08-29-2006, 07:45 PM
Atheism in general seems to be rejected along the lines already brought up. Discussing atheism among the less "enlightened" crowd (by which I simply mean the less-educated, no religious background known by myself) general brings an end-point along the lines of atheists being either immoral (Not *A*moral) or being Satanists directly. Seems more like a communication error than anything; a semantic point. I wouldn't take that without a grain of salt, though, since I believe most of those were classroom boredom conversations, and thus included only children. Not that children are "stupid" or anything, but they should be recognized as a different sample than adults. In fact, I'd think most adults would consider it a fairly touchy subject in mixed religious company and would avoid the subject altogether without something like a survey forcing it on them.
I'm not sure this is entirely correct. I think it has more to do with a personality overlap in the two categories than a direct linkage between "There is no God, therefore I'm smarter." I think these arrogant pricks (myself included) were arrogant pricks before they ever got into the whole atheism market. People are not born with any kind of religion, nor are they atheist or agnostic. Something that...involved...has to be taught. And I think the arrogance is seeded either genetically or via imitation before the religious beliefs take a firm hold.
But yes, as a general rule, atheists are fairly arrogant. Something to do with that whole "You're sheep." mentality.
I'd like to share my religious background, as I think it a little stranger than most in terms of this discussion. Neither of my parents ever tried to force anything on us, religion-wise. We grew up in the south, about an hour from New Orleans, so there were definitely religious goings-on. But they enrolled my younger sister and I in a Lutheran(?)-run pre-school, not because it was Lutheran, but because it was a good school. So we were steeped in religion (prayer before meals, etc.) by outsiders without really ever being taught fundamentals and anecdotes. I forgot the point I was going to make, but somehow this ended up with me as a fairly hardcore atheist and my sister going to church every Sunday sans the rest of the family. I really appreciate that my parents let us make that choice, though.
--me
Quote:OTOH, I've found atheists to be generally arrogant as hell when it comes to their "enlightened" belief that they are smarter than religious people solely on the basis that they are not believing in something that can't be proven and requires an act of faith.
-A
I'm not sure this is entirely correct. I think it has more to do with a personality overlap in the two categories than a direct linkage between "There is no God, therefore I'm smarter." I think these arrogant pricks (myself included) were arrogant pricks before they ever got into the whole atheism market. People are not born with any kind of religion, nor are they atheist or agnostic. Something that...involved...has to be taught. And I think the arrogance is seeded either genetically or via imitation before the religious beliefs take a firm hold.
But yes, as a general rule, atheists are fairly arrogant. Something to do with that whole "You're sheep." mentality.
I'd like to share my religious background, as I think it a little stranger than most in terms of this discussion. Neither of my parents ever tried to force anything on us, religion-wise. We grew up in the south, about an hour from New Orleans, so there were definitely religious goings-on. But they enrolled my younger sister and I in a Lutheran(?)-run pre-school, not because it was Lutheran, but because it was a good school. So we were steeped in religion (prayer before meals, etc.) by outsiders without really ever being taught fundamentals and anecdotes. I forgot the point I was going to make, but somehow this ended up with me as a fairly hardcore atheist and my sister going to church every Sunday sans the rest of the family. I really appreciate that my parents let us make that choice, though.
--me