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Extraordinary Claims => Religion General Discussion => Topic started by: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM

Title: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
I'm not trying to start a flame war, nor is there anything wrong with being an atheist; but it's just that SOME -- not all -- but SOME just think they are special and open-minded just because they don't believe in a deity, and SOME of them try to shit on anyone who is religious.

Like, what is this? The '60s? Being an atheist doesn't make you special these days, nor does it automatically make you open-minded.

SOME atheists, from what I've heard, are just as close-minded as a lot of conservative Christians.

Like I said before, nothing wrong with being an atheist; it's just annoying that SOME -- but not all -- of them like to think they're special and shove their beliefs down other people's throats while disrespecting anyone who is religious.

Don't mean stir up shit. I just needed to get this off my chest.

But don't you guys find this annoying too?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Shiranu on October 26, 2019, 12:11:28 AM
It's all about what stage you are in life, what type of culture you grew up in, etc. etc. .
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 02:45:52 AM
Social/cultural overlaps.  If you had a group of people of very high social/cultural standing (say college professors), and they happened to have a larger than average number of atheists ... then those atheists will have picked up on the general snobbishness of the group.  Mostly here, the snobbishness comes from intellectual/artistic pretension ... the people most likely to be Progressive.  Religious people are stereotyped as below average in social/cultural standing aka Rednecks.  Being an atheist is just another litmus test to check off on, concerning their ... elite status.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Draconic Aiur on October 26, 2019, 03:09:39 AM
Because religon is bogus and those who get in the fantasy life are brainwashed fools that shove their religion forcibly down peoples throats like they have been doing for thousands of years. Then they have the audacity to say we atheist (whom are a minority) are being mean to religious people whom are very hypocritical and have double standards. It's no wonder why atheist have become militant. Religious people get in the way of progress and science all the time any deny everything until their preacher or "god" tells them to. It's by far not what you were born to, mostly it's atheists who skeptically think above the common folk and take an interest in reality even though reality is full of shit that was made by the "divine" assholes whom ruled the world politically with their ignorance.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 06:34:25 AM
Well aren't you a special flower child ;-)

Been studying Nahua (Aztec), going to start Yucatec (Maya) soon.  I must be a redneck.

Skepticism is OK, but can be taken too far.  Do you doubt your own existence?  If not, why not?

In the USA, things are run more by political ideology, not by Bible quotes.  Otherwise there would be no legal gay marriages.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Sal1981 on October 26, 2019, 07:51:58 AM
Live and let live. Just too bad that some people think they have the right to force their beliefs onto others.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mermaid on October 26, 2019, 07:54:23 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM

But don't you guys find this annoying too?

Yes.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 09:23:24 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
Being an atheist doesn't make you special these days, nor does it automatically make you open-minded.
No, but it's strange to hear Christians admonishing atheists to be open minded because they don't believe in an unseen, un-provable entity that doesn't seem to be there.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 09:26:00 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
Being an atheist doesn't make you special these days
We are no more or less special than we were 50 years ago.  We are just slightly more into the mainstream of society, and I suspect that may be what is really sticking in your craw.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 09:28:38 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
SOME just think they are special and open-minded just because they don't believe in a deity
Many Christians think they are special because they do believe in a deity. So what?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 09:31:46 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
SOME of them try to shit on anyone who is religious.
No Christian would ever shit on an atheist, right?  And no Baptist would ever shit on a Catholic, right?  Are you above that sort of behavior?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 09:34:49 AM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
It's just annoying that SOME [atheists] -- but not all -- of them like to think they're special and shove their beliefs down other people's throats
Do you really want to pick THAT fight?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 26, 2019, 01:17:41 PM
Quote from: twozerozeroonefive on October 25, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
I'm not trying to start a flame war, nor is there anything wrong with being an atheist; but it's just that SOME -- not all -- but SOME just think they are special and open-minded just because they don't believe in a deity, and SOME of them try to shit on anyone who is religious.

Like, what is this? The '60s? Being an atheist doesn't make you special these days, nor does it automatically make you open-minded.

SOME atheists, from what I've heard, are just as close-minded as a lot of conservative Christians.

Like I said before, nothing wrong with being an atheist; it's just annoying that SOME -- but not all -- of them like to think they're special and shove their beliefs down other people's throats while disrespecting anyone who is religious.

Don't mean stir up shit. I just needed to get this off my chest.

But don't you guys find this annoying too?


