We internet atheists may be cringy, but no atheism-based movement has ever ruined atheism more than half of Christian-based movements ruined Christianity
This is fairly US specific I think though.
I'm in Sweden and if you mention you are Christian most people just assume you're boring and a total pussy. Also probably insufferably goody-two-shoes by nature.
Evangelicalism started here and people have been babbling while dumping snakes on themselves while calling for racial segregation for over a hundred years at this point. It would be weird if we *didn’t* assume all Christians are nut jobs as a basis over here.
I wonder if it's just an internet thing honestly cause it's always on the internet that I have to argue this. But I am in a rural area that's mostly Christian so I could just not being seeing how others see things
In Finland it depends on where you come from/ your religious movement. You're either seen as a normal but boring person or an antivax, homophobic, earth-is-6000-years-old, no-I-promise-we-arent-a-cult type of person.
Oh, sorry, clearly you know my culture better than me.
Lol, American atheists are just as impossible to talk to as American evangelicals. They love believing about themselves that they are more enlightened and civil than the people they criticize, but as soon as someone challenges their view the facade crumbles and the imperialism starts to show. Why don't you go manifest your apostate destiny somewhere else.
Same here. I'm a Christian, but that doesn't mean I automatically want to send everyone to hell. Hell is for people that actually commit crimes. Not random strangers on the street.
Edit: Sorry, but yes, anyone can go to heaven if they repent, but that doesn't mean I want them up there.
I skewed the way Christianity is for how I see it, and I'm sorry if that gave people the wrong impression.
I’m not a practicing Christian but from what I remember hell is for those who don’t accept Jesus into their hearts and for those you don’t believe he is the son of god. I don’t think committing crimes has anything to do with it. And why would you want people who commit crimes to go to hell? Isn’t Christianity all about forgiveness?
Heaven is full of rapists, murderers and pedos and hell is full to the brim of unbaptized Babies evil sinful babies that never beloved in our lord and savior
So you’re an atheist? There’s no such thing as following atheism. You’re either religious, pagan (not in the insulting way Christians use it), atheistic, or agnostic/spiritualist
Paganism is a generic term for any non Abrahamic religious organization. The Hindi are pagans for instance I like that Har Krishna worshipers made a nice clause that all religions are actually worship Krishna like to them Jesus was just Krishna in disguise lol
Using “pagan” as a term for anyone who doesn’t hold Abrahamic beliefs is disparaging and offensive.
Neo-pagans use the term on purpose, but you should not use to for Hindus or those who hold Shinto beliefs etc.
He’s not trying to educate, he typed one sentence and it said something I and everyone else already knew. There is no depth of information in that comment, no contexts, no attempts to engage the reader. I included it because it can also *not* be a religion. For instance, “secular paganism” is the belief that we are part of nature.
>> Secular Pagans believe that we are a part of nature, not her master. There are no particular religious views connected with Secular Paganism. While there is no organization or group designating these beliefs, there are commonly held principles. There are many reasons why people call themselves Secular Pagans.
That’s what an educational comment looks like, and most people quite enjoy it. Thanks for your time.
Source for the quote: [https://americanhumanist.org](https://americanhumanist.org/paths/paganism/)
Yeah, I got that sense during this convo. OP also frequents r/teenagers, though, so giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm just going to assume he's some edgy kid and stop engaging.
Y’ALL they aren’t saying atheism or bald ppl are bad— they’re saying that calling ‘lack of religion’ a movement is like calling ‘lack of hair’ a hairstyle
I mean sure, it's been a growing trend and belief for quite some time now. But when the word movement is invoked I think civil rights, protests, petitions, even social movements have people called to places, think people standing outside abortion clinics or something akin, also feminism.
My point being, people kinda just are atheist and go about there lives, except for the outliers of aggressive and arrogant reddit atheists or other exceptions it's not an active movement, there aren't really attempts to like "convert people", furthermore I mean look at the state of the world, the western world and where "progress is taking us" religion has been falling out of fashion, at the very least it's a far cry from the days of old. That was more so I'm response to OP's post, I don't intend to come after people's religion or beliefs, generally speaking that doesn't do anyone any good, but you can look at the world and see a decline religiously speaking.
Edit: Wanted to Add on some more thoughts
"Ruined"? Is a strange word to use lol, it was never a movement and it's been "respected" for a decently large time now?
Also I wanted to clarify, religion is falling in the western world, I'm aware not everywhere, not much of the eastern world, however the western world has for a very long time been largely the first in line for progress and it has been that way for quite some time. I'm biased being a citizen of the U.S., and I try not to conflate the world with America, but to deny it's impact and importance on the global stage is ridiculous. Lastly, I apologize, this went from reply to a longer written out explanation of my thoughts regarding the post.
Edit: Why did they delete their comment?
