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That anxious feeling I get when I'm around people who are vocal about their religious beliefs
Now, I’m not religious myself. I don’t mind if people are, as long as they’re not being buttfaces about it. Seriously, preachy people make me very, VERY uncomfortable, especially since my religious beliefs are quite muddy. For the love of you.getDeityName(), let me sort my spirital bullshit by myself.
Hell, even just being in the presence of those who are vocal about being religious (Christians) makes me fucking uncomfortable, because I never know when I’ll accidentally push their buttons and cause them to launch into sermon rant mode. I support same-gender marriage, have tastefully lewd interests, like science, crossplay as a maiden of a non-Christian religion at conventions, and in general am an all-around bad example of a Christian, and I feel as if qualities like these will automatically put me on bad terms with vocal Christians.
I’m sure there are vocal Christians who are better than that, but unfortunately my experiences (especially a very recent one, even if I wasn't a target this time), with those sorts of people have led me to assume a “guilty until proven innocent” mentality.
Comments
Some very devout people are just peachy to get along with. They're awesome.
Unfortunately, some people, including some who actually aren't very devout, are just very vocal about their beliefs. They take the evangelism bit wayyyy to seriously. These people are annoying.
You might as well just keep on doing your own thing. And when approached by people who want to harrass you because their Christianity doesn't agree with what you're doing, kindly remind them that one of Jesus's teachings was the value of humility.
I've had the problem of being annoyed by people who're a bit too vocal about their beliefs, but they were mostly atheists who thought that it was edgy to rag on Christians.
All varieties of these people are annoying.
Yeah. I find the atheist variant of this even more annoying, because a militant atheist often desires the destruction of religion as a whole. This flies in the face of the freedom of thought that our increasingly secularist society is based upon. A silly, aggressive Christian might be expected to fall in line with spoonfed ideology, but atheism near enough demands the exercise of consistent philosophical thought.
Mind you, atheism and freedom of thought aren't linked at the seams, but our culture comes from a background of religious faith as a default state of being. For atheism to take root, then freedom of thought must have been exercised in the first place, and trying to deny that freedom to Christians, Jews, Muslims -- whatever -- just strikes me as counter to the root of atheist philosophy.
All that said
> sitting on the sidelines as an agnostic, giving few if any damns, shits, fucks or jimmies
Isn't that antitheism, not atheism?
Yep. Silly militants can't even get their religions straight.
Though I think "silly militants" says it all, here, given that any member of any religion can be unpleasant if they're overly vocal.
Antitheism is a subset of atheism, I'd think.
I would say it's an extreme form of atheism. Which is to say, bad.
Atheism involves a disbelief in God, while antitheism involves actively opposing religion.
They're linked, but they're not the same thing, any more than atheism is agnosticism.
But yeah...obnoxious atheism is just as bad as obnoxious evangelism.
Antitheism is a way of expressing atheism, it's not its own thing.
Yes, it is.
I'm not very good at explaining things, this article does it better.
You're in the right place, Mr. Cat.
kitty
But that's just splitting hairs, though.
An atheist, by definition, is someone who doesn't believe in God; how you express your disbelief, whether through humility and tolerance, or through militant opposition to all/some forms of religion, does not change the fact that you don't believe in God. Same thing with religious zealots; they don't stop being Christian or whatever, they just get referred to as zealots/bad Christians/whatever.
You don't have to not believe in God to not like religion. A deist, for example, would believe in God but not believe in worshipping it.
However, antitheism does not require an active disbelief in a creator to exist. A theist can be an antitheist, because he is actively opposed to religion while still believing in the existence of a deity.
^ Dammit.
^^Whoops, I didn't mean to write that; I'm used to using "religion" as a shorthand for deities and all they entail" My bad.
^No, then he's irreligious, not an anti-theist. So, to be more precise, he'd be a irreligious theist/deist.
e: Think of it like how we treat vegetarians-- there are people who just don't eat meat, and there are people who whine endlessly about other people eating meat; the whiners don't stop being vegetarians because of how they act, they just get called "assholes" or whatever now.
Irreligious covers everything discussed here.
Atheism, antitheism, ignosticism, and more are all covered under the umbrella of irreligion.
And 'anti-theist' is, in turn, covered by 'atheist', since it's a descriptor word for a 'militant atheist' and all that.
Which is to say, all anti-theists are atheists, but not all atheists are anti-theists.
No, that's not right.
Not all anti-theists are atheists, the same as not all atheists are anti-theists.
You can believe in God and care (or not care) if he is worshipped. This makes you a deist.
You can not believe in God and care (or not care) if he is worshipped. This makes you an atheist.
You can believe in God and oppose his worship. This makes you an antitheist; a deist antitheist.
You can not believe in God and oppose his worship. This makes you an antitheist; an atheist antitheist.
The last three are all covered under the term 'irreligion'.
Thus, while the term 'deist antitheist' is covered under the term 'irreligion', so is 'atheist antitheist'. That does not, however, mean that they are the same thing, and it does not make a deist antitheist an atheist.
Also, I hate myself for inventing the term 'deist antitheist', even if it's technically correct.
Well, it might not be; I'm not clear on the difference between deists and theists. Either way, my point stands, though.
But basically, antitheism does not mean atheism, as one can be a theist and an antitheist.
Where do polytheists fit in this?
Isn't that like dividing by zero?
Dude, I just went over how a theist can be an antitheist.
It is believing in God, but believing that religion is harmful. For example, someone who believed in God's existence, but opposed his worship because God's a massive dick who killed thousands of people by flooding the planet, would be a theist and an antitheist. However, because he believes in God, he would not be an atheist.
Guys
guys srsly
guys
guys.
guys stahp.
no
you can't make me stop >
^^^ I know, but I wanted to say that line anyway.
^^ Fuck no, we can't stop here. Someone is wrong on the internet.
geez glenn
get better at joking >
A deist, by definition, believes in a God, but believe that he is removed from the equation as far as the universe and all that inhabit it go. Their lack of a religion is a consequence of this, rather than a intentional tenet.
Yes, I know. I actually said that in the post just above yours.
Atheism doesn't encompass anything regarding how you act a because of your beliefs; it's simply refers to the lack of belief in God. That is why the descriptive term 'anti-theist' is used with regard to that certain type of atheist; because the word 'atheist' alone is not descriptive of your demeanor towards religious people, religions, or God(s).
No. That's wrong. Look at the word itself: anti-theist. As in "Anti"; against, "theist"; pertaining to or descriptive of the belief in a god. If you are anti-theist, you are opposed to the very idea of a god. This word is a synonym for antideist-- try searching with "antideist".
You can't be a theist and an antitheist-- the words contradict eachother in their construction, even.
...If you're doing this to get back at me for making Alex talk about swords, then well played, I look stupid.
I now have many a grey hair because of arguing with that bastard.