Here are my top 3:

  1. Whataboutism with Christainity - I’ve been a vocal critic of islam in atheist spaces for well over a decade. There has not been a single instance of me criticizing islam where I did not get a hoard of atheists bringing up Christianity for no reason. There’s no relevance and no point to it, but they get really mad when I try to focus on islam. It’s like why can’t they just accept that islam or other religions can be criticized on their own merits independently?

  2. Self centered American atheists - Whenever I ever bring up my and my family’s experiences in the middle east and how horrible islam is over there, there will always be a handful of ignorant American atheists who can’t comprehend that the world is more than their country. No ISIS and your dumb MAGA uncle are not the same.

  3. “All religions are bad” - I hate this statement because it’s like “all lives matter”. Yeah, no shit all religions are bad. That’s literally the baseline of any atheist community. All the discussions lie in the nuances beyond that. Smearing this statement all over atheist spaces is completely meaningless.

What about you guys? Are there any things in the atheist community that you noticed that make your eyes twitch? I would love to hear them.

  • FrogCat@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    4 days ago

    I think they’re probably not talking to ghosts/aliens/etc, but I can’t rule it out 100%. Just like I don’t believe in God, although I can’t be 100% certain that God doesn’t exist. So I’m an agnostic atheist I guess - I don’t believe in God but I’m not 100% certain of his non-existence. Maybe God will reveal himself in the future, although I doubt it.

    what made you give up your religion?

    I’ve never been religious. My parents aren’t religious, so religion was something our family was never into.

    • rollin@piefed.socialEnglish
      01·
      4 days ago

      not talking to ghosts/aliens/etc, but I can’t rule it out 100%

      you keep skipping over the spiderman one. Don’t think I haven’t noticed lol

      So I take it you don’t think a mental patient might actually be talking to spiderman? Same goes for Gandalf presumably, or Yoda. What about Thor? You probably think Thor is legit because some people did once believe there was such a being, right? So what if you then found out that our mental patient was actually talking to the Marvel Thor from the movies? All of a sudden you lose interest, this guy’s crazy, and definitely no longer a prophet, hmm?

      • FrogCat@piefed.socialEnglish
        0·
        3 days ago

        Someone who claims to be talking to Spider-Man telepathically might be doing so. I think it’s unlikely, but I don’t think I can rule it out 100%. Personally I don’t think Thor or Yoda or Gandalf are different in this context because I think they’re all fictional, but one day maybe it will be proven that at least one of them actually exists, although I think that’s unlikely.

        Anyway, originally I was just saying my view about religion. I don’t think I’d label every religion as “bad”. I think religion can inspire some people to do bad things, but it also seems to inspire some people to do good things. That’s just the way I see it really.

        • rollin@piefed.socialEnglish
          01·
          3 days ago

          Sure. I made an assumption that people who call themselves atheist would also not believe in magical thinking. But you’re not atheist and you do believe in magical thinking. You just haven’t been sucked into a religion yet. You’re ripe pickings for one though - if you are ever feeling low and get love-bombed by members of any particular religion, you’ll probably throw yourself right in with them.

          I probably can’t reach you. You do seem to agree that as human beings, none of us know anything for sure. There’s no certainty in life. Science understands this and is built upon that as its very foundation. Religion however does not understand this and tries to invent certainty where none exists.

          So if there was one thing I’d like you to keep in mind and remember, it’s that anyone who does claim to know something for sure is wrong.

          • FrogCat@piefed.socialEnglish
            0·
            3 days ago

            Maybe we just look at it in different ways and I think that’s fine. People can have different perspectives.

            • rollin@piefed.socialEnglish
              01·
              3 days ago

              oh dear. you really are a lost cause. Nothing I said got through did it?

              edit: thank you for the discussion. Sorry for upsetting you! I genuinely didn’t mean to do that, but I admit my approach was abrasive. Something for me to work on! I truly did find chatting with you useful, and I’ll take on board what I’ve learnt from this next time I have a similar debate.