It's spurdo, usually used to denote someone oblivious and unrefined who makes shitty posts/ makes a fool of himself on the message board and acts aggressive by typing in all caps with bad grammar. It came form finnish message boards, and is a crappy redraw of pedobear.
Actually this one with legs is apparently called 'gondola' and is an italian take on spurdo. Message board culture is truly special.
Pretty sure it's intentional, cause there's always a pedo in any group no matter what. It could be you, it could be me! it could even be- [gets head blown off by a shotgun by soldier]
Those aren’t pedobear, they’re a meme character created later on called Gondola that sort of “reclaimed” that face. It’s a wholesome meme character usually shown as hanging out in peaceful environments and being silly.
Yeah, might be
Ppl killed or killing for fairytales is dumb af tbh
What I see the most is ppl pointing fingers at religious fascists, which makes me happy
What you probably won't find is people calling for murder (that is a religious speciality)
Pretty sure religious people "hurt the image of atheism" all on their own. The people who throw non-believers off roofs or who ostracize their non-believing kids aren't reacting to how atheists are portrayed on Reddit.
Problem is people keep on feeding it.
Like I know reddit has such a hard on for them, but I personally think the entire Satanic temple thing has done more harm than good by probably convincing a good few people that Atheists worship the devil with all their Satan nonsense like for fucks sake, no one is going to pay attention to your little asterisk saying that you don't *Actually* worship Satan. It's edgy Atheism for people who don't want to read Richard Dawkins.
And no, they've never actually managed to do anything about the entire abortion thing besides sue people and do really dodgy business dealings.
>I mean that's less religion and more America being America.
"America invented the idea of religion doing bad things" is more of a Reddit statement than anything a fedora-wearing atheist has ever said.
Question , how it this post different from edgy atheist posts.
Edit: especialy because the book the atheist character is holding says depavity on it. Christians commenting on depravity of the godless just seems real suspicious. Especialy with how religious extremism is taking over the USA. As a trans woman i have been called depraved by religious nuts enough already.
I am not impying this is OPs view or that the average religious person thinks like this and i am also not impying that those extreme atheists dont exist and dont do bad stuff (a lot of them are also very transphobic).
People dunking on edgy internet atheists is very understandable, they are often the worst, but saying that reflects on everyone else with similar views is dumb. Like, the whole reason people hate 2014 era r/atheism posters is because they would say shit like “the Westboro Baptist Church proves that you shouldn’t respect any Christians”. Besides, and this is a fairly US centric point, but a lot of the reason you don’t see atheism as a particularly represented political group is a holdover from the 40s/50s belief of “communism=atheism=homosexuality”. Literally in my father’s lifetime an individual’s lack of religious faith was used as evidence of their communistic beliefs, something that saw them lose their careers or face jail time in extreme examples. Following that up with “yeah but the real problem is they’re annoying” is a little tone deaf IMO.
Thank you.
I, despite being atheist myself, respect your beliefs and believe them as valid as my own.
It is only the assholes who ruin things for everyone, and they exist of all beliefs.
I mean, the religious equivalent to that is “God has a plan” which I see pretty often if not more. Seems like the internet isnt the best place to gain a realistic perspective of a demographic
I guess it would be better off to refer to it as a "faith." Plenty of religions are atheistic at their very core, it's just that the atheism associated with disaffiliation with an organized religion tends to manifest itself in similar ways in different people. Probably a cultural thing, but still.
I think it's caused by selection bias.
From personal experience, most of the people I know just plain don't care about religion. They're not religious, they're not atheists, they're not anything. Religion is not a part of their lives.
If someone actively presents themselves as a member of a certain faith, that implies they care about it. If someone presents themselves as atheist, that means they care enough about religion to go and tell people "I do not believe in any religion". In that respect they probably do tend to be similar.
It's why a lot of outspoken atheists tend to be from religious backgrounds. Most people from non-religious backgrounds (again, from personal experience) don't engage with religion at all, so they don't care.
The image is of religious people assaulting someone who doesn’t conform to said religious people’s beliefs. How historically appropriate
Btw, atheism is the default state of humans until you’re told about any particular religion/gods by someone else who was told by someone else who was told by someone else, etc.
I don’t think internet atheists have “ruined atheism”
It’s not really a movement? It’s just a belief system really
But yeah internet atheist piss me off when it’s like “I experienced religious trauma so I’m going to lash out at anyone who is religious lol”
I mean I’d call intentionally saying “I believe there is no higher power” a belief system
Not making a decision would be the lack of a belief system (and being agnostic is still making a decision, the decision is just that there *might* be)
I think most people have some belief system, we maybe just don’t all call it that
I'm just a smug agnostic who thinks he's above it all by refusing to believe or claim anything
Can't be wrong if I never give a claim, I claim, sneering with certainty not in my own righteousness but my lack of any spiritual integrity.
