Quote:Now for the definition of "arrogant" from Websters - 1 : exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner <an arrogant official>
Add "dismissive" to that, and that is a perfect picture of Atheists when it comes to those of faith.... generally. I don't necessarily mean you. K?
-A
Atheists, eh? Actually, sounds rather more like the Internet, or, dare I say, this very lounge.
Anyway, back to some semi-serious postulation, I may have discovered another cause for the apparent abundance of arrogance in atheists. There are a couple of logical jumps here that may or may not hold water--I've slept for about an hour over the past thirty-six. Here we go.
1. In general, vocal people come across as more arrogant. Passive/shy folks, while they may be arrogant SOBs on the inside really never strike anyone that way because they don't communicate it.
2. In general, the only way to recognize an atheist is for said individual to tell you (or you hear it from another source, secondhand, but the atheist's announcement still lies at the core here).
3. It thus stands to reason that casual acquaintances who are atheists but not arrogant are not as vocal as those that are. In short, you are receiving a distorted sample.
4. People, as churchgoers, are exposed to other people of the same faith. Even driving around town, you can see some folks walking into or out of a church. Since there is (generally) no atheist congregation, and they do exist for the rest, it stands to reason that you would be able to find out about the passives' religion moreso than their lack thereof.
I hope that jumble makes sense to someone other than myself. It also extends to groups. Christians (or whomever) can receive recognition because they organize themselves into, for example, community service...groups. The same is true in negative connotations (stereotypical Muslim extremists, militant Blacks, etc.). But atheists don't really get recognition either way. The negative connotations at least come with knowledge, and weird as it is, the unknown is often more feared than the (perceived) dangerous.
--me
edit: Just realized that we have quite the inflated atheist population in this thread. Nature of the thread? The Lounge? The site? The internet? The gaming community?