Are you too angry about religion?

[Pappa]

Other than a brief foray into Buddhism that I found decidedly unsatisfactory in my teens, I've always been entirely non-religious, and even while dabbling with Buddhism I was atheist. Neither of my parents were ever religious and as a kid, my dad's stock response to anything about religion was, "It's all bollocks". Religion was a non-issue for me. We prayed and sang hymns in school but that was something that was an insignificant routine to me and something I assumed had probably disappeared from non-religious schools nowadays.

When my son came home from school (aged about 5 or 6) spouting some crap about "God made all the trees and butterflies" I was concerned. Worried that his head teacher was some religious freak or something. I discovered that we have a law insisting kids get taught Christianity and have a daily act of Christian worship. I can request he is removed, but I remembered how weird we all thought the Jahovas were in school and figured it was better to not remove him.

It was because of that that I first posted on RDF, and over the years, I've read more and more about the stupidity of religion and the privileges it gets. Mostly, I've become more and more literate in atheist and anti-theist ideas, holes in theological arguments and similar stuff. I take for granted a view of religion that most people on the street are unaware of, and as a result I seem to have an irrational hatred of religion (from their point of view). Even when I discuss basic theological points like "why does god allow suffering?" mild-mannered folk assume I'm attacking religion or christians. But on top of that, I've found that I have also become very intolerant of religious ignorance and stupidity - it annoys me that religious people are so poorly versed in the same arguments - and it annoys me that they get so fucking offended at the most minor criticism of their faith on rational grounds.

My son, Felix, has become an arch-anti-theist. I'm really proud of the way he understand the reasoning behind why parody religious like the FSM have equal validity as 'real' ones. I'm proud of his irreverence towards holy days. He calls easter "chocolate egg day" and similar things.

The problem is, I find that my moderate religious inlaws and my old college friends and similar (who probably aren't even religious) all now regard me as the angry ranting atheist with a chip on his shoulder. The path I've taken has made it difficult for me to say anything at all positive about religion, and while I don't think I am aggressively anti-religious, I'm pretty sure they think I am simply because I criticise religion fairly often. Like the majority of the population, they seem to think that any minor critique of religion amounts to a massive offensive action.

I'm in a bit of a dilema. I've never been very good at keeping my mouth shut when I disagree with someone, particularly if I think they are using an utterly stupid line of reasoning. While I'm not generally that argumentative, I can be quite dismissive and a bit sarcastic in response to people when discussing religious matters and that can give the impression I'm rubbishing someone's beliefs. I don't particularly want to backtrack at all, but I do have to share a planet with religious people and everyone else too. Aside from not talking about religion, I'm not really sure what to do about it all.

Do the rest of you have this problem?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Are you, too, angry about religion? Yes.

[FBM]

After a degree in Philosophy, I've found it much easier to keep my mouth shut when I disagree with a religious person. I've had too many aruguments over it that accomplished absolutely squat, as far as I could tell. I'm not eager for another one, though I do sometimes indulge here and there. I pick and choose, and my goal usually isn't to change the other person's mind, but simply to give voice to reason when it's needed.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

In the military we learned to keep our mouth shut about religion. It doesn't have much relevance to people whose job is to kill people and break things. After I got out it wasn't an issue at all. Until "Expelled". Then I got pissed. Now I rather enjoy telling people how fucked up their lives are when they cling to mythology as a refuge from reality.

[Feck]

Yes Theists make me angry I 'm not too upset by wooists (mostly) but theists I can't stand ,if i am sober then i can normally behave (talk to my dog and try and ignore them) but as you say, it is upsetting that so many theist believe such utter drivel without any thought !

I will bare my teeth and snarl at evangelicals who try to hand me leaflets in the street . And If people bless me when I sneeze I object loudly .People stupid enough to say they will
pray for me get a lot of abuse :pissed:

[Pappa]

Yes Theists make me angry I 'm not too upset by wooists (mostly) but theists I can't stand ,if i am sober then i can normally behave (talk to my dog and try and ignore them) but as you say, it is upsetting that so many theist believe such utter drivel without any thought !

I will bare my teeth and snarl at evangelicals who try to hand me leaflets in the street . And If people bless me when I sneeze I object loudly .People stupid enough to say they will
pray for me get a lot of abuse :pissed:

It's not really people on the street that's the issue for me. Because my views on religion are extreme when compared to the views of the general population, merely opening my mouth and giving my opinion about religion seems to be regarded as being offensive about religion, something which is a problem for some of my family and friends. They are people I like and get on with, but my views on religion can cause friction. As I said, I could keep my mouth shut, but I sometimes talk about religion with my son (either of us might bring it up in response to something on TV or whatever). I'd have to shut Felix up too, which would be impossible and unfair.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yes Theists make me angry I 'm not too upset by wooists (mostly) but theists I can't stand ,if i am sober then i can normally behave (talk to my dog and try and ignore them) but as you say, it is upsetting that so many theist believe such utter drivel without any thought !