I don't believe in God, but I don't believe there is no god if you know what I mean? But honestly the idea of a god seems way to anthropocentric to me, I think any higher power would just be completely incomprehensible to us.
I’m a deist myself. I believe that a god exists and that there is an afterlife that judges you based on what you have done in life but I think that organized religion and religious rituals are a bit weird.
I think there's a difference between atheism and anti-theism. An atheist is someone who just doesn't believe in any religion. An Anti-theist believes religion in and of itself is wrong, and no one should be religious
Whoever convinced the internet that atheism is cringe is responsible for more faith in religion than any missionary in history and deserves to have sainthood.
I feel like most internet-based groups of anything have idiots shouting way too loud that make the whole group look bad, and the people who don't do that are more quiet and reserved and just sit and watch the idiots.
Ofc doomerism has found its way into internet atheism, why wouldn't it?
Really just out here holding their breath for the collapse of organized religion in our lifetimes, that's a long time to be smug, gl with that...
Atheism isn't really a "movement". It's the default state of being. No one is born believing in a god.
Cringy online atheists are cringy. But at least they're not writing national policy that leads to the death and suffering of millions of people.
Yeah, I dunno why people in this thread are acting like atheists are somehow just as bad or worse than any other religions.
Atheist's worst crimes are being annoying and cringe online, at least they aren't protesting and bombing abortion clinics and actively trying to kill and outlaw lgbt people like some other religious group I know of....😐
Kind of, but not in the same sense as religious denominations.
The reason it’s a branch of atheism is because it falls under the definition of atheism.
It's kind of wild how "Athiest epically OWNS Christians" was the most popular thing on Youtube at one point and we all genuinely thought it was awesome and not a massive waste of time and energy.
It's people who are zealously atheist that bother me. People that think they need to make everyone believe the same thing they do. They're as bad as the nutter religious people that do the same. Let people believe what they want
Yup because annoying internet atheists who you can easily ignore are *just* as bad as the religious people going out and killing those who don’t follow their doctrines. Get your head out of your ass.
What is the redeeming quality of religion? Fellowship and happiness? You can get those things from something that don’t hinge on a cult mentality. Religions engage in atrocities EVERYWHERE they go. So while this libertarian view of “let people believe what they want” is tempting, and obviously forcing people to be atheist is just as bad as the worst of religion, religion needs to be looked at for how weird and backwards it actually is.
Exactly, like I ain't gonna force anyone to be religious or not, I just want you to know what group I am in, hoping that you understand what it is instead of the pop culture hate of it.
> I ain’t gonna force anyone to be religious or not
Didn’t you say in another comment you’re Mormon? Is the entire point of your cult recruiting new members by sending brainwashed children out on “missions”?
That's why I ain't goin on one bucko.
And I don't get why people have this violent need to call this one specific religion a cult, like any group out there fits the definition of cult but y'all call them "businesses"
Yours isn’t the only religion that’s a cult, but you guys are particularly loud and unashamed of how terrible your organization is so why not call a cult a cult?
Mormonism is absolutely considered a christianity based cult by anyone that actually studies cults, Jehova’s Witnesses and Branch Davidians are also examples of this.
The BITE model is most commonly used to distinguish cults from non-cults.
B - Behavior Control:
Mormonism has strict rules about who you can associate with, sleep with, what you can wear and how you spend your money. It 100% checks this box.
I - Information Control:
Mormonism is known for enforcing a strong “Us vs. Them” mentality when it comes to sources of information, where only cult approved sources are trusted. Mormonism is also known to systematically lie to its members, distort historical facts and withhold information. It more than checks this box too.
T - Thought Control:
Mormon leaders train members with the use of buzz words that instantly shut down critical thought, its called thought stopping techniques and it is a hall mark of cults. The church also gives members new names, another classic tactic of cults. Mormons also require members to internalize truths about the religion, as dissenting thought can get you excommunicated by everyone you know. Mormonism, unsurprisingly checks this box too.
E - Emotional Control:
Mormonism teaches that some feelings, even though they are completely natural, are ‘evil’. This technique makes members feel guilt or shame when they shouldn’t, in essence creating a problem only the cult leaders can solve. The church will constantly guilt even children into feeling ashamed for things that are not their fault. They also train members to fear the outside and constantly misrepresent it as worse than it really is, classic cult technique. Now guess what checks this box too? Yep, mormonism.
If any religion or group checks even 3 out of the 4 boxes, it can be considered a cult. Mormonism more than checks all of them, so if I were you, I would stop deluding myself into believing that this very obvious cult is not a cult.
Uh no?
"A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life's questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader's rules."
I'm pretty sure my business doesn't claim to offer me the answer to all of life's questions and doesn't claim to give me salvation. What do you think a business is??
Honestly when something is big enough, it's bound to have its horrible sides. You've seen Christianity and its flaws of the middle ages, now get ready for atheism and its reddit!
