Christians, Atheists and Antitheists
Atheism does not mean hating religion. It simply means you don’t have one.
There seems to be an Internet subculture fight going on between atheists and Christians. This has heated up since atheist groups started putting ads on busses in England questioning the existence of God, a practice which has spread to the U.S.
Like most arguments, each side is somewhat extremist in their viewpoint, as this seems to come down to an either/or choice. This is an absolute choice, no wavering allowed.
That doesn’t sound like atheism to me. That “a” at the beginning means “not,” it doesn’t mean “against.” So atheism simply means “not theist.” They don’t have a god. Atypical means “not typical.” Asexual means “not sexual.”
There is a difference between not having a God and choosing to annoy those that do. That would more accurately be described as antitheism. A true atheist probably doesn’t care if you have a god or not. Think of it this way, if you’re not a football fan, it probably made very little difference to you who won the Superbowl. You’re not likely to go hunt down Arizona fans to taunt this week. There’s no point in it because you don’t care.
Christians, on the other hand, care very much what everyone else thinks. They will tell you that there is only one rule, you have to believe Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. But the Christian faith is broken into many denominations, most of which will tell you that the others are wrong. There’s only one true test of faith, but everyone else is doing it wrong.
Personally, I am areligious. I believe in God, a higher power. I just don’t believe in religion, primarily because of the “you’re doing it wrong” attitude, which is why religion starts wars. For instance, Catholics and Baptists seem to be like ninja fighting fish or something. Put them both in the same tank and there’s going to be trouble.
It seems to me that the people putting up signs asking you to consider that there is no God are either antitheists or simply aetheists with a mean streak. In all honesty, what the billboards seem to ask is whether you could imagine that there is no God. I could imagine that. The mere thinking of it does not change my belief system, though. It doesn’t even challenge it.
But they know that the signs will tick off the Christians. Maybe even Jews, Muslims and Hindus, but the Christians will be the ones to take the deepest umbrage, especially the evangelical faction. The online atheists are just pulling the chain of the Christians.
They keep doing it because they get the same reaction every time.
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