We are expressing our opinions. Believers do it all the time without showing any kind of respect when they say everyday that we are going to burn in hell among other things. We are here to speak our mind. We do not go to the believers and tell them off. They however condemn us all the time. On television, in person. How do feel about being told that a family's illness is due to god punishing them for their non belief. Or it's god's plan that someone close to you is sick or died.

There are differences herein between escape stories from horrific cults bashing back at the religious perpetrators. .....our Atheist comraderie is inescapably condescending towards believers. ...my Quaker comrades my Catholic Workers for peace and justice never receive my righteous indignant ire towards belicose crusading Muslim bashing xians for their oil .....it's hard not to condemn most preachers for their hell threats nor heaven bribes. ...their bibles brand us Atheists as "fools" and "reprobates" .....left handers rightfully express pride revolting from the right hand world. ....as John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson 1811: " this would be a perfect world if there were no religion in it "

People who are seeking comfort and to be kind are ok with me no matter what they believe. We can agree to disagree. People that spew hate and try to force others to follow their way, THAT I have a problem with.

I'm with you. I get the sense that some people think the more harsh they can be towards people who have religious beliefs somehow makes them a better agnostic/atheist. It's almost like they're trying to prove something. Frankly some of these people are exactly the same as the people they're so critical of. Opposite sides of the same coin.

I don't bash All believers..but rightwing Evangelicals are open targets..I cringe whenever they open their foul mouths..and their Hypocrisy and vitrol towards Anyone that disagree with their Morality is enough to make me see red..

I do not see anybody here bashing anybody else -- at all. I see a lot of us, myself included, bashing, discussing, venting, raging, and mocking religion and its believers, generally.

For me, this is the very first time and the very first place that I am free and among my tribe where I do not have to censor my thoughts and feelings about the world I live in -- a world where many people want us all to follow their religion.

I am grateful for Agnostic.com. I am grateful to be among so many other people with a similar fundamental mindset.

My being my authentic self with regard to religions, believers, gods, etc. is not tantamount to "bashing believers." Every person in my life in the real world (except my daughter) is a believer in something supernatural -- most are Christians. I love them and mostly bite my tongue because I love them. This is my "safe space" and I like it just the way it is.

I'm with you there. You do you, I'll do me; live and let live, all that. No need to get nasty about it as far as I'm concerned.

@Dida -- You are painting with a very, very broad brush. There are some militant atheists and some vociferous antitheists. They do not represent the whole. On the other hand, I rarely see even the aforementioned 'bashing' anything. They are voicing their opinions, which as I see it, is fair dinkum. Consider what the other side has for us and how they present it and it makes the atheist observations seem incredibly civil.

[patheos.com]

[huffingtonpost.com]

And here is an amazing, simpleminded article on how they view us.

[crossexamined.org]

Now, please explain in specific terms why you hold this notion that there is a general atmosphere of believer bashing going on from the atheist side of the aisle. I have made the assumption that you are referring to the majority religion in the US. I will conclude with the simple statement of fact that any belief in any supernatural force without evidence is idiotic and actually deserves to be mocked at every opportunity, but not at the personal level. In other words, attack the belief but not the believer.

Personally, I have no tolerance for deliberate ignorance. I refuse to pretend that I do.
I don't want to be "nice" to those who feel free to condemn me, and others they don't agree with,
to eternal damnation, even though I don't believe in it.
They don't respect me. I don't feel any need to respect them.
If that bothers some people, I really don't give a flying rat's ass.
I'm not here for anyone's approval.

I think calling them stupid is nothing like them telling us that we will feel the pain of a burning body for eternity. It’s like when someone says they are going to kill you, and you reply, your dumb.

I think it depends on who we're "talking to." When we're dealing with a demonstrated homophobe who wants to make it impossible for a gay person to make a living or who wants to enact laws that will subjugate them to second-class citizens, then we must absolutely condemn them. When they attack women and go after women's health, we must condemn them. To be open and accepting of others means that we must also deal with those who would harm others. We cannot stand on the sidelines.

Even at a personal level, if someone wants to tell me they don't "believe" in evolution, I'm not going to necessarily engage. But if they decide that they have to tell me WHY, then I'm going to engage. And I'm at the point where I no longer feel the need to be "gentle." There's no excuse for them not to know this. The evidence has been there for decades now.

If someone close to me wants to believe in God, and even wants to pray for me, but they pray for me that God will make my life 'better,' I have no problem with that. If their god is about love and compassion, then I have no problem with that. But if their god is a homophobic, child-molesting, women-abusing, warmongering genocidal asshole, then I'm not going to pretend that it's okay for them to believe that.

I don't believe in bashing the believers for believing. Don't do unto others what they do to you and they will learn that you might have a better idea. At least that's the hope.

It's like a lot of , what other people have said here . The bible thumpers have basically picked a fight for centuries , & the effect will not go away over night . If they want to talk about something other than their faith , that's fine . It's like listening to rappers that only rap about their money , fame & career , only worse , they only talk about one subject . This place is like a refuge from that topic , & it's par for the course from time to time . . .

I am with you... I hear the world god here more than in a religious service.

I am with you on this completely, whatever floats your boat, you said it for me thank you!

Wow, can I say can of worms? I get where dida is coming from though. I know some really smart people who believe because they consider their personal experience as evidence. It's a logic trap, but I wouldn't call them stupid just because they believe. Once upon a time I believed, and the change in perspective was a long and hard process. Lumping believers all together as stupid is no different than stereotyping any group. That being said, there is such a thing as the off color joke, but bashing and having a laugh are not the same.

There's a difference between bashing people and bashing their beliefs. A lot of people don't distinguish, either by insulting believers or by taking offense when religion is criticized.
You are right that some of us make derogatory comments about believers, but theists hold their beliefs as sacred and unassailable. Many, too many of them, are quick to take offense on behalf of their religion, their god, and their holy book.

I don't think I am a believer basher but my eyes do go up into my head when I get bashed by religious zealots, the first time it happened I was only fourteen and I had never had a religion- I understand what you are saying about the hypocrisy, and I don't expect ,respect because the people who do proseletyse without mercy are very different from those of us who keep quiet about our non beliefs and as far as I am concerned I am never the one who starts it and always the one to walk away upset.

They annoy me, well the ones I know annoy me, I can happily leave them in peace, spend time with them and not discuss religion. Then they make some stupid condescending comment about me not believing. They see it that they are right, end of story. And basically I feel the same, they believe without evidence, I will not believe with out evidence.

YES! Right on!

AMEN to that!

I did try to fight back when furious alt-right wing nuts piled on me after mentioning the LGBTQ community on a forum.
When even mentioning science articles got angry reactions and lists of condemning Bible verses, I ditched the page and began hanging out online elsewhere.

I agree with you...accept the non-believer...and that can happened after we have had time to adjust ourself to being condemned for not seeing the light! It hurts to be beat-up simply because you don't experience religion or life, as they do!

I don't like anyone bashing anyone. I understand why people do it, and I know it's not my place to tell anyone what to do, so I keep my mouth shut about it, generally. But i don't get close to people who like to bad-mouth habitually. It signals a critically flawed character, I think. (Not the same as blowing off steam.)

IRL if it gets really bad I'll say I don't want to hear it, or remove myself.

I don't think anyone sits here and actively wants to bash anyone else. But when you get two opposing groups in a room and let them discuss and share their views. Tensions will rise, and things will be said.

I think that's what really goes on.

I agree whole heartedly, but don't you wish christians wouldn't go round imposing their beliefs on others -I've never had muslims or jews or any other faith system knocking on my door or stopping me in the street