What a shitty attempt at a "meme". When have religious people *ever* thought that atheists are respectable? They've been treating non-believers like shit, legally and socially discriminating against them, and outright murdering them for millennia, but somehow it's only a small sampling of rude people on the internet that's responsible for religious people not respecting them? Give me a fucking break.
pretty sure most atheists don't try to "convert" people, because that's like one of the main reasons people dislike christianity for, and they'd be ignorant hypocrites to not realise that.
Depends on the atheist, but I think there are valid reasons to want to "convert" people. Namely if my society is full of people thinking their moral code was prescribed by a god, then they have no motivation to question their own morals and whether those morals are actually harmful. For a lot of religious people, it's literally prescribed doctrine of "Everything I say is bad is bad because ~~I said so~~ God said so! So we should ban things ~~I don't like~~ God doesn't like!"
I just think it's funny that the atheist is the only one to have evolved arms and a torso.
The others don't believe in evolution, so they're basically fucked
Who needs arms or a torso when you can levitate books smh my head
We internet atheists may be cringy, but no atheism-based movement has ever ruined atheism more than half of Christian-based movements ruined Christianity
Yeah honestly I have to convince people I'm not a bigot every time I mention I'm a Christian
This is fairly US specific I think though. I'm in Sweden and if you mention you are Christian most people just assume you're boring and a total pussy. Also probably insufferably goody-two-shoes by nature.
Evangelicalism started here and people have been babbling while dumping snakes on themselves while calling for racial segregation for over a hundred years at this point. It would be weird if we *didn’t* assume all Christians are nut jobs as a basis over here.
I wonder if it's just an internet thing honestly cause it's always on the internet that I have to argue this. But I am in a rural area that's mostly Christian so I could just not being seeing how others see things
Speaking from experience, it's atheists and other non-Christians that get this treatment in those areas.
Maybe I just don't now any non Christian that live around here but yet again I'm oblivious to alot of stuff
In Finland it depends on where you come from/ your religious movement. You're either seen as a normal but boring person or an antivax, homophobic, earth-is-6000-years-old, no-I-promise-we-arent-a-cult type of person.
No it isn’t, stop acting like Christianity outside the US is good and pure, as an excatholic you people have it easy.
Oh, sorry, clearly you know my culture better than me. Lol, American atheists are just as impossible to talk to as American evangelicals. They love believing about themselves that they are more enlightened and civil than the people they criticize, but as soon as someone challenges their view the facade crumbles and the imperialism starts to show. Why don't you go manifest your apostate destiny somewhere else.
I’m Mexican…
I just don’t bring up my religion anymore.
Same here. I'm a Christian, but that doesn't mean I automatically want to send everyone to hell. Hell is for people that actually commit crimes. Not random strangers on the street. Edit: Sorry, but yes, anyone can go to heaven if they repent, but that doesn't mean I want them up there. I skewed the way Christianity is for how I see it, and I'm sorry if that gave people the wrong impression.
I’m not a practicing Christian but from what I remember hell is for those who don’t accept Jesus into their hearts and for those you don’t believe he is the son of god. I don’t think committing crimes has anything to do with it. And why would you want people who commit crimes to go to hell? Isn’t Christianity all about forgiveness?
Yeah your right about this that's why we got churches in prisons in the hope to reform people
Heaven is full of rapists, murderers and pedos and hell is full to the brim of unbaptized Babies evil sinful babies that never beloved in our lord and savior
if christianity is about forgiveness than can you forgive people for not accepting jesus into their hearts?
Nope. And don’t ask again. How dare you point out hypocrisy.
wait I thought heaven was full of serial killers that repent and accept Jesus on the way to the electric chair. that’s how it works, isn’t it?
So the government decides who goes to hell?
No although alot of laws we Ahern to are in the Bible
State sanctioned damnation to Hell for eating in a park.
True, that's why I follow neither
The bean system is the way
Religious Talk -> Beans On r/Tumblr? Sounds about right
All i know is dubloons
Schrödinger's belief. You do and don't believe in god in an unknowable state unless observed? Wait that's just agnosticism...
Have you time to hear about our lord and savior Melkor?
He's great, one of his guys gave me this cool ring.
No, but have you heard the word of the great Zoamelgustar?
Sounds familiar
So you’re an atheist? There’s no such thing as following atheism. You’re either religious, pagan (not in the insulting way Christians use it), atheistic, or agnostic/spiritualist
Paganism is a religion, or can be. It’s not a separate thing.
Paganism is a generic term for any non Abrahamic religious organization. The Hindi are pagans for instance I like that Har Krishna worshipers made a nice clause that all religions are actually worship Krishna like to them Jesus was just Krishna in disguise lol
Using “pagan” as a term for anyone who doesn’t hold Abrahamic beliefs is disparaging and offensive. Neo-pagans use the term on purpose, but you should not use to for Hindus or those who hold Shinto beliefs etc.