I will bare my teeth and snarl at evangelicals who try to hand me leaflets in the street . And If people bless me when I sneeze I object loudly .People stupid enough to say they will
pray for me get a lot of abuse :pissed:

I pointed out to a guy that you say "Bless you!" to keep the demons you just expelled from returning to your body. The next time he sneezed he repeated, "God bless me, no one else will." Fucker wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box.

[Tigger]

It pisses me off to an alarming extent. That my life - to depart from my usual altruistic tendencies for a moment - can be affected by wooing fucktards is beyond belief. I detest it all with a fiery passion you could only imagine. And if you're a wooist, then your imagination is vivid, so you could get the general picture.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

You guys turned me into an anti-theist!







It's the ones who ignore the science that get on my wick the most.

[Pappa]

It pisses me off to an alarming extent. That my life - to depart from my usual altruistic tendencies for a moment - can be affected by wooing fucktards is beyond belief. I detest it all with a fiery passion you could only imagine. And if you're a wooist, then your imagination is vivid, so you could get the general picture.

I was trying to explain something like this to my wife the other night (after watching that thing about christians being picked on). I don't give a fuck what people believe. I don't even expect then to do it in private. What I do mind is that their nonsensical beliefs effect my life, and they also effect the lives of other people (like children or people at the lowest points in their lives). It angers me that because of their stupid beliefs, my son and his classmates get a visiting minister telling him lies in school, we have bishops getting automatic seats in the Lords, Blair and Bush invade because god said it was the right thing to do (and oil), etc.

[Loki_999]

I can get a little ratty. My mum told me "I PRAY TO GOD" - yes in capital letters - in an email a few weeks ago, and I launched a slightly rough counter attack which ended on the topic that she had better pray hard because according to her religion I am going to hell because I don't believe in the sky-fairy.

I normally am quite tolerant and patient with theists, but sometimes they do wind me up a little too much and then I feel like burning someone at the stake.

[JimC]

I work with a number of people who I quite like, even though they are catholics (from the liberal wing of the church, mind you...). I get on well with them on most everyday issues, but lately have been more willing to put my dismissal of their woo on the line, albeit with a disclaimer that it does not prevent me liking and working with them. To be honest, they have mostly been quite supportive, in a sense of "Jim, you might be an atheistic bastard, but you're our atheistic bastard..."

[Ian]

I don't have much contact with religion in my life, so I seldom have cause to get myself angry about confronting it. So my answer is no. I'm anti-theistic, but I don't go looking for an argument or advertising my atheism to friends and family. I like to avoid confrontation, though I'll happily debate my stance until the cows come home if I'm asked about it. On Facebook, I almost never mention anything about religion (my information page says "Freethinking" for religious views, and that's it). I just don't want to bother.

Most of my family doesn't discuss religion either, with the exception of my aunt Judi in Long Island. In the last ten years or so decades she's become absolutely brainwashed, and posts a scripture passage as her Facebook status every day. I ignore it; to be honest, she's not the brightest person and doesn't have the most ideal life, so if it's a crutch for her then I say so be it. She's never tried to point out the evil of my ways, although as per the first paragraph she may not be fully aware of my views on the subject. But she'll be visiting here for a day in July... I'll let you know if any fireworks happen.

[nastler]

I appreciate what you are saying Pappa.

I was raised in a religious house, moved to "natural" athiesm (a rejection of the ideas of religion) at University but only after autumn 2001 into a more anti-theist position. When I started getting into the anti-theist discussions and literature I found myself more and more keen to start the topic off when with my friends. But I soon realised I would have to dial that shit back down if I wasn't going to become "the crazy athiest guy".

Now almost all my friends are (already were) athiests and those that are not are cultural christians and/or non-reflective deists. So they agree with 95% of what I have to say, they just don't wanna talk about it as much as me. Which is fair enough.

It's a bit like football. I like to talk about the game, and I know many of the guys do too. But most of the women I know couldn't care less so it's just not a topic that comes up when I'm with them... Same thing for computer games, or music, or what have you.

OTOH, if some religious wonk starts to prosthelytise there is clearly no need to go softly...

[fordo]

religion doesnt especialy anger me, stupidity does. so mostly due to my awesome ability to discover or be related to..total fuckwits,its the excessive media coverage given to politicians that does it as well, so mostly im just angry, i road test a new doctor tomorrow if he is a religious nutter ill come back and edit this i guess,if im not in prison for murder that is..