Lya's project in which she visited several Christian forums over a couple months has inspired me. In a 5-part series of which this is the first part, I am going to focus on the 10 most common misconceptions about atheists she found and attempt to correct two per post.

Misconception 1: Atheists hate god/are jealous of theists.

The first part of this claim is easy to address, at least on the surface, because it is not possible to hate something in which one does not believe. To say that I hate dragons assumes that I believe dragons exist. If I don't believe dragons exist, saying that I love or hate them is nonsensical. Atheists deny the existence of the Christian god and can therefore not have feelings toward this nonexistent entity.

If we recast this claim as "Atheists hate the Christian concept of god," we move in the right direction. Personally, I would not use the word "hate" in this context. However, I do disagree with the Christian concept of god. Moreover, I find it maladaptive and believe that it is a destructive force, resulting in great conflict and suffering. The Christian bible describes their god as jealous, hateful, intolerant, insecure, and dangerous. This is not a concept to be valued.

Are we jealous of theists? They are the majority and that cetainly brings perks, but most atheists believe that theists are a misguided majority. Are we jealous of their ignorance? Their need to seek consolation in an imaginary friend? Their ability to suspend rational thought in favor of blind devotion? If we were truly jealous, wouldn't we simply join their ranks? To oppose such a vast majority requires considerable courage. It is hard to imagine that petty jealously could explain such opposition.

Misconception 2: Atheists are arrogant and don't want anything "superior" to them.

Some atheists certainly are arrogant just like some Christians. As for arrogance being a reason for disbelief, I would argue that the kind of arrogance this statement probably references follows disbelief and therefore cannot be a cause of it. That is, an atheist who believes that he/she is more rational than most theists generally does so because of his/her disbelief and not the other way around. Atheists should take some degree of pride in throwing off the mantle of blind conformity and embracing the world as it is and not as we might want it to be. If this is arrogance, so be it. But let's be clear that this sort of pride follows and does not preceed disbelief.

There is yet another way this claim could be interpreted. Maybe the Christians making this statement meant that only self-centered, elitist types become atheists. If we infer this intent in the above statement, we have to go no further than to show examples of the diversity within the atheist community. On average, we are better educated than the average Christian (level of education is inversely correlated with religiosity), but both groups are quite diverse. Many atheists have little formal education and would be described as far less elitist than many Christians. Besides, many atheists (probably most of us) became atheists only after being theists for a number of years.

On to Part II.

Tagged as: atheist, atheism, Christian, Christianity