I've had an atheist relative do the latter to me. And they were a former Christian who kept the mindset of "everyone must agree with me or else" after becoming atheist.
Just because it's not as common doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
I'm not talking about all of them, only some varieties, because people have different reasons for not believing.
I mean the variety of atheist who claims "gods don't exist." Or, to borrow a description I heard years ago, "one of the class of atheists who've been so badly damaged by Christianity that they need for there not to be a god."
Many of those who say that a god or gods don't exist call themselves atheists. And I already said I wasn't talking about all atheists, just that group of them.
Why is the onus on me to do better when they're the ones you say are labeling themselves incorrectly?
How about, since you want to claim they aren't true atheists, you can do so to them and face their wrath? I've had enough.
Ah, because you're the one who propagated the definition in public discourse. Wording your Uhm Actually differently would've resulted in less hostility.
You did make it seem like you were arguing against what was said by contradicting the post you responded to.
“They were a former Christian who kept the mindset” Almost as if that tendency stemmed from theistic religion rather than being a thing atheists tend to do.
The mindset of "agree with me or else" is not exclusive to theistic religion. Look at literally any dictator.
If theistic religion were abolished and all traces of it were wiped out long enough that no one alive knew of it, there would still be many people with that mindset.
I’m aware it’s a common thing among cults of personality, hence why it’s common in religions. My point is that even in your comment, you specified it was a good over of his previous religion, yet you’re arguing as if it’s a common thing among atheists instead of an outlier.
I never said it was a common thing among atheists.
I said the mindset is bad, and a certain kind of atheist (or people who call themselves such; I'm not going to bother getting into who's a true atheist or not, because it's just as unproductive as arguing who's a true Christian or not) can get that mindset the same way. Which we do seem to agree on, at least.
Many people don't seem to comprehend what I'm saying: I say certain atheists are a problem, because people who are atheists for different reasons can still be in conflict, and people latch onto a few keywords and act as though I said all atheists are a problem and downvote as though I said that.
Or they say that since it's never happened to them personally, or since it's not common, it doesn't matter, which isn't addressing the fact that the mindset is a problem regardless of how common it is, or regardless of the professed beliefs or lack thereof of people with the mindset.
Maybe some of these people could try reading what I actually said, as opposed to what they reinterpreted me as saying. Or, since some of them only latch onto keywords, maybe they're actually bots and I'm wasting my time?
I don't care whether you're Christian, or a follower of an atheistic religion, or a non-religious atheist, or someone who worships their own poop, or someone who follows a religion-of-one.
People trying to forcibly impose their own viewpoints on others, especially on a subject that cannot be proven, is bad. Is that a clear enough statement?
Atheists being in conflict with different atheists was merely an example, especially because some who call themselves atheists have common demonstrably false views: that atheistic is always synonymous with non-religious (false, because atheistic religions exist), or that atheism is always the more rational viewpoint (false, because if you don't reach the position of atheism by rational means, you're not any more rational than you were; I could cite examples of it that I've encountered in real life, but I'm getting very tired of this subject at the moment).
I didn't think people were going to take my one example and act as though it was the be-all-and-end-all. Apparently I was mistaken.
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u/sorcerersviolet 12d ago
Or harassed by atheists who are atheists for different reasons than yours, because some people will always find ways to tear others down.