It has nothing at all to do with their atheism, it's just that there are different personality types among both the religious and the non-religious. Some people are arrogant fools no matter what it is they believe or don't believe.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 26, 2019, 01:21:24 PM
As I posted a couple of days ago:


QuoteResponse to the claim made by Pastor Rick Warren and others that “atheism is arrogant”:


Quote from: Daniel MiesslerLet me get this straight. You think the Creator of the Universe cares personally about your life, and that you know, with absolute certainty, what he wants for all of humankind.
While I think that we’re basically alone, not very special, and are just fumbling through our random existence trying to do the best we can.
And I’m the arrogant one?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 04:46:20 PM
Quote from: Sal1981 on October 26, 2019, 07:51:58 AM
Live and let live. Just too bad that some people think they have the right to force their beliefs onto others.

Every group, every individual ... are the Chosen Ones or The Chosen One.  Everyone is self-justified in their own circular psychopathy.

@twozerozeroonefive ... were you expecting atheists to be more rational than theists?  That there is one definition of atheism, that every atheist agrees to it, and all atheists uphold it?  We are not Vulcans!
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on October 26, 2019, 04:50:50 PM
Some of any group can be plain old dicks.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 05:59:42 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on October 26, 2019, 01:21:24 PM

Let me get this straight. You think the Creator of the Universe cares personally about your life, and ...
And let me add to that ... "and created you in his own image, not like a dog or a horse, but in HIS image, a primate that closely resembles an ape.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gawdzilla Sama on October 26, 2019, 06:08:38 PM
Quote from: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 05:59:42 PM
And let me add to that ... "and created you in his own image, not like a dog or a horse, but in HIS image, a primate that closely resembles an ape.
And your god has an appendix and a foreskin...
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mr.Obvious on October 26, 2019, 07:04:12 PM
People have high opinions of themselves.

This is nothing new.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 08:37:51 PM
Quote from: SGOS on October 26, 2019, 05:59:42 PM
And let me add to that ... "and created you in his own image, not like a dog or a horse, but in HIS image, a primate that closely resembles an ape.

Old news.  Xenophanes - circa 500 BCE ... African people would describe their gods as being like them, and if animals had religion, their gods would look like them.

“The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black, While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw, And could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw their gods Like horses, and cattle like cattle; and each they would shape Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of their own.”

Xenophanes was the first European monotheist, not atheist.  Diagoras of Melos was the first European atheist - circa 450 BCE.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 08:42:04 PM
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 26, 2019, 07:04:12 PM
People have high opinions of themselves.

This is nothing new.

Depends on the drug.  Downers don't do that ;-(

Some gods were made of Pentelic marble ... those arrogant artists!
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mr.Obvious on October 27, 2019, 05:52:12 AM
Quote from: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 08:42:04 PM
Depends on the drug.  Downers don't do that ;-(

Some gods were made of Pentelic marble ... those arrogant artists!

Many downers do. I should know, I used to be one. And my opinion of myself was both extremely low and extremely high, concurrently.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 27, 2019, 06:14:46 AM
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 27, 2019, 05:52:12 AM
Many downers do. I should know, I used to be one. And my opinion of myself was both extremely low and extremely high, concurrently.

Bipolar?  Or watching Ingmar Bergman Swedish movies?
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mr.Obvious on October 27, 2019, 06:55:10 AM
Quote from: Baruch on October 27, 2019, 06:14:46 AM
Bipolar?  Or watching Ingmar Bergman Swedish movies?

No, just an angsty teenager. I didn't like myself come puberty, like many kids don't. I didn't fit in. I was, in hindsight, annoying. And as a de fence mechanism, I blamed everyone but myself, because I certainly wasn't the problem, no sir-ee. I was smart, special, incredibly kind, creative and attention had to be on me at all time because who the hell could possibly more worthwhile than me? I was an unrecognized genius, I knew, and I bettered the world just by being myself. And they'd all come to see that.

Fuck, I hate puberty-me so bad.

It's easier to build up your vision of yourself than it is to actually face yourself and try to improve on your faults.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 27, 2019, 09:00:16 AM
Quote from: Mr.Obvious on October 27, 2019, 06:55:10 AM
No, just an angsty teenager. I didn't like myself come puberty, like many kids don't. I didn't fit in. I was, in hindsight, annoying. And as a de fence mechanism, I blamed everyone but myself, because I certainly wasn't the problem, no sir-ee. I was smart, special, incredibly kind, creative and attention had to be on me at all time because who the hell could possibly more worthwhile than me? I was an unrecognized genius, I knew, and I bettered the world just by being myself. And they'd all come to see that.

