Society's Attitude Towards Atheism | Teen Ink

Society's Attitude Towards Atheism

July 21, 2010
By fibonaccimathgenius BRONZE, Birmingham, Michigan
fibonaccimathgenius BRONZE, Birmingham, Michigan
4 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I'm going to bed before you two come up with a worse idea to get us killed -- or worse, expelled." -- Hermione Granger, HP #1 <3 :]


Throughout my elementary years, all students were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. That sentence alone might give you an idea of where I’m going with this, given the controversy in the news lately. Anyway, I had never been to a church in my life. My parents had decided to raise me and my brothers non-religiously. We celebrated Christmas every year, but that was the extent of our religious affiliation, and I had no problem with it. I mindlessly regurgitated the Pledge every weekday morning at 9:00, and was blissfully unaware of the complications that surrounded it. As I got older, though, and entered middle school, I became aware of the different religions and how mine didn’t really fit in. I had never met anyone who approached religion like my family did and so when my peers would talk about church group or similar activities, I would just quietly blend in with the nearest wall and try to look like I had some inkling of what they were talking about. The more I learned about this foreign concept called religion, the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how anyone could ever actually believe any of it. But, as I attended a predominantly Christian public school, I didn’t speak up for fear of being abandoned by my friends or bullied.

In my freshman year World History class, we were taught about all of the religions of the world and how they came to be. This was enlightening for me, because all I really knew were the major beliefs of each religion. Learning about how Mohammed supposedly had seizures and hallucinations in which parts of the Quran came to him really put religion in perspective for me. What would happen today if someone started having the same experience and claimed that God was talking to them? You know as well as I do that they would promptly be shut in a cushioned room in an asylum far from civilization. Yet people today still believe what Mohammed recited so many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to target Muslims in any respect; I am merely using their religion as an example of how ludicrous these ideas are to me.

After taking this history course, I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, wishing to learn more about the scientific backing behind atheism. Theistic religions just didn’t make sense to me – when I heard people talking about creationism with all of the evidence of evolution staring them in the face, I wanted to rip my hair out or punch something exceptionally hard. The God Delusion put everything straight for me. It confirmed my suspicions and decisively disproved a lot of common arguments that Christians make against atheists. My favorite quote from Richard Dawkins is probably “We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

Now, I don’t care who knows that I am an atheist. Many people resent me for it, or say that I offend them by not believing in God. My retort for that question is that I am offended by them believing in God. I have used this in more than one situation, and the person in question has countered the statement with a look of complete disbelief. Why do they think that it is okay for them to say something to me, but that it is not okay for me to flip the statement back at them? Ah, mysteries of society that I will undoubtedly never understand. My true friends are the ones that don’t care what beliefs I hold. Those who hold it against me are obviously not worth my efforts.

I think that society needs to realize that atheists are real people, too. As much as people nowadays think about not discriminating against Jewish people or Muslims, they do not think about the views of atheists. Why are public schoolchildren across the US forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning when it makes the reader swear that they are under God? Does the separation of church and state not go that far?

But do me a favor and think about religion and the factual evidence that is out there. Read Dawkins’ book. Ponder why you believe what you do. Is it because you’ve been told to believe it since you were very young? Or is it because it is truly what you believe? Don’t let yourself be blinded anymore. Open your eyes.

Thank you.


The author's comments:
I read the article 'My Religion' and really felt that my views could be expressed as well. Atheists have a voice and we need to be heard!

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This article has 145 comments.


ServantofGod said...
on Apr. 7 2011 at 7:22 am
There are no contradictions, humans make contradictions not Go.d. "For Go.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) "Je.sus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of Go.d is eternal life through Jes.us Chri.st our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

on Apr. 6 2011 at 3:51 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

All you're giving me right now are contradictory assertions. First you say that god is mysterious and then you speculate on his properties; that's like me telling you that unicorns have sparkly tiaras and pink manes. First i have to prove that a unicorn EXISTS.

ServantofGod said...
on Apr. 6 2011 at 11:03 am
How would you feel if you know Go.d is always with you, not matter what you do? Go.d has a trinity to Him. Go.d the Father, Go.d the Son, and God the Spirit. Go.d the Spirit is what we know as the Holy Ghost. This Holy Ghost fills us and teaches us. Think of it as this (depending if you've seen hellboy 2), it stated that we are hollow. With the Holy Ghost in us we are no longer "hollow", we are filled. As a side note, Go.d instructed man to write the Bible. So by that, the Bible is truth (Go.d cannot lie, it is impossible- He is perfect and completely holy). That is why the Bible is a part of a Chris.tian's life. Now here is the thing, don't go that much into the denominations of Chris.tianity, they take sides and . . . well its just I wouldn't suggest them. They tend to mix Truth (Bible) with other things which shouldn't be. Denominations are like Baptist, Jehovah Witness, Methodist, etc. It's hard to explain at times because Go.d is mysterious. He full of mystery. But I know without a doubt that there is a God, He is Jehovah (The Great I AM).

on Apr. 5 2011 at 9:25 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, i understand that you think that the bible holds the truth to everything. My question though, is why do you think this, and why should i think this? I want logical proof to support the things mentioned in the bible as accurate facts.

