Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

Why does it seem like most atheists are jerks?

Background: I am a (mostly closeted) atheist. Most of my family and many of my social circles are either very religious or very sympathetic to religious viewpoints. They are good, kind people who are more fearful of atheism than outright hostile to it. However, because of this, my real-world support structure for like-minded atheists is very slim. So I turn to the interwebs.

What I find is community after online community of combative, self-congratulating echo chambers that alternate between planning strategies for sparring with non-atheists and mocking their general stupidity. Even here (which I have much higher hopes for, given the success of my ultimate time-sink, Stackoverflow), skimming the home page I see words like confront, debate, argument. This is very disheartening. I am afraid atheists have earned their reputation as smug assholes, rather than being a smear by non-atheists. Is this perception way off-base? If it is, where do I need to be looking? If not, how can we help shift our own community mindset from adversarial to compassionate outreach?

Answer 1181

You might refer to the greater internet dickwad theory. It's likely a sampling error on your part ; people in general, not just atheists, huddle in echo chambers. (thanks @esm for the link)

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Answer 1187

Way off base. Atheist are angry for these reasons http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html and more. Our anger is valid and perhaps the catalyst for change. We are not, I don’t think, looking for apology, we are looking for fundamental change in governance structures that leave us the prey of theocratic ideologues. The tacit support of these bronze age institutions, by good xians and others, is a large part of the problem.

Answer 1183

I think you are mistaken. However, it may be that those that are not upset with religion are harder to find. If religion is not an issue for them, they probably won't feel the need to talk about it, so won't bother spending time on atheist web sites!

Also, I would be interested to hear what you'd like to see in an atheist community online. It looks like you don't want to talk about why atheism is right or why religion is wrong, but are interested in compassionate outreach. I am not sure what that would be, but I think you should start a thread about it somewhere and bring it up! If you think it's a good idea, probably other people do, too!

Post a link to it here when you do!

If you are unsure where to start such a discussion, might I recommend thinkatheist.com ?

Answer 1179

Outspoken atheism involves breaking a taboo. To the extent that rude people are more willing to break a taboo, naturally you might expect to observe ‘jerks’ who talk about being atheists. You simply don’t hear from other closeted atheists who might be more agreeable.

Answer 1185

I think there are definitely some jerk tendencies, but there are jerk tendencies in theists too.

It’s like US politics. Most people are moderates, but most people you hear from are nutjobs. In this case, jerks are more likely to be out there making a stink over a Christmas tree in a government building, or screaming about the need to add the 10 commandments to the courthouse, or similar crap. Most people just get on with their lives.

Answer 1202

I cant say I like the question or the way you have framed/worded it (I voted to have it closed).

I cant say why you think what you do and this is not my experience. This is just a Q and A. I get angry because of this for example but I am not a jerk over it.

No loss. No loss at all. (from Pharyngula)

Category: Religion

St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Arizona was a Catholic-affiliated institution, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has just made a major strategic error: they have stripped the hospital of its affiliation.

There are two reasons this was a bad idea for the church. One is that it exposes them as callous, evil bastards who don’t care for their patients as much as they do their invisible, nonexistent souls. The reason the church took this action is that doctors there performed an emergency abortion on a woman who was 11 weeks pregnant and dying. The choice was to stand by and do nothing while watching the mother and fetus die, or abort and treat woman and let her live. The Catholic Church believes the doctors should have taken no action and allowed her to die.

The second big mistake is that the fraud of the Catholic hospital charade stands exposed. This was an incredibly revealing statement:

St. Joseph’s does not receive direct funding from the church, but in addition to losing its Catholic endorsement, the 697-bed hospital will no longer be able to celebrate Mass and must remove the Blessed Sacrament from its chapel.

In other words, the Catholic church has benefited from the association with an actual house of healing, while providing nothing but magic crackers and the recommendation of local priests.

No loss. If that’s all the saint’s name tagged onto a hospital provides, they’re all better off leaving that nonsense behind.

Answer 1207

Every day I read about someone who purports to have faith in a deity who gets a reward of some kind for nothing more than having an imaginary friend. Also every day I read of those same people touting their belief that it is their right to tell others that they also need to believe in that invisible friend. I am not allowed to publicly disbelieve in that invisible friend. Why are there penalties for my disbelief? Why is the believers hatred of my disbelief supported by the government? Smug?? Fighting for my damn life is more like it.

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