Fuck, I hate puberty-me so bad.

It's easier to build up your vision of yourself than it is to actually face yourself and try to improve on your faults.

Yep, pretty much the US if the US was a teenager ;-)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Hijiri Byakuren on October 27, 2019, 08:46:47 PM
Why do SOME Christians think they are special because they're a Christian?

Why do SOME Muslims think they are special because they're a Muslim?

Why do SOME neo pagans think they are special because they're a pagan?

Because no matter what walk of life people come from, a few of them are always going to be dicks.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Feral Atheist on October 28, 2019, 12:48:56 PM
I base my life, views, life decisions, etc., based on facts, reason, and logic, vs. ancient superstitions and irrational fears of non-existent deities.

It is just a saner approach to life.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on October 28, 2019, 01:20:16 PM
Quote from: Feral Atheist on October 28, 2019, 12:48:56 PM
I base my life, views, life decisions, etc., based on facts, reason, and logic, vs. ancient superstitions and irrational fears of non-existent deities.

It is just a saner approach to life.

An unexamined myth, isn't worth believing in.  But don't say that in Ancient Athens.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SGOS on October 28, 2019, 06:03:49 PM
I think that guy isn't coming back.  I never know if we should keep the thread alive on our own (which often happens), or just be glad he's gone and go back to talking about movies.

My Dad took me to a soapbox derby one time when I was little.  It was held in a Chicago suburb using the incline of a new bridge over one of the then new expressways, which were the rage in the late 50s.  The bridge was ideal because it had the desired slope, and being brand new, it was perfectly smooth and wide enough so that maybe six cars could race at a time.  It was just home made cars made to strict mechanical specifications that rolled down a hill, but the good part was that some of them were works of art, like some designer from Detroit showed up to do the body designs for lucky kids.  As far as I know, there were no atheist kids racing, or if there were, they weren't crashing their cars into Christian kid's cars, or generally just being jerks.  But it was a Boy Scout event so no atheists would not have been allowed.  But that was a different era.  Today the kids would be doing drive by shootings from their little derby cars, and it would be open season on rival Boy Scout Troops.

ASTON MARTIN SOAPBOX RACER
(https://95octane.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/aston_vantage_gte_soapbox_derby_1.jpg)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on October 31, 2019, 01:48:42 PM
Quote from: Baruch on October 26, 2019, 08:37:51 PM
Old news.  Xenophanes - circa 500 BCE ... African people would describe their gods as being like them, and if animals had religion, their gods would look like them.

“The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black, While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw, And could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw their gods Like horses, and cattle like cattle; and each they would shape Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of their own.”

Xenophanes was the first European monotheist, not atheist.  Diagoras of Melos was the first European atheist - circa 450 BCE.


If giraffes worship a deity, you can be sure it has a very long neck.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Simon Moon on November 04, 2019, 05:15:12 PM
What you are describing in the OP tends to be the behavior of relatively recent atheists.

When one breaks out of indoctrination, dogmatic thinkings, comes to the conclusion that the evidence for the existence of gods is vastly insufficient, the philosophical arguments are all flawed, etc, etc, their newly found freedom of thought tends to point out how gullible their previous worldview was.

It's kind of hard not to want to point out just how unjustified theists beliefs are.

This can make them come off like dicks, or they might even be dicks.

Most recent atheists settle down after some time, and become more understated.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on November 04, 2019, 05:45:30 PM
Quote from: Simon Moon on November 04, 2019, 05:15:12 PM
What you are describing in the OP tends to be the behavior of relatively recent atheists.

When one breaks out of indoctrination, dogmatic thinkings, comes to the conclusion that the evidence for the existence of gods is vastly insufficient, the philosophical arguments are all flawed, etc, etc, their newly found freedom of thought tends to point out how gullible their previous worldview was.

It's kind of hard not to want to point out just how unjustified theists beliefs are.

This can make them come off like dicks, or they might even be dicks.

Most recent atheists settle down after some time, and become more understated.

