Stupid article

[sprtslvr1973]

Well shut my mouth; if these celebs don't believe in God, I guess I can't

http://www.lifedaily.com/20-celebs-who-dont-believe-in-god/

 

[Mor Ephrem]

Well shut my mouth; if these celebs don't believe in God, I guess I can't

http://www.lifedaily.com/20-celebs-who-dont-believe-in-god/

This sort of thing does not belong in Faith Issues.  I'm moving this elsewhere, but please do not do this again. 

When in doubt, you may PM me and ask whether your proposed topic is appropriate for this section. 

 

[seekeroftruth777]

Not surprising considering how many Hollywood films out there attacks specifically Christianity. Why do Atheists feel like they are so "brave" announcing their "coming out of the closet" for their lack of belief in God? their not being persecuted, losing jobs, being bullied or harassed or forced to go to Church if anything they seem to dominating the culture in the this country. Someone needs to tell them to just shut up and Act!

 

[mctaviix]

I like how they always say the exact same lines and plateaus anytime they espouse their ideology.  It's pathetic.  It seems as though it's impossible for them (and most people anymore) to think for themselves.

 

[Asteriktos]

I don't think 'brave' would be the right word, but lettuce be real here, atheists are despised/loathed by a substantial portion of Americans. There used to be a single atheist in Congress (the first ever, who was 'out' anyway, if I recall correctly), but I think he is no longer a politician. Pew did a poll asking about various factors related to how political candidates were perceived (ie. based only on the attributes/associations alone). 8% said they were less likely to vote for someone if they were Catholic; 17% said less likely if the candidate was an Evangelical; 35% said less likely if the candidate had had an extra-marital affair. Simply knowing that someone was an atheist--without hearing anything else about them--had 53% of people say they were less likely to vote for them.

The University of Minnesota did a study on the perception of various groups. To the prompt "I would disapprove if my child wanted to marry a member of this group...." the five most popular answers were:

Atheist: 47.6%
Muslim: 33.5%
African-American 27.2%
Asian-Americans: 18.5%
Hispanics: 18.5%

Take atheist out of the top for a second and ask various people what they think of these results, and I bet many would say: "Wow, I had no idea there was still such prejudice against interracial marriage. This is depressing." Twice as much prejudice against people based on being atheist? 'They should just suck it up!' Results like this can be multiplied. As for them shutting up, why should they? As I said one time, in a thread that is now locked:

From the perspective of some atheists, religion(s) have oppressed human rights (gay, pro choice, etc.), stood in the way of science and technological progress (evolutionary biology, etc.), thwarted medical research (from using cadavers to stem cells), cultural suppression (in the old world and new), causing psychological fear and manipulation (go to hell if you don't do X, God will punish society if you accept Y as normal, etc.), killed and conquered, all in the name of God. I'm not saying I'd agree with them in all this, but considering how much bad stuff has been done in the name of God--often with the official stamp of God's supposed organization/leaders on earth--it doesn't surprise me that some people might get a bit fed up. Really, it is the religious trying to explain away the motives of the atheists that usually strikes me as "protesting too much"

And people most certainly have lost jobs, been disowned, had marriages end, etc. because of atheism. I was in the middle of a job interview about 7 years ago and the interviewer outright told me (and thus broke the law) that he tried to only hire Christians and wouldn't hire an atheist. Why he'd divulge that I am not sure. I guess he was being 'brave' and 'standing up for morality' or whatever.

I do agree that the article is silly... but despite being clickbait, it still got you to spread it, so I suppose it is a success as far as that goes


EDIT--to add, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I don't even like most of the atheists I've tried to talk to, and didn't even when I was deep in unbelief (my use of the label ended quickly). I really wish you guys would stop erecting these silly strawmen and herrings on a stick. I always feel compelled to take a swing at them... just like I also do when I'm on other sites and people say silly things about Christianity.