Abuse towards atheists?

[Willamena]

I haven't heard of abuse of atheists in the UK unless you count the famous ones like Dawkins

Haha. When I read this, my first thought was agreement --as an atheist, I do feel often abused by Dawkins.

 

[England my lionheart]

Haha. When I read this, my first thought was agreement --as an atheist, I do feel often abused by Dawkins.[/quote

he does tend to rub people the wrong way,not just the religious

 

[blackout]

*Comes in with iron frying pan*

*Notices the DIR*

*Leaves*

 

[cablescavenger]

On the contrary. All you have to do is say "I've found Jesus" and then they'll squeal with delight.

How to win friends and influence people

What prompted me to write the original thread was that there were religious crimes cited on the FBI crimes data, and I do not know what that entails. It sounds like it is not persecution of atheists.

Still it is still wrong that they encourage you to be open and then allow discrimination for promotions etc.

Am I correct in assuming that some people wear their beliefs loudly in order to get ahead then?

 

[NietzschesHammer]

Here in England it's not much of an issue, unless you live in a neighbourhood with a lot of black or asian people. They tend to be more religious. But elsewhere most English people tend to be agnostic or atheist in practice, so it doesn't come up very often.

I would imagine that in some parts of the USA, which seems much more conservative than the UK, being an atheist would still be frowned on quite a lot.

 

[yourhopeboundheart]

mostly the only 'abuse' i can think of that i've suffered has been in social situations. many people (i live in the southern state of Georgia, which should be noted) around me have a gross misunderstanding of what an atheist is or what s/he believes. one would think this would inspire a good deal of inquiry and curiosity toward something new and foreign, but that's not exactly how we do things in the south. my experiences have ranged from a few very long conversations at bars and around campfires which were typically very civil, to a near fist fight at a party when a certain christian thought my beliefs were blasphemous and should be martially corrected (this was a completely isolated incident and he was remarkably drunk. we're still good friends to this day, arguably better after our very emotional experience together, and there's no grudge either way between us). what has certainly hurt me the most is that romatic relationships (i'm a self admitted, recovering thei-phile and many of the women i'm attracted to end up being christians) are often strained on this one issue - if not directly from the person involved - from the family and friends of my partners.

aside from that most people leave us atheists and agnostics alone, since they all know that without a moral law giver there can be no morality. so we would just as soon murder them and rape their mothers as engage in an uncomfortable conversation.

 

[jasonwill2]

wikipedia to the rescue for the OP's question

Discrimination against atheists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It would seem that some countries can be real jerks to atheists. I was horrified at the poll results in America here. It is pretty true though that it's not a good idea for a politician to declare they are an atheist here.

 

[9Westy9]

I used to get a fair bit of stick from my parents but nothing that I could call abuse. It's all just been heated debate and nothing more. UK

 

[jasonwill2]

I have been meaning to ask this for a while now.

In the uk, as an atheist I have never encountered an issue of abuse for being an atheist.

Reading some of the comments on this forum, I wonder if most of it is just banter, or heated debate, or whether some of the bad feeling towards atheists exists in any of the communities you live in.


Have you or anyone you know been abused or persecuted for being an atheist?
If so where in the world do you live?
and how bad do you see the problem?
or is it not an issue in general?



My answer to those questions would be, I experienced stigma when I was younger, but no real abuse.
I was quite young when I became atheist so sharing my views with adults, I was quickly dismissed, and some people implied I would end up worshipping the devil, this put me off discussing it for a long time, and I just avoided religious conversations and hid my atheism.

I have no issue with sharing my atheism now, and enjoy the freedom I have to share my thoughts on religion. :beach:

Why, Why must everyone do this to atheists? It really gets at me.

Everyplace I've lived in the US (MI, CA, MD....no place poor or very rural), I've never suffered abuse for being an atheist.
For being a jerk, yes, but not for my apostacy.

lol.

Well, in many parts of the U.S. there's certainly animosity towards non-christians. It's usually rural areas and southern states.

The Bible Belt sucks, though I live a few counties away, I'm glad I don't live IN it.

Me and my immediate family have been atheists most of our lives, and we have never really encountered any anti-atheist sentiment here in the UK. The closest thing to such a sentiment probably occurred a couple of Christmases ago, when sat at the Christmas dinner table with my (predominantly protestant) extended family. I'm not sure of the context entirely, but from my recollection we all played a game which involved us wearing various random celebrity masks. One of the people at the table got a Richard Dawkins mask, and when my three younger cousins (between the ages of 10 and 17 at the time) asked who he was, someone replied "he's an atheist". At which point they all started making cross signs with their fingers and saying "away, away devil" or some variation thereof. It was really disconcerting, and I found myself wondering just what these kids thought atheism was, and whether or not they - or any of my extended family - were aware of or openly talked about our atheism. It wasn't a terrible miscarriage of justice, but just imagine if they had reacted the same way about a Jewish person, or a Muslim, or a black man.

Why, why must people do this to atheists? Grr.

=--==-

Your all probably wondering why I came back to this topic; the devil made me do it. I added emphasis on a couple there.

Any of you have more stories about how you were called devil worshipers or the like? I like to hear how stupid ignorant people can be.

 

[cablescavenger]

most people leave us atheists and agnostics alone, since they all know that without a moral law giver there can be no morality. so we would just as soon murder them and rape their mothers as engage in an uncomfortable conversation.

Those barriers need to be broken down.

 

[Thomas Van Gogh]

Yes, during my high school years, I was rather outspoken about so called "men of god" students who would pick on the weak and helpless, to the point where violence broke out on many occasions. By my second year of high school, many knew I was an atheist, and many would not associate with a heathen such as myself. (Teachers included)

Even three years out of high school, if I attend a place where there is prayer or discussion of religion, most people will ask me my faith and then immediately regret it and dissociate themselves from me.

But as for myself, I am rather peaceful. If these foolish hypocrites want to persecute me for the way I think, then I say let them. It does not bother me in the slightest. I believe in science, rational, and secularism, and no one will change that.