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.

Yeah, some people who are atheists here on this site don't agree with me at all. I am so disappointed.

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.

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.....

Intelligence is definitely not on the rise.

Exactly. "Are atheists racist?" is an asinine question. We are not a monolith.

I agree. I've never understood the need to define an atheist beyond non belief in a god.

Completely agree, I haven’t even bothered to click on the posts.

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.

Well stated!

It's still tough being black! LOL!!!

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.

Exactly! Since atheism isn't a religion, there is no rule book. We all have one thing in common: a lack of belief in deities. There is no guidebook to tell us how to behave, believe or respond with regard to anything else.

g

I was blocked by someone because I had the gall to suggest that conservatives could be atheists too.

Yes we are all different! It is to me, however, much nicer not to have to tip toe around the nonsense peoples beliefs which is why I find more comfort in the presence of free thinkers.

Very well said!...

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.

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.

I totally agree with your post. Congrats on reaching level 7.

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.

And nothing more needs to be said about this.

Very true.

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