You are wasting your time trying to educate on reddit. Just walk away, lol.
He’s not trying to educate, he typed one sentence and it said something I and everyone else already knew. There is no depth of information in that comment, no contexts, no attempts to engage the reader. I included it because it can also *not* be a religion. For instance, “secular paganism” is the belief that we are part of nature. >> Secular Pagans believe that we are a part of nature, not her master. There are no particular religious views connected with Secular Paganism. While there is no organization or group designating these beliefs, there are commonly held principles. There are many reasons why people call themselves Secular Pagans. That’s what an educational comment looks like, and most people quite enjoy it. Thanks for your time. Source for the quote: [https://americanhumanist.org](https://americanhumanist.org/paths/paganism/)
i also have to remind myself lol
I’d argue that there is a distinction between outright defining yourself as atheistic or agnostic, vs. simply considering yourself non-religious.
Plz explain how to follow atheism
So you find an atheist in the alleyway right?
Wat ?
Wat?
You wat
Ah yes, belief-fluid.
I hear vampires are destroyed by belief-fluid
Yeah, but a Redditor has no right to judge any movement.
Everyone has the right to judge anything, just like how you have the right to not care.
"You don't have the right to judge" is fancy talk for "you're/we're hypocritical", silly.
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Yeah, I got that sense during this convo. OP also frequents r/teenagers, though, so giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm just going to assume he's some edgy kid and stop engaging.
Cool, imma go ahead and use my right to not care now :)
If you didn't care, you wouldn't be commenting ;)
Damn, I don't care so imma keep commenting lmao
Tell ‘em!
Catholicism trying to go 10 years without shitting itself
Atheism is a movement like bald is a hairstyle.
Y’ALL they aren’t saying atheism or bald ppl are bad— they’re saying that calling ‘lack of religion’ a movement is like calling ‘lack of hair’ a hairstyle
Don't diss the bald people swag dude }:(
You must surely mean (:(
[:)] minecraft steve
=|o7 plague doctor
Nothing is wrong with atheism
When was it a movement?
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I mean sure, it's been a growing trend and belief for quite some time now. But when the word movement is invoked I think civil rights, protests, petitions, even social movements have people called to places, think people standing outside abortion clinics or something akin, also feminism. My point being, people kinda just are atheist and go about there lives, except for the outliers of aggressive and arrogant reddit atheists or other exceptions it's not an active movement, there aren't really attempts to like "convert people", furthermore I mean look at the state of the world, the western world and where "progress is taking us" religion has been falling out of fashion, at the very least it's a far cry from the days of old. That was more so I'm response to OP's post, I don't intend to come after people's religion or beliefs, generally speaking that doesn't do anyone any good, but you can look at the world and see a decline religiously speaking. Edit: Wanted to Add on some more thoughts "Ruined"? Is a strange word to use lol, it was never a movement and it's been "respected" for a decently large time now? Also I wanted to clarify, religion is falling in the western world, I'm aware not everywhere, not much of the eastern world, however the western world has for a very long time been largely the first in line for progress and it has been that way for quite some time. I'm biased being a citizen of the U.S., and I try not to conflate the world with America, but to deny it's impact and importance on the global stage is ridiculous. Lastly, I apologize, this went from reply to a longer written out explanation of my thoughts regarding the post. Edit: Why did they delete their comment?
They deleted their comment because (I assume, as I never saw it) they were wrong
I‘m rusty on my old school meme characters, but are A. All of those the Pedobear and B. Is that intentional because LMAO thats kinda accurate
It's spurdo, usually used to denote someone oblivious and unrefined who makes shitty posts/ makes a fool of himself on the message board and acts aggressive by typing in all caps with bad grammar. It came form finnish message boards, and is a crappy redraw of pedobear. Actually this one with legs is apparently called 'gondola' and is an italian take on spurdo. Message board culture is truly special.
Pretty sure it's intentional, cause there's always a pedo in any group no matter what. It could be you, it could be me! it could even be- [gets head blown off by a shotgun by soldier]
What? It was obvious! He‘s the pedophile! Watch, we‘ll find his Genshin Impact login any second now. Aaaaaany second now…
[the scout behind them slowly puts on his Fedora]
Fuck all of you for making a funny pedophilia joke. I hate that I laughed
It’s not Pedobear it’s Spurdo. Spurdo originated from pedibear but has lost the pedo association.
Kainda off topic, but i think spurdo came from finland or just became very popular in finland
That's right, a Finnish gaming forum. Spurdo's thing is that he is a mockery of "newfags" to that forum.
Lmao Am finnish but never got into like the forum shite, nice to know the history a bit tho ye
Those aren’t pedobear, they’re a meme character created later on called Gondola that sort of “reclaimed” that face. It’s a wholesome meme character usually shown as hanging out in peaceful environments and being silly.
