I see posts here saying "are Atheists this?" We do not all think the same. An atheist is a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods. That's all it is. We are still individuals with vast differences.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.It comes round time and again on this site, the same basic question. Sometimes they are new people who are still a little confused, but mostly they are either former theists or theist trolls, who have spent time listening to preachers telling them what agnostics and atheists are. I usually try to put them right, everyone deserves a civil answer and the benefit of the doubt.
Unless of course they ask if atheists eat babies, in which case I email them a digital copy of my recipe book.
Fernapple
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
9
Sadly, we Atheists, etc, have ALWAYS copped the brunt of the Faithfools ridicule, discrimination and persecution because, in my opinion, we DO NOT fit neatly into their Sheeple flock.
We DO differ from time to time, We do bicker amongst ourselves from time to time, We are 100% Human AND We are Individuals and, to borrow a line from the movie ' Independence Day,' "We will not vanish quietly into the night, We will not disappear without a fight, " WE ARE Independent.
Triphid
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
9
I find it Very disrespectful, and enraging, when anybody says " are__this way?" Any group, any designation, 1. Why is it anybody's business?, 2. How dare you ASSume anything about anybody. 3. Seems like disrespect for whatever group.....
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
6
Yes but you forget that we all like to eat babies.... 
Cutiebeauty
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
7
Only deep fried and on a stick.
Baked n not broiled their skin gets too crispy
I recommend a vinegar-based marinade.
Really makes them tender.
@Dougl35534 You must beware if you are eating babies with mustard.
@DenoPenno mustard gives me gas......
@Gwendolyn2018 then baby veggies
@Gwendolyn2018, @Triphid save me a slice
Exactly. "Are atheists racist?" is an asinine question. We are not a monolith.
LiterateHiker
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
7
Completely agree, I haven’t even bothered to click on the posts.
Marcie1974
Level 8
Oct 25, 2019
3
i have lol. i am enough of a snert to want to correct misapprehensions when i see them. my correction is not always appreciated 
)
g
Yup. I've seen some Flat Earthers, Moon landing deniers, and a whole other lot here. I would like to think that that a "non" belief in a God, or Gods, was a rational stance. And mostly It is. But that doesn't always hold true for other wacky thing as well.
TristanNuvo
Level 8
Oct 25, 2019
5
I don’t know why belief or disbelief is of any significance in the first place.
IMO truly religious people are not religious because of belief—it is because of direct experience. If you go to a museum, you do not come away saying “Yes, I believe”.
If churches would stop telling people to believe stuff there’d be no atheists.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
Oct 25, 2019
3
I was blocked by someone because I had the gall to suggest that conservatives could be atheists too.
itsmedammit
Level 8
Oct 26, 2019
2
At least you won't get them driveling on to you. Sounds like a result!
Interesting
You naughty, naughty girl, now off to the corner for you, sit there and say Mary had a Little Lamb 666 times and sing Father and Son 666 times...LOL.
Its because alot of conservative policies are deeply rooted in religious beliefs, and not objective truth. Abortion is the classic example. So because of this the mental gymnastics often required to support conservative social policies are very often abhorrent to an Athiest who has unshackled themselves from the religious mental gymnastics required to abandon faith.
@DarthWoody89 Atheist means only that one does not believe in a god. Beyond that Atheists believe all sorts of things. There is at least one conservative Atheist group on this site. Maybe you can post your thoughts over there and see what they think.
That's certainly true but "they" do partly bring it upon themselves by identifying as atheists (or theists, or agnostics, or golfers, or banjo players, etc.) to begin with. Identity brings baggage. It's unavoidable.
skado
Level 9
Oct 25, 2019
2
we need such labels sometimes. sure they can be misused, but it's easier, when asked, if one is inclined to answer at all, to say "i'm an atheist" than to say "well, i'm a person who has thought about religion and the existence or nonexistence of deities for a long time, and by the way, unlike all the other such people i've met, i'm blonde and five foot two, and don't like celery, but anyway i have decided that there are no deities whatsoever, and by the way, please don't lump me in with other people who also hold no deities." then you have to trust that the party receiving the information does indeed realize the definition of the word, and what it does and does not include. but you could spend your whole life explaining yourself without labels.
g
@genessa
I think you could also spend your whole life wrangling definitions too. There may really be no short-cut to understanding each other besides long-form conversation. Yes, labels are useful, when accurately applied, but identities are another thing altogether. I occasionally wear sandals, but I don't identify as a sandal-wearer. I have never bowled a game in my life, but I don't identify as a non-bowler. I don't feel any need to build an identity around believing or disbelieving in a thing as complex and controversial as a god.
I'm not aware of any scientifically viable evidence that supports the existence of a sentient being who created the universe and judges us when we die, so if that makes someone want to call me an atheist, that's their business... but I don't. On the other hand, science fully supports the existence of the human mind, emotions, dreams, attitudes, imagination, and intention. History fully supports the existence of human behavior that we generally refer to as religious, in all human societies, in all locations, for as long as our species has existed. There are plenty of scientific grounds for arguing that the evolutionary formation of, and use of "gods" by Homo sapiens is encoded, in various ways, in our genetics, making gods very real in that limited sense. If that makes someone want to call me a theist, then that's their business... but I don't.
The tendency to lump people together because of single factors in their life is a human failure more than anything else. It is what permits horrendous actions against "the others" in the name of "us". Be it religion belief or lack thereof, race, sexual preference, or any other factor. In the end we are all individuals prone to our own foibles brought on by genetics, the environment we grew up in, the choices in life we made. I have seen Amish in porn shops and hanging around men's rooms, I knew an Amish woman who was molested by her father. Obviously being Catholic is no more a sign of a child mollester than being Luthern. But as humans we always want to lump people into whatever tribe that we fear or love the most, to our own detriment.
Barnie2years
Level 8
Oct 25, 2019
1
I can only assume that some people coming out of a theist upbringing, where they maybe learned to define all the people in a group by being all this or that, are still carrying that mindset over into atheism. It can be quite an adjustment to learn how to see people as individuals when you're used to defining them by collective traits.
bleurowz
Level 8
Oct 26, 2019
2
Beware of the term "lacks belief" because there are so many out there that think you are saying you have no knowledge of their god and they would love to tell you about him. They think they will give you belief. Of course, you have to "have faith." LOL
DenoPenno
Level 9
Oct 26, 2019
1
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