Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
In the three or four years that I’ve been out as an atheist, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss religion with quite a few Christians. Some were obnoxious, some belligerent, some simply typed in all caps to settle the question once and for all (as evidenced by the phrase, “AND THAT SETTLES IT!”), but most at least tried to be courteous, especially my real life friends. In the course of these conversations I’ve come to find that there are some common, basic assumptions most Christians have about atheists. If we ever hope to share our planet peacefully, we should at least try to learn a little bit about each other. It’s a start.
1. Atheists just don’t want to have to answer to anyone. They want to be able to pursue their various gratifications without guilt.
Probably part of the reason that Christians believe this about atheists is because of the gay question. The “issue” of homosexuality has divided churches and families, but the only reason people seem to give for their opposition to the gay community is that they believe it is a sin in their religious view. Have you heard any other argument against gays? Me either. So let’s look at that.
What if the Bible was just a collection of old stories passed down first orally and then compiled by ancient men? What if, just what if, the Bible is not actually the word of God? (In my experience, most Christians can’t get their heads around this one. I’m not asking anyone to change his beliefs, but if you possibly can, just pretend with me for a minute that the Bible is an old book, full of some good stuff and some just strange stuff.) If the admonishments in the Bible against homosexuality aren’t the word of our Creator, but are instead just your regular old, run-of-the-mill bigotry against anyone different, then how might that change your stance on gays? Without religion, would you have any reason to oppose gay rights? Maybe you still think it’s gross. Maybe you still hope your kids will be straight, because it’s not easy being different. But if there was no God, would it make sense to fight to keep gays from pursuing happiness like you do? Could it be, just possibly, that a small percentage of people are attracted to members of their same gender, for reasons we don’t fully understand yet? If that’s the case, then the gay atheist is dating and marrying for the same reasons you date and marry, not just because he can get away with it.
But that’s just the gay thing. What about other measures of morality?
We can look at statistics, where available, for atheists vs. Christians. Just like you may know several atheists who get drunk every day and sleep around, I know some Christians who do that. None of that is statistically significant. If we look at the few studies that do exist, you might be surprised to learn that the divorce rate is actually lower for atheists than Christians, as are the rates of teen pregnancy, criminal behavior, abortion, murder, and domestic violence. Obviously there are a lot more Christians than atheists in the US, but these statistics show that the percentage of Christians with these problems is actually higher than the percentage of atheists who suffer from them. I won’t speculate on why that is, but I offer it as evidence that atheism, in and of itself, doesn’t seem to be a free ticket to carnal wickedness that some Christians seem to think it would be.
What about how we treat others? Turn the other cheek, love one another, all of that, good stuff. Did you know that Christ wasn't the first person to teach what we call the Golden Rule? The "ethic of reciprocity" was present in almost all ancient civilizations, including those that predated Rome. To those who claim that their morality comes from the Bible I would ask, what is your source for the knowledge that slavery is wrong? The Bible condones slavery, incest, rape, and murder. Fortunately, and thankfully, most people have enough sense to know that these things are wrong, Bible not required.
What about atheist governments and societies? I call this the Hitler argument, which is funny because Hitler claimed many times to be Christian, had considerable help from the Vatican, and his hatred of the Jews had its origin, at least in part, in Christianity. But people who know history a little better will use Italy's Benito Mussolini; the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin; China's Mao Tse-Tung; Cambodia's Pol Pot; North Korea's Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il; Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic as examples of atheist leaders. Yes, these guys rejected religion, but they didn’t commit atrocities “in the name of atheism.” There is no “name of atheism.” It’s just non-belief. Sometimes an evil bastard is just an evil bastard.
Apparently we’re to believe that it’s Christianity alone that is keeping us all from killing each other. But what about all the Christian wars throughout history? What about the Inquisition? That was a long time ago. Okay, what about the wars today that have religion at their cause? Rwanda, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Timor, India, Indonesia, Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Sudan, the Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Chechnya, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Uganda and pretty much everything that has ever and is still happening in the Middle East, have religious differences as the source of their conflict. What about terrorists who murder for their God? Believing with your whole being that people of other religions are the enemy of your God hardly lends itself to compromise. Conversely, those countries which rank highest on the global peace scale are also those with the greatest numbers of atheists.
It is entirely possible to be atheist, AND be an evil asshole, just as it is possible to be Christian and be an evil asshole. Stalin & company, assholes. Their societies were about absolute power and corruption, which, by the way, is a lot easier to accomplish if you can convince the masses that you work for God. Our best hope for peaceful societies is those in which people are free to learn and embrace the kinds of philosophy that hold meaning for them. For some that will include religion, but some have learned that religion isn’t necessary for a peaceful existence. When was the last time you saw an atheist with a bomb strapped to his chest blow up a city bus?
Part 2 - Atheists Have Never Experienced God
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