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!

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 145 comments.


ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 3:09 pm

"Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:" (Ephesians 4: 18)

" . . . Save your breath, it's far from over . . ." (I Will Not Bow, by Breaking Benjamin) 


ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 3:02 pm
"The fool hath said there is no God . . ." (Psalm 14:1)

on Mar. 26 2011 at 11:21 am
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

It's not YOUR faith i have a problem with. It's FAITH in general, especially when people attempt to instill it into government and political issues. NEWSFLASH: not everyone is a christian.

Aw...i'll really miss you. Try to figure out if i'm being genuine.


on Mar. 26 2011 at 11:19 am
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

I don't believe in a deity. god.

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 8:18 am
Blues, really? Science=shmience, it's phony. You obviously have a problem with my faith. You start this because you're a big mouth. I don't like big mouths! If you have a comment, keep it to yourself. Since you have this rampage against faith, I leave because I don't tolerate such a thing. I'll be the bigger person and leave, since you want to act like a child. Leave people be and stop being a bully here! You're a big brat!  

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 26 2011 at 8:11 am
It's God not god! "The fool hath said there is no God . . . " (Psalm 14:1) You are a fool. Start learning, we type not talk. I'll type 'till my hands fall off.

on Mar. 25 2011 at 10:49 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

BTW the book you recommended to me, in case you're not aware, is co-authored by the Discovery Institute (a creationist-run organization which attempted and still continues to try to get creationism into biology classes), It has an obvious religious agenda, and the National Center for Science Education has publically stated that the book is not scientifically accurate, and that it's title was chosen to incite confusion. In fact, i cite the Discovery Institute a couple times in my essay "Ulterior Design". TeenInk.com/opinion/school_college/article/297180/Ulterior-Design/

 


on Mar. 25 2011 at 10:42 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Your strawman argument is of no use here.

on Mar. 25 2011 at 10:40 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
-- Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science," New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930

on Mar. 25 2011 at 10:38 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Firstly, there is NO scientific controversy over evolution. Any biologist worth his degree knows that evolution by means of natural selection exists. Granted, the extreme specifics haven't been compiled yet, but the theory remains solid. If arguments against it were at all valid, they would be more than simply hypotheses.

I agree that some people follow the train of thought that if science can't currently prove it then it can't exist. I personally don't agree with that. BUT everything that we DO currently know HAS been identified through scientific means. And so far, science all we have on which to go.

If something IS "outside of science", and all that humans know at the moment is currently INSIDE of science, then on what grounds do you assert that that thing of which you speak is outside of scientific boundaries? How can you even dare speculate on the mysterious object's properties if you just admitted that it's outside of our current speculative abilities?


Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 25 2011 at 9:27 pm
Who's in denial of fact here? You said Einstein was an atheist? Do some research.

Lilliterra said...
on Mar. 25 2011 at 9:25 pm

Hey, hey, cool it. Who here has the need to branch off in their reading? I think an excellent book that talks about the controversy over Evolution from a purely scientific standpoint is called "Explore Evolution". for the very scientific-minded, who say that Evolution "Just Makes Sense" and that creation is proved wrong.It talks very clearly about scientific arguments not only for but against darwinism.

Although I do find that most Evolutionists start with an assumption. That assumption is, "only science exists. If you can't prove it with science, it doesn't exist". I won't invoke "faith" here. Only common sense. If something is outside of science, you wouldn't expect science to explain it, now, would you?


on Mar. 25 2011 at 7:16 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

You can annoy me 'till you turn blue in the face. it won't make your "god" any more real. :)

on Mar. 25 2011 at 7:14 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Oh sure. Of course. Who needs proof?? Just listen to the guy who yells the loudest!. thank you, for illuminating me to your airtight logic.

on Mar. 25 2011 at 7:12 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

In case you'd completely lost it (which isn't out of the question, referring to your last post), my goal isn't to change your mind. My goal is to clarify your obvious denial of fact. You can feel bad for me all you want. It won't make your god any more real :)

on Mar. 25 2011 at 7:11 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Lol. I like how you assert things without proof. To you evolution is dumb and foolish? I woudn't expect anything more from you. you keep my standards for you at a nice, stable low.

on Mar. 25 2011 at 7:06 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

YET AGAIN, you offer no reason for why i should agree with you. Honestly, do you write these things with the INTENT of sounding dumb, or does it just come naturally?

on Mar. 25 2011 at 2:20 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

:) I rest my case. I don't need to make you look like an idiot. you're obviously capable of doing it on your own.

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 25 2011 at 1:31 pm
Evolution is a lie from satan's mouth; it was produced from his lips to Darwin's. That is how it was spread. It is a BIG lie to humanity, yet they accept it as truth. To me that's dumb and foolish.

ServantofGod said...
on Mar. 25 2011 at 1:29 pm
Blues that doesn't make sense at all. Then again you don't make sense because lie from your own two front teeth.