on some misconceptions about atheism. Most people are deluded about atheists and think we are all God-bashing, religion-hating, satan-worshipping moral humans who are nihilistic and vile, so I want to clear some stuff up (Some of us are this, but this isn't what Atheism itself is). First and farmost I want to say that atheism is not a religion, period. Religion, by definition in Google, is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods - a particular system of faith and worship - a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance, atheism is none of this and is the exact opposite. Atheism is simply disbelief in God or God(s), nothing more and nothing less, calling atheism a religion is like calling someone who doesn't drink an alcholic it's precisely the exact opposite.
1 - Most Atheists Where Theists And Therefore Have Some Form Of Knowledge Of Whatever Religion They Were Apart Of
I can say that at least an overwhelming majority of atheists were once theists at their younger ages and broke free from that point on, me included. I was a Jehovah's Witness before I decided to leave the religion and become an atheist and I still contain a vast amount of knowledge of the religion and it's teachings. The same thing applies to other atheists, just because we're an atheist doesn't mean we don't know anything of the religion we left. If you were a Muslim and you became an atheist you still have knowledge (depending on how much you studied and practiced your religion) on the religion it doesn't suddenly just vanish.
2 - "Atheists Have No Morals!"
This is probably the most embarassing argument a theist can say, and the most insulting personally. The argument basically goes "How do you have morals without God?" and that's it, but the thing is that they're never specifying what God you need morals for but we all know they're talking about the very specific God they follow. This is why this argument is a complete trainwreck because if you're going to proclaim that atheists have no morals because they don't follow (Your) God, you should be saying that to everyone who isn't a part of your specific religion. A personal reason why I think this argument is illogical is because it's basically saying that "You need our specific God to be a good person!" whichis completely pathetic to me in my opinion. If you truly need a God or religion to be a good person instead of being a good person for the complete sake of being a good person then you're like a fake nice guy, only doing it for some form of reward (Not saying every religious person is like this).
3 - "Do You Worship Satan?"
No, atheists don't believe in anything related to God(s), religion, mythology, etc. Asking an atheist do they worship Satan is completely illogical, we don't believe he exists.
4 - Atheists Hate God
Nope, we don't believe God(s) exists so we can't hate something that we can't concieve is even a real being. But, we can hate the concept of something (In this case God, even though I don't really hate the concept of any God except maybe the OT God) even though it's not in reality.
5 - God HAD To Create The Complex Universe, It's Only Logical
This argument doesn't go anywhere, despite the fact it sounds logical, because it completely backfires on itself in the longrun. It basically goes that "Look at how complex our universe is, how could it just be?" and any atheists can simply reply "Wait a minute, if the universe is so complex and it had to be created then who created God? He's clearly more complex then we can fathom so how could he just be?" and the theist has no response to this, simply claiming that "God always was!" which contradicts what they said literally 10 seconds ago. This is why it's called the fallacy of passing the buck: You believe that you're being logical by bringing up these questions, but then you just leave an even more important question which is "Who intelligently designed the intelligent designer? And then who intelligently deisgned the intelligent designed designer's designer?" it goes on and on to infinity.
6 - Atheists Worship Science
Nope, we simply disbelieve in God(s) the only reason that a large majority of atheists turn to science for the answers is because they have convincing evidence to back up their claims, they've fullfilled their burden of proof.
7 - "You Cannot Disprove God!"
You're 100% correct because the concept of God is an unfalsifiable hypothesis, an example being that I can fly when no one and nothing is watching me. However, atheism doesn't have to disprove God in anyway because the burden of proof lies on the person making the positive claim which, in this case, is the theists. Theism claims that a God exists and Atheism is disbelieveing this claim because of a lack of convincing evidence, the burden of proof lies on you not the disbelievers.
8 - There Are 2 Types Of Atheists
Contrary to popular belief, 2 types of atheists exist. Gnostic Atheists not only disbelieve that God exists, they're convinced that he isn't real in anyway, shape, and form and Agnostic Atheists (Me) disbelieve that God exists, but aren't going to claim with 100% certainity that he isn't real. Most atheists are agnostic atheists and they don't even realize it or they don't want to specify.
I hope I cleared up some of the arguments and misconceptions about atheists and because (From my experience) most religious people are so sensitive and believe that whenever an atheists states their opinion it means we're attacking them, we're not (Or I'm not). If I wanted to attack you I would attack you, I'm simply stating my opinion on something that is personally bothering me for a number of reasons. I have absolutely no problem with anyone who is religious, you're entitled to your beliefs just like how I am to mine - But the fact is that religion is gaining to much power in America and the world, and it always has. The very fact that some states in the U.S require you to be Christian to hold office is completely against our Constitution, the fact that some states still ban gay marriage is against our Constitution (No matter how much you despise gays, you cannot deny them the right to marry because it's your personal belief) and the fact that laws are still trying to be passed regarding personal religious beliefs is absurd. This country was made to grant us all freedom and our government was made and told to stay neutral on this subject, but it's clear they're taking sides which only leads to chaos. America is not a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist nation and it never will be, this is why everyone is free to practice their own personal beliefs and this is what our founding fathers wanted.
Atheists are not bad people, even though some act like complete morons on the internet. This is confirmed through statistics - Atheists make up the least amount of prison cells in the U.S and countries with the highest percentage of atheists are the most peaceful countries on this planet - The complete opposite when it comes to theists. Am I saying that all theists are bad? No, but the fact remains that if you wanted to move to a peaceful nation (based on statistics of crime rate and how peaceful the nation is) it would be a nation with a high population of atheists not theists, so stop saying that we're a bunch of marauding savages with no sense of morality.
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