ServantofGod said...
on Apr. 5 2011 at 8:15 am
If you want proof, read the Bible. You have everything in there. From how to live your life, history, diets (yes there is, they ate fish and bread and drinked lots of water), math . . . you have basically everything you need in the Bible. Oh, one other thing i almost forgot, please forgive me for not responding I continuesly checked my email but nothing about this. I had to search it. I ask for your forgiveness on that.  

on Mar. 29 2011 at 1:03 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

If you want to help me, then please actually give me a reason to believe what you're saying. Don't appeal to scripture or the fact that i'm a mean, evil, fool. Just do this one simple thing: give me logical proof.

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 28 2011 at 10:11 am
You're going to rgret that when you die. Since you brought up the term "atheist", I know that you know what it means, but the word "atheism" straight out of the dictionary says that it is ungodlyness and wickedness. I'm not bullying, for if I was I would shove this down your throat. But I'm not. I'm giving you a choice to accept what I'm saying or not. I'm saying this because because I care a lot about people and their souls. You may not believe this, but I care about you. I'm trying to help you, because I know that Je.sus would do the same. Since I'm a Chris.tian, I'm to follow His leading. You will bow to Him, there is no choice. Either you can do it now and not face a punishment, or not do it and perish. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) I would like to help you, but first thing is I need your permission or you can run away from this truth. Or what you can do is fight me. You have a choice and I have a choice. Lets make our choices wisely. Not only of that, but I can't change you, you can't change me. But God can change you. Thought I let you know that friend.

Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 27 2011 at 11:01 pm
Maybe these are some of the few posts that are in fact subject to prior approval. *wait*

Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 27 2011 at 10:49 pm
Where is my reply??!?!

on Mar. 27 2011 at 1:32 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Okay, there's an issue with my posts, so if you want to see bible inconsistencies, (i originally had a link, but it wont post), simply type into google "bible contradictions" and see the first two links.

on Mar. 26 2011 at 10:45 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Also, the book you so wisely recommended to me, in case you don't know, is co-authored by the president of the Discovery Institute, a creationist-funded group which (by means of The Wedge) seeks to re-instate the teaching of creationism into public schools. (That's an agenda if i've ever seen one)...The National Center of Science Education (basically the go-to for scientific facts and legal informtaion) has widely criticized and SUCESSFULLY DEBUNKED all arguments made in the book. Honestly, give me ONE argument in that book which you think best represents why creationism is true, and address it to me in your next post.

on Mar. 26 2011 at 10:39 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

We can know that historical events happened (such as Waterloo) because there are countless records in many different countries of that event happening. The bible, however does not have any outside proof of its accuracy. You claim that people were eyewitnesses to "god". Are you suggesting that people are not capable of lying? And before you say that waterloo could have been a lie, there is no reason for it to be (what i mean is that there would not have been any political advantages to lying about it), while creating a lie about an existence of a diety (and making people BELIEVE it) has historically given power to those who create the myth.

on Mar. 26 2011 at 10:34 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

A nice compilation. Enjoy. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

 


Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 10:04 pm

As for your second point, I dissagree. All humans know is not currently inside of science. Take history. The battle of waterloo is not testable and repeatable. But there were eyewitnesses who wrote about it. So we know it is fact. But it is not science.

Now there were eyewitnesses to the events of the Bible. And they wrote about it. And there you have the Bible. So if observed things are outside of science, that does not nessesarily make them less real. And we can talk positively about God because He has revealed himself to us through the writers of the Bible. Because he came down to Earth, and there were eyewitnesses. And they wrote about it. It's not science, but it's fact.


Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 9:59 pm
How can you say there's no scientific controversy surrounding Evolution when there is an enormous amount of scientific controversy WITHIN Evolution? There are so many disagreements. It seems like the only thing they can agree on is that it happened. Which is kind of suspicious, if you ask me. Shows that something besides science is at work here. But, as a matter of fact, there are many credible scientists who reject Evolution. They just get thrown out of their popular standing. There's a lot of media and academic bias and people just don't account for that. The world's not fair. People who don't agree get the boot.

Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 9:53 pm

Well, I was judging by a different quote, but you may be right about him. I would have to disagree with the opinion, though.

Don't accuse me of "strawman arguments" when you make random assertions with no basis in fact. If we're going to agrue by rules and not just flap jaws at each other, you're going to have to tell me what you mean spesifically when you say the Bible is full of contradictions. Give me one.


on Mar. 26 2011 at 8:42 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Sorry, i posted this response to the wrong person. But i'd venture to guess that it apllies to you as well.

on Mar. 26 2011 at 8:40 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Oh wow! You came back! Guess what: I'm an atheist. And your scriptural bullying is no good here. I don't bow down to a magical sky-daddy (god. )

on Mar. 26 2011 at 8:38 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Well, you can guess how much i'll miss you!

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 3:22 pm
I've seen too many ttimes my brothers and sisters being persecuted, it's time that someone takes some action against the evils of this world. ". . . Now the dark is taking over . . .  But I'm not giving in. I will not bow, I will not break . . . And I am not proud, cold blooded, fake." (I Will Not Bow, by Breaking Bejamin)