Seven Things Many Christians Believe About Atheists and Why They're Not Necessarily True
6. Atheists are just people who are angry at God. They are miserable people.
I know too many snarky atheists to be able to fully refute this one. But let’s look closer.
First of all, you can’t be angry with something you don’t believe exists. Some Christians use this fact to point out that this is proof that there are really no such things as atheists. That’s a really strange argument, but one that seems to come up now and then. I suspect that there is some theologian author who has purported that, and it makes a good sound bite so it gets passed around.
I can tell you that I don’t believe in God, and you can tell me that I secretly do. We can yell louder and louder, but I’m not sure that volume should determine which position makes more sense. I can’t stop you from suspecting that I do secretly believe in God and that I’m just very angry with Him because of some of the things that have happened in my life. You could probably make a decent case for that. In fact the only thing I can offer to refute that is my telling you that I do not, in fact, believe in God. I’m not sure I can prove to you that I truly don’t believe, any more than I can prove that there is no God. It’s not possible to prove the nonexistence of anything. Try it with unicorns, or green Martians, or Bigfoot, or any other thing that your imagination can come up with. Go ahead. Prove to me that they don’t exist. I’ll wait.
Right.
Interestingly, I’ve had Christians tell me that the very existence of atheists proves that God exists because the concept of God is necessary to the definition of atheist. Really, Christians? Yes, the concept of God exists, but that isn’t the same thing as God existing. Does the fact that many people believe in Bigfoot prove he exists too?
Getting back to the question of why so many atheists just seem so goddamn miserable, we need to look at cause and effect. If Christians are, in fact, happier people overall, doesn’t this point to the reality of God? George Bernard Shaw said, “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.” It makes sense to me that if you’re able to believe that the Creator of the universe loves you and has your best interests in mind, that he is protecting you and your loved ones, and that when you die you won’t cease to be but instead live on in eternal peace and happiness, then I should think you would be very happy.
But you don’t believe in something simply because believing makes you happy, do you? Maybe you do. I can only believe in something because I truly think it is real. If I suspect that it’s not, I don’t seem to be able to just flip a switch and believe anyway. And maybe that’s the crux of our miserable atheists. Life isn’t always a happy thing. Atheists tend to keep their eyes open. Christians, when faced with tragedy, will say things like, “God must have had a reason.” They will thank and praise God when something good happens, as if He reached down from heaven and blessed them personally, but when something bad happens then it’s just a part of God’s plan that we don’t understand. I agree that if there was a God, we probably wouldn’t be privy to his mysterious ways, but then why do we give him credit for the blessings? Aren’t they also part of his mysterious plan? Atheists tend to be more cynical. People have accidents because the roads were wet and a tire blew or any number of reasons that we may never know about. But there is a difference between not knowing what the natural explanation is, and assigning a supernatural explanation.
Atheists are more often realists, and they know that there is no father in the sky looking over them. When our hearts stop, as they all will, our brains cease to receive oxygen. Cells cease to function. Our sense of awareness ends. That’s it. It’s nothing to fear, because we won’t be aware of no longer existing. Was it scary before you were born? But it is sad to know that we will end. It’s more than sad. It’s insulting. Surely I am more than chemicals! Surely this sense of myself that I have, my love for my kids, my desire to do right to others, surely all of that is more than just the neurology of an advanced animal! Isn’t it completely natural that we would think that we are so much more special than other animals? It is this awareness of ourselves that sets us apart. Our evolution is truly impressive. It doesn’t stop just because you do, though. You pass your DNA to your offspring, and so on, and man continues to live on … indefinitely. It’s almost like immortality, isn’t it? It’s pretty cool, but given all that, I’d still kind of prefer to live on. So I’m a little pissed about that.
Also, atheists don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a world that is dominated by those who believe in one God or another. In order to keep religion out of our public spaces, atheists have to look like assholes. The poor teacher just wants to bring her worn out old Bible to the lunchroom to read to the little kids, but the mean old atheists won’t let her. Assholes. But it’s these assholes who are protecting your right to worship how you please, too. We’ve kind of agreed to take that hit for everybody. You’re welcome.
Part 7 - Atheists Won't Believe In Anything Without Proof
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