The "I'm Better Than You!" Phase

[Spideymon77]

I remember when I first got out of religion I was like "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!" And, like an ***hole, I boasted about it to basically everyone I knew.

Of course, now I realize how petty that was and why Atheists have the stereotype of being ***holes.

I'm curious to know if any non-theists went through this phase before.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

My husband and I call it the angry atheist phase, and it took a long time for us to get through. The hardest part was accepting that the behaviors associated with that phase (and it's a range, I think) only makes things worse. Half the people they're responding to will be turned off by the ego, the rest will perceive it as the expected persecution they actually want to solidify their faith.

I fully believe the best humanizing activity is just hanging out with people regardless of if they disagree with you. Then you're a face. Your a person with interests and relatability. Not just some faceless ego on the internet telling people that believing in gods is silly in illogical and they should be more intelligent.

 

[YmirGF]

I am fortunate to have never suffered from this condition. My sympathies to those who have gone through it or are going through it

 

[Deathbydefault]

I have not, though some wouldn't agree.

 

[SabahTheLoner]

I don't like to admit it but there was a time where I thought that no religion at all was the answer. The answer. I've come to see my faults since.

 

[gnomon]

I remember when I first got out of religion I was like "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!" And, like an ***hole, I boasted about it to basically everyone I knew.

Of course, now I realize how petty that was and why Atheists have the stereotype of being ***holes.

I'm curious to know if any non-theists went through this phase before.

A short time in college.

Then a specific moment lead me to realize that I didn't know ****.

 

[LuisDantas]

What do you mean by "gone"?

The above was meant in jest. But really, I don't think it is very common for human beings - atheistic or otherwise - to completely avoid the stance of sincerely believing that we somehow know better than our peers.

Of course, that is no excuse for not learning to watch out for it and compensating with cautions, etiquette, and just plain awareness.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I remember when I first got out of religion I was like "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!" And, like an ***hole, I boasted about it to basically everyone I knew.

Of course, now I realize how petty that was and why Atheists have the stereotype of being ***holes.

I'm curious to know if any non-theists went through this phase before.

Your just happy about it.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

A short time in college.

Then a specific moment lead me to realize that I didn't know ****.

Something like this for me too.
I went through some sort of final, active seeking mode. Like I was sure I was an atheist already but wanted to see what value some other people I respected were getting out of religion.

I suspect I then conflated what I got out of the rituals, etc (not much, despite being open to them) with what they got. It didn't take me long to see the problems with this, but yeah...there was a short period of smugness (I guess is how I'd term it)

 

[OshoSannyasin]

I am in the same situation. I seem to be hopelessly addicted to religion, but I don't really believe in any of them. I'm just spiritually minded. That's part of what attracts me to Osho Sannas: Osho once said that Osho Sannyas is not a religion, it's a religiousness. But it's atheistic so it's basically religion without any gods. (for those unfamiliar with Osho sannyas, it's an offshoot of Zen. It's not Zen, though, but it's heavily influenced by it).

 

[Explore]

I definitely went through what I consider a pretty cringey "angry atheist phase", to borrow ADigitalArtist's wording above, when I first became an atheist. For a couple years I was always looking to debate with people online and I had quite an obnoxious self-righteous attitude at times. Back then, I was pretty convinced that religion was the greatest evil in the world, and that fueled my (what I now consider a seriously misguided) passion and justified my antagonistic approach to dealing with religious people.

I've mellowed way out over the years. My atheism is one of the least important aspects of my identity now.

 

[Straw Dog]

I remember when I first got out of religion I was like "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!" And, like an ***hole, I boasted about it to basically everyone I knew.

Of course, now I realize how petty that was and why Atheists have the stereotype of being ***holes.

I'm curious to know if any non-theists went through this phase before.

I can see how that attitude may arise within a particular cultural context, but reflecting back upon the early years of my personal disillusionment with both religious and theological argument, I’d say that it was more a matter of ‘ this argument is better than that argument’.

It was never a personal superiority thing. If anything, it was more a realization of the fundamental equilibrium of all life forms in the end game... like even if there was a god or that there were gods, they had the same right to exist that we do.

 

[Yerda]

That's interesting. 50% of atheists go through a better-than-you phase and 50% of atheists are liars.

 

[Revoltingest]

I went thru the better than thou phase.
Then I realized I wasn't better.
But now I've come realise my earlier error.
I really am better.
(It's useful to not lord this over others.)

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I went thru the better than thou phase.
Then I realized I wasn't better.
But now I've come realise my earlier error.
I really am better.
(It's useful to not lord this over others.)

Maybe it's more about whether you think you're better than theists because you're an atheist, or have reached a point that you realise both atheists and theists are people...and that you're better than all of them.