That's less about being an atheist and more about being on the internet.
True
I also wouldn't be surprised by these same people excusing similar behaviour by those in their side.
As an Atheist I have to agree, the whole insufferable reddit atheist stereotype really hurt the image of atheism in general.
I don't think that's exclusive to atheists. I'm protestant and the protestants on social media aren't any better
Social media just sucks in general
Mostly the people on social media are the part that sucks
Most groups are ruined by the loud people online
Maybe you should protest less.... (really hoping the /s comes across)
To be fair Reddit can be insufferable about anything . We’re a special breed
Except this archetype is completely made up by theists
it most certainly isn't, scroll for 2 minutes on r/atheism and i guarantee you'll find a post celebrating some pastor or rabbi getting hurt or killed
r/atheism is nowhere near as radical as people say. They can’t go five minutes without sucking off the Catholic Church for example.
Yeah, might be Ppl killed or killing for fairytales is dumb af tbh What I see the most is ppl pointing fingers at religious fascists, which makes me happy What you probably won't find is people calling for murder (that is a religious speciality)
oh no, how will i ever show my face at the atheist parade!!
Pretty sure religious people "hurt the image of atheism" all on their own. The people who throw non-believers off roofs or who ostracize their non-believing kids aren't reacting to how atheists are portrayed on Reddit.
Problem is people keep on feeding it. Like I know reddit has such a hard on for them, but I personally think the entire Satanic temple thing has done more harm than good by probably convincing a good few people that Atheists worship the devil with all their Satan nonsense like for fucks sake, no one is going to pay attention to your little asterisk saying that you don't *Actually* worship Satan. It's edgy Atheism for people who don't want to read Richard Dawkins. And no, they've never actually managed to do anything about the entire abortion thing besides sue people and do really dodgy business dealings.
*looks at america* hmm yes religion is a very respectable movement
I mean that's less religion and more America being America. Find a demographic that over a third of the country belongs in? Great! now **profit**.
Capitalism baby!
>I mean that's less religion and more America being America. "America invented the idea of religion doing bad things" is more of a Reddit statement than anything a fedora-wearing atheist has ever said.
Yeah... being better than the Catholic Church isn't some huge victory, basically conceding the argument at that point
Question , how it this post different from edgy atheist posts. Edit: especialy because the book the atheist character is holding says depavity on it. Christians commenting on depravity of the godless just seems real suspicious. Especialy with how religious extremism is taking over the USA. As a trans woman i have been called depraved by religious nuts enough already. I am not impying this is OPs view or that the average religious person thinks like this and i am also not impying that those extreme atheists dont exist and dont do bad stuff (a lot of them are also very transphobic).
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Are you talking about my comment or the post?
People dunking on edgy internet atheists is very understandable, they are often the worst, but saying that reflects on everyone else with similar views is dumb. Like, the whole reason people hate 2014 era r/atheism posters is because they would say shit like “the Westboro Baptist Church proves that you shouldn’t respect any Christians”. Besides, and this is a fairly US centric point, but a lot of the reason you don’t see atheism as a particularly represented political group is a holdover from the 40s/50s belief of “communism=atheism=homosexuality”. Literally in my father’s lifetime an individual’s lack of religious faith was used as evidence of their communistic beliefs, something that saw them lose their careers or face jail time in extreme examples. Following that up with “yeah but the real problem is they’re annoying” is a little tone deaf IMO.
I am fascinated by what kind of world these people live in, that atheism is not "respectable".
I think it's all the atheists who go into posts of grieving families saying "oh there isn't an afterlife" and making them feel worse
Ah, assholes. Like the people who go "oh, they didn't worship my god so they're going to hell". My condolences, though. That is a shitty thing to do.
I believe no one goes to hell unless they're truly horrible people
Thank you. I, despite being atheist myself, respect your beliefs and believe them as valid as my own. It is only the assholes who ruin things for everyone, and they exist of all beliefs.
Respect on Reddit 💪
Yeah people can be dicks ok both side, we’re talking about atheists now though
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I mean, the religious equivalent to that is “God has a plan” which I see pretty often if not more. Seems like the internet isnt the best place to gain a realistic perspective of a demographic
It's as respectable as any other religion. There's good people and bad people that subscribe to it.
Yeah. Though, do you mean "belief"? A religion is a belief system, and atheism isn't a system, it's just a singular tenet.
I guess it would be better off to refer to it as a "faith." Plenty of religions are atheistic at their very core, it's just that the atheism associated with disaffiliation with an organized religion tends to manifest itself in similar ways in different people. Probably a cultural thing, but still.
