John Loftus posted a list of 10 things that are misconceptions of
atheists. I think he's right that many people think this way about atheists and most of these ideas are wrong. His comments are in bold.
Let me correct some of the most egregious misconceptions believers have about us, in reverse order:
10) We don’t eat or molest babies. Nor do we agree with what allegedly atheist dictators did in the past century. Over-all we are good people. All you need to do is personally know one of us to see this. I have no doubt but that you probably already know an atheist. It’s just that you don’t give that person the freedom to tell you in this Christian dominated culture. I wish more atheists would “come out of the closet” because of this.
It's really unfortunate that people think this way. An atheist is no more evil than any other believers.
9) We do not worship the devil. We do not think he exists.
With one hand Loftus gives, and takes away with the other.
8) We do not fear threats of hell. So why make them? Christians don’t fear any threats of hell coming from Muslims. So why threaten us? The fact that you do shows us you’d rather see us burn in hell. That’s some Christian compassion in action!
Who says that Christians want to see anyone burn in hell? I don't. I can't send you or anyone to hell - that is a given. Only Jesus can save you from hell.. Nor do any Christians I know. How can you be threatened by something that you believe is not true?
7) We don’t claim to know more than God. We don’t think he exists. We do think that if God existed he could have done a much better job with this world though.
So the fact that I thought that some atheists like John Loftus are arrogant are true.
6) We don’t claim to be better than God. We don’t think he exists. We do think that if God existed he doesn’t appear to be good.
Again more hubris.
5) We don’t hate God nor are we angry with he/she/it. Again, we don’t think he exists. We can be angry with what believers do in the name of God though.
So the thought of hell shouldn't bother you either. The thing is what you believe doesn't make it true.
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) We do not agree with each other about a host of other ideas. But we all agree that a god probably doesn’t exist.
Right! I'm sure that not all atheist are as close-minded as others.
3) We don’t claim to know with certainty that a god of some kind doesn’t exist. Not even Richard Dawkins or Victor Stenger thinks it’s impossible that a god of some kind exists (I heard them both say as much in debates). We do think the God hypothesis is unnecessary and irrelevant to life though.
I know that not all atheists see things this way. If God is unnecessary and irrelevant then why does it matter if He does or does not exist? The very question makes God relevant and necessary. Is a father unnecessary and irrelevant for the help of his children? If you can say "Yes" then the society has slipped closer to hell than I thought.
2) We don’t have faith nor a religion. We base our conclusions on the available evidence. We do not take a leap of faith beyond those probabilities. And since to have a religion one must believe in supernatural beings and forces, we cannot be labeled as religious in any meaningful sense.
Interesting definition of "faith" and "religion". Not Biblical. Religion does not mean you must believe in supernatural forces and beings. Religion is something you believe and informs your behavior and the way you look at the world. If someone can tell me that their atheism has nothing to do with what they think and how they look at the world, they are truly deluded.
1) We are not a minority. In one sense, depending on how you categorize people, we are all minorities in some group or another. But we are the second largest denomination in America. Depending on how we define an atheist (if we include agnostics who are skeptics with regard to all "revealed" religions) we may even be upwards to 24% of the population. So says this poll. Worldwide we represent third place among the world religions, even though we're not religious.
Minority? Sounds like a lemming mentality. The desire to not be alone and stand for what you think. Atheism has historically mean
belief in no God. Trying to massage it so you can include other people in your numbers is really sad. It is exactly what religious people do who desire to fill their church rolls and don't really care if the people are born-again or not.
Debunking Christianity: The Top Ten Misconceptions About Atheists