Ex smokers are the worst people.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mike Cl on November 04, 2019, 07:32:19 PM
Some people are just that way--obnoxious.  They can be found in any and every group one can name.  Being an atheist does not mean anything other than an atheist doesn't believe in any god/gods.  That's it.  So, don't ever think that the label of 'atheist'  means they think alike--they don't.  And, yes, I don't like obnoxious atheists nor even, obnoxious Yankee fans--even if those don't exist. :))
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: SoldierofFortune on November 05, 2019, 05:01:11 PM
I have learned a word from a friend that suits the OP: exulansis; search for it if you don't already know.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: aitm on November 07, 2019, 11:42:52 AM
Well, being that we atheists are smaller in number we have very few IRL acquaintances that are also atheist, we have little behavior to pattern after or to use someone as a mentor, so sometimes appropriate behavior is simply not having examples to follow.......believers on the other hand.......hoo-boy!
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Minimalist on November 07, 2019, 11:53:37 AM
We're smart enough not to think that fairy tales are real.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on November 07, 2019, 01:17:00 PM
Once upon a time, they all lived happily ever after.


;-)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on November 07, 2019, 04:27:17 PM
Quote from: aitm on November 07, 2019, 11:42:52 AM
Well, being that we atheists are smaller in number we have very few IRL acquaintances that are also atheist, we have little behavior to pattern after or to use someone as a mentor, so sometimes appropriate behavior is simply not having examples to follow.......believers on the other hand.......hoo-boy!

I would not approve, of exiling atheists to the Island of Broken Toys … just so that networking and mentoring are easier.  With the Internet, proximity isn't necessary.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on November 07, 2019, 04:29:16 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on November 07, 2019, 01:17:00 PM
Once upon a time, they all lived happily ever after.


;-)

G-d, in my experience, is a-moral, not a-theist.  There are no happy endings for monkey people.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on November 07, 2019, 04:30:19 PM
Quote from: Minimalist on November 07, 2019, 11:53:37 AM
We're smart enough not to think that fairy tales are real.

Most people over 9.  Over 9, you start believing in political agendas.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gregory on February 27, 2020, 08:39:38 PM
- All is vanity, saith the preacher.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on February 27, 2020, 10:01:41 PM
Quote from: Gregory on February 27, 2020, 08:39:38 PM
- All is vanity, saith the preacher.

He was naked, and sexting with his iPhone.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on February 28, 2020, 01:36:01 PM
I'm pretty sure that particular preacher didn't have an iPhone...
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on February 28, 2020, 06:15:34 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on February 28, 2020, 01:36:01 PM
I'm pretty sure that particular preacher didn't have an iPhone...

Jews are aliens who came thru the Stargate ;-)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gregory on February 28, 2020, 09:55:04 PM
"Modesty is not a virtue."
- Aristotle
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on February 29, 2020, 01:36:56 AM
Quote from: Gregory on February 28, 2020, 09:55:04 PM
"Modesty is not a virtue."
- Aristotle

Greeks have "arete" which refers to the size of their manhood.  Socrates leads to Plato, Plato leads to Aristotle, Aristotle leads to Alexander … a demi-god.  Alexander didn't have a cell phone, but I do.  So I am at least as much a demi-god as Alexander.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Unbeliever on February 29, 2020, 02:07:34 PM
"If I were not Alexander the Great I would wish to be Diogenes." - Alexander the Great


I'm not Alexander the Great, so I'm free to live more like Diogenes. He's one of my role models.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on February 29, 2020, 07:57:56 PM
Quote from: Unbeliever on February 29, 2020, 02:07:34 PM
"If I were not Alexander the Great I would wish to be Diogenes." - Alexander the Great


I'm not Alexander the Great, so I'm free to live more like Diogenes. He's one of my role models.

I knew I got you over the barrel ;-)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gregory on March 06, 2020, 02:37:50 AM
Aren't we all special because of who we are?!
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Mr.Obvious on March 06, 2020, 03:55:37 AM
If we are all special, no one is special.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Sal1981 on March 06, 2020, 07:26:34 AM
Quote from: Gregory on March 06, 2020, 02:37:50 AM
Aren't we all special because of who we are?!
I think the word you're looking for is 'unique'.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on March 06, 2020, 09:26:43 AM
Quote from: Sal1981 on March 06, 2020, 07:26:34 AM
I think the word you're looking for is 'unique'.

Ii have a daughter, so I am not unique ;-)
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Gregory on March 16, 2020, 04:50:19 AM
The religious are dead to me like this question.
Title: Re: Why do SOME atheists think they are special because they're an atheist...?
Post by: Baruch on March 16, 2020, 06:21:57 AM
Quote from: Gregory on March 16, 2020, 04:50:19 AM
The religious are dead to me like this question.

That is hate speech.  Might get you arrested in Europe.