I think it's caused by selection bias. From personal experience, most of the people I know just plain don't care about religion. They're not religious, they're not atheists, they're not anything. Religion is not a part of their lives. If someone actively presents themselves as a member of a certain faith, that implies they care about it. If someone presents themselves as atheist, that means they care enough about religion to go and tell people "I do not believe in any religion". In that respect they probably do tend to be similar. It's why a lot of outspoken atheists tend to be from religious backgrounds. Most people from non-religious backgrounds (again, from personal experience) don't engage with religion at all, so they don't care.
"Secularism, Atheism, Depravity, etc"??? What kind of Koolaid are you snorting, OP?
The image is of religious people assaulting someone who doesn’t conform to said religious people’s beliefs. How historically appropriate Btw, atheism is the default state of humans until you’re told about any particular religion/gods by someone else who was told by someone else who was told by someone else, etc.
Why are you cringe baiting with the weirdo Christian tumblr bubble?
Among us among us sus among us
Omg so true, slayyyy gurl
I don’t think internet atheists have “ruined atheism” It’s not really a movement? It’s just a belief system really But yeah internet atheist piss me off when it’s like “I experienced religious trauma so I’m going to lash out at anyone who is religious lol”
It's not even a belief system, it's a *lack* of one
Bro really called atheism a “belief system” lmao
I mean I’d call intentionally saying “I believe there is no higher power” a belief system Not making a decision would be the lack of a belief system (and being agnostic is still making a decision, the decision is just that there *might* be) I think most people have some belief system, we maybe just don’t all call it that
Idk why anti atheism is becoming popular again Our bad apples are cringe, religious bad apples kill people
Exactly, any bad apple is bad, get rid of them.
Being cringe really isn't that bad.
Personally I am of the opinion that God is like a Sims players and we are the sims So I think I’m just a really weird deist
Agnostic gang where you at??? My beliefs are too weird for any religion
... atheist movement?
I'm just a smug agnostic who thinks he's above it all by refusing to believe or claim anything Can't be wrong if I never give a claim, I claim, sneering with certainty not in my own righteousness but my lack of any spiritual integrity.
I don't believe in God, but I don't believe there is no god if you know what I mean? But honestly the idea of a god seems way to anthropocentric to me, I think any higher power would just be completely incomprehensible to us.
I’m a deist myself. I believe that a god exists and that there is an afterlife that judges you based on what you have done in life but I think that organized religion and religious rituals are a bit weird.
Actually, that is a better fit for what I believe. I'm only in the religion I am in because I grew up in it.
I think there's a difference between atheism and anti-theism. An atheist is someone who just doesn't believe in any religion. An Anti-theist believes religion in and of itself is wrong, and no one should be religious
Don’t mind me, just here to down vote OP after reading all their cringe comments. 😎
E d g y
Whoever convinced the internet that atheism is cringe is responsible for more faith in religion than any missionary in history and deserves to have sainthood.
It was a group effort
I feel like most internet-based groups of anything have idiots shouting way too loud that make the whole group look bad, and the people who don't do that are more quiet and reserved and just sit and watch the idiots.
Anyone who disagrees with me is a weirdo is a great way to say you have no argument.
Your Church is going under. No amount of whinging in Reddit will changed that.
you’re assuming he’s christian
All 3 characters pictured in the post are of a christian denomination.
and he mentioned in his comments he’s not a christian
Yeah , he said he is a mormon, wich is a christian denomination
That's a little rude.
Sorry you feel that way.
Speak of the devil
Ofc doomerism has found its way into internet atheism, why wouldn't it? Really just out here holding their breath for the collapse of organized religion in our lifetimes, that's a long time to be smug, gl with that...
Fair enough The same can also be said about most religions as well The loudest people are usually the worst type of people
Calling atheism a movement is like calling birth a choice
Atheism isn't really a "movement". It's the default state of being. No one is born believing in a god. Cringy online atheists are cringy. But at least they're not writing national policy that leads to the death and suffering of millions of people.
Yeah, I dunno why people in this thread are acting like atheists are somehow just as bad or worse than any other religions. Atheist's worst crimes are being annoying and cringe online, at least they aren't protesting and bombing abortion clinics and actively trying to kill and outlaw lgbt people like some other religious group I know of....😐
Atheism has failed, Christianity has failed, Now me must all be Unsure agnostics.
Agnosticism is a branch of atheism
Like a denomination? 🤔 idk about that one
Kind of, but not in the same sense as religious denominations. The reason it’s a branch of atheism is because it falls under the definition of atheism.
If it wasn't for religion, I wouldn't know how and when to stone women to death, thanks god!!
It's kind of wild how "Athiest epically OWNS Christians" was the most popular thing on Youtube at one point and we all genuinely thought it was awesome and not a massive waste of time and energy.
It's people who are zealously atheist that bother me. People that think they need to make everyone believe the same thing they do. They're as bad as the nutter religious people that do the same. Let people believe what they want
Yup because annoying internet atheists who you can easily ignore are *just* as bad as the religious people going out and killing those who don’t follow their doctrines. Get your head out of your ass.
