Why are people, well some people, so disgusted by atheism, even the thought of non-believers? No, let’s be clearer: Why do people hate atheists? I’ve actually asked that question of people when I hear them say something like this, out loud, in a group. I mean, do they ever really consider the possibility that one of those people they’re pontificating to may be an atheist? Of course not because that would tip their world off it’s ais for them to know that one of their friends (or relatives!) is an atheist.
So I do ask the question when I am able as to why they have this revulsion toward someone, or a group, that they have had no interaction (knowingly, at least)with in their lifetime? Well, I receive the usually suspect answers as if they’re reading from some sort off pamphlet – or a little book (like Mao’s Little Red Book), saying atheism is un-American or atheism is immoral. Sometimes, I hear both from the same person. Then I ask them to be more specific as to how being an atheist is either un-American or immoral. A long silence, eyes darting around, looking for help, while their brain turns out – nothing.
I end up getting the blah-blah-blah about Hitler(not an atheist), Stalin (okay, an atheist) Mao (same), among history’s worst mass murderers (genocide?). What about all those Christians(self-declared) in prison in the U.S. today (around 62% of the prison population) that are murderers, rapists, thieves, etc.? How about those American serialKillers? Ted Bundy claimed to be Methodist, John a Gacy? Catholic.David Berkowitz was Jewish but became a Christian. Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, was active in the Lutheran church. Jeffery Dahmer was in the Church of Christ. No atheists in that list.
I’m not implying that there are no atheists in prison. The atheist prison population (again, self-declared, and estimated) is around 5% of 1.85 million adults in Federal, State, and local incarceration. None of this, though, answers the question as to why atheists ar e hated so much in this country. Which brings me to the real reason I’m writing this post.
Recently, I heard a well known commenter and podcaster, being interviewed on a different podcast, discussing one particular Muslim running for the senate in Michigan, say this following:
“…if there’s any group to be suspicious of, it’s atheists. Who think they’re gods.”
Of course, it was atheists that attacked the World Trade Center in 2001. It was the Atheists that bombed the USS Cole in 2000. It was atheists that bomb the Khobar Towers in Saudia Arabia(1996), and killed 240 Marines in Lebanon(1983), just to name a few incidents. No, I’m not saying that the sins of a few should be brushed upon all. But to say that it’s atheists we should be suspcious of, well, I wonder if that’s an overstatement?
He went on to talk about the people that pray five times a day as not being untrustworthy and honestly, I would agree with that statement in general just as I would say that most professed Christians are not murderers, rapists, or serial killers(or ues, even terrorists). But to make that statement, based on documented history where there is literally none concerning atheists, is well, yes, hubris. He goes on:
“…the people who think they’re god, that they have power to do things, they know that they’re omnipotent, people who are seized in a frenzy of hubris. Those are my enemies. Those are people that commit genocide, actually.”
Nope. No walking it back(in the same interview) suggesting atheists commit genocide, never bothering to mention the believers that have committed heinous crimes against humanity. Because there are none? Spreading Christianity alone, in history, is responsible for the deaths of untold millions on multiple continents. But it’s atheists we should be suspicious of today. Who was this commenter/interviewee? Tucker Carlson.
That surprised me. I knew he a=was a believer, a Christian, he had mentioned it before. But I had never heard him say anything negative toward non-believers. He seems to accept other believers, even those that despise his belief. But athists? Well, they’re the worst, aren’t they? These non-believers must be what’s wrong with this country (5% of the population vs 66% Christian). Possibly the whole world.Just look at what’s happened to Europe since they’ve generally rejected god (This is something I’ve heard other prominent Christians use as an example).
It looks like a smart guy(at least I used to think so) has been deluded by his own arrogance.