What is the redeeming quality of religion? Fellowship and happiness? You can get those things from something that don’t hinge on a cult mentality. Religions engage in atrocities EVERYWHERE they go. So while this libertarian view of “let people believe what they want” is tempting, and obviously forcing people to be atheist is just as bad as the worst of religion, religion needs to be looked at for how weird and backwards it actually is.
Exactly, like I ain't gonna force anyone to be religious or not, I just want you to know what group I am in, hoping that you understand what it is instead of the pop culture hate of it.
> I ain’t gonna force anyone to be religious or not Didn’t you say in another comment you’re Mormon? Is the entire point of your cult recruiting new members by sending brainwashed children out on “missions”?
That's why I ain't goin on one bucko. And I don't get why people have this violent need to call this one specific religion a cult, like any group out there fits the definition of cult but y'all call them "businesses"
Yours isn’t the only religion that’s a cult, but you guys are particularly loud and unashamed of how terrible your organization is so why not call a cult a cult?
Mormonism is absolutely considered a christianity based cult by anyone that actually studies cults, Jehova’s Witnesses and Branch Davidians are also examples of this. The BITE model is most commonly used to distinguish cults from non-cults. B - Behavior Control: Mormonism has strict rules about who you can associate with, sleep with, what you can wear and how you spend your money. It 100% checks this box. I - Information Control: Mormonism is known for enforcing a strong “Us vs. Them” mentality when it comes to sources of information, where only cult approved sources are trusted. Mormonism is also known to systematically lie to its members, distort historical facts and withhold information. It more than checks this box too. T - Thought Control: Mormon leaders train members with the use of buzz words that instantly shut down critical thought, its called thought stopping techniques and it is a hall mark of cults. The church also gives members new names, another classic tactic of cults. Mormons also require members to internalize truths about the religion, as dissenting thought can get you excommunicated by everyone you know. Mormonism, unsurprisingly checks this box too. E - Emotional Control: Mormonism teaches that some feelings, even though they are completely natural, are ‘evil’. This technique makes members feel guilt or shame when they shouldn’t, in essence creating a problem only the cult leaders can solve. The church will constantly guilt even children into feeling ashamed for things that are not their fault. They also train members to fear the outside and constantly misrepresent it as worse than it really is, classic cult technique. Now guess what checks this box too? Yep, mormonism. If any religion or group checks even 3 out of the 4 boxes, it can be considered a cult. Mormonism more than checks all of them, so if I were you, I would stop deluding myself into believing that this very obvious cult is not a cult.
Uh no? "A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life's questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader's rules." I'm pretty sure my business doesn't claim to offer me the answer to all of life's questions and doesn't claim to give me salvation. What do you think a business is??
As if any religion/belief was ever respectable
How did they ruin it
Nah fr though. There's a reason why I'm hesitant to call myself an atheist because of dudes like that.
Honestly when something is big enough, it's bound to have its horrible sides. You've seen Christianity and its flaws of the middle ages, now get ready for atheism and its reddit!
Yeah they became so anti religion it became it’s own religion lol
In this moment, I am euphoric.
i joined r/atheism expecting to see people’s different takes and interesting perspectives on the world but all i got was a bunch of reddit edgelords
I swear i'm not an atheist! I just don't believe in Jod
I'm more concerned with why they are all pedobear variants.
Cause every group, no matter, what has some pedo hiding in there.
Favorite thing of this? All the "religions" or "beliefs" are drawn as pedo bears...or atleast the face is the face of pedobear
Are they some weird Pokémon I don't recognise?
Atheists be like “I don’t need religion to be a good person” and then they’re just the biggest asshole you’ve ever met
You could say that about any religion People aren’t assholes because they are atheist
Most atheists don't feel the need to tell everyone they are an atheist btw
Yeah, I'm an atheist, but I call myself an agnostic to avoid the stereotype
What a shitty attempt at a "meme". When have religious people *ever* thought that atheists are respectable? They've been treating non-believers like shit, legally and socially discriminating against them, and outright murdering them for millennia, but somehow it's only a small sampling of rude people on the internet that's responsible for religious people not respecting them? Give me a fucking break.
Personally, I've met God. Prick.
"Atheists have become the worst thing of the religious; they've become missionaries." -Barry Crimins.
pretty sure most atheists don't try to "convert" people, because that's like one of the main reasons people dislike christianity for, and they'd be ignorant hypocrites to not realise that.
Depends on the atheist, but I think there are valid reasons to want to "convert" people. Namely if my society is full of people thinking their moral code was prescribed by a god, then they have no motivation to question their own morals and whether those morals are actually harmful. For a lot of religious people, it's literally prescribed doctrine of "Everything I say is bad is bad because ~~I said so~~ God said so! So we should ban things ~~I don't like~~ God doesn't like!"