Dealing with Atheist Anger

[Padres1969]

The first time we lived in the US we found the its religiosity rather a shock and I say that as somebody who, while having grown up in the UK, was born in Italy. Somehow the pervasive age-old Catholicity of Italy seemed quite normal and non-aggressive in comparison to the US.

No doubt it’s the Italian Catholicism v the US Protestantism. Italian Catholicism has been a pervasive part of that country’s fabric since long before it was a country. And the Catholic Church, while not having a full monopoly, has as close to one as you’re likely to find in all of Christendom. In the US you’ve got a wide range of religions, mainly Christian, almost all Protestant. And with some of them I’ve noted over the years comes a fire I just don’t typically pick up from Catholics (or for example my own Anglican faith either). The term “Bible Beater” is often used in the US, and with good reason. Some Protestant sects are actually somewhat accurately described by that oft considered slur. There’s a fevor or fire if you will I’ve noted in some Protestant sects, many of them sects born in the US, that isn’t always present in the older mainline Protestant Churches or Catholicism which generally speaking skew more toward a calmer expression of faith.

I mean for example I’ve never seen Catholics, or mainline Protestants for that matter, preaching on street corners outside convention halls or amusement parks and telling people going into those venues why they’re going to hell or why they’re on the path to hell. Come to think of it, back to my original post, that may be one of the reasons my Canadian friend is in that Angry Atheist group. He’s a huge pop culture fan who goes to Pop Culture/Sci-fi conventions multiple times a year and enjoys them immensely for both the programming content and the camaraderie with his fellow fans. They’re about as close to “church” if you will as he has. And in recent years in SoCal almost every major Pop Culture/Sci-fi convention has to one degree or another been “protested” by multiple groups of these stereotypical bible thumping Christians very forcefully and verbally abusively condemning the conventions and the attendees. I do recall my friend taking great offense to that to the point he did counter protest them on at least one occasion with some anti-religious signage of his own.

 

[HisSavingGrace]

Hi, new here. I am going to chime in on this topic because I have a daughter who is one of those angry atheists. She fits into category 1 of that study mentioned. She was let down by somebody in the Church. She was once a practicing Catholic and of my four kids and myself she was the most religious of all of us.

Briefly, because this is a very painful subject, she was dating a guy in high school (typical jock also Catholic) and they had decided to wait for marriage before engaging in relations. His mother was her CCD teacher. Well, he cheated on her and she found out about it and was crushed even if she hid it well. To make matters worse the guy got this other girl pregnant and his mother, worried that her son’s whole life would be ruined, paid for the girl to get an abortion…and continued to teach CCD. My daughter quit CCD and in so was never confirmed. My daughter was not a quitter at anything so I positive that this bothers her to this day even though she will not admit it. Mind you when we lived up north she had already done all the prep for Confirmation but we moved south only months before she would be confirmed. Down here they don’t do it until 11th grade, which is ridiculous but anyways…That event shook her faith. She grew to hate religious people. She saw this woman who taught CCD as a fake and a hypocrit and rightly I might add. I would have done something about this had I known it at the time but this is one of those stories I didn’t find out about until about three years later. Add in the Protestant orchestra teacher that she had that acted rather fakey and was a weekend Pastor and then her new boyfriend who is now her husband and who has a major chip on his shoulder and who is as liberal as they come…One more thing to add in. My daughter is/was an overachiever. She received a full ride academic scholarship to a big name (and liberal like most colleges) University. She wanted to be a Doctor and she just received her Masters in Biology but opted for teaching instead when she realized the sight of blood made her queasy.

So add in all of those preceding factors, plus going to a liberal college and science major, where I suspect it was drilled into her that you can’t be a scientist and a believer at the same time. Comments she had made have made me think this way. What is sad is that she spent quite a few years in Catholic school when she was a child. She absolutely loved it and she excelled, learned great study habits and had a lot of friends. Now? Haha

The way she talks about it, it was awful that she was forced to go there…In fact, both my husband and I are believers and this has driven a wedge between us. We try to smile and be tolerant because she is an adult now (24) but she is smart and she knows that we are deeply disappointed inside, at least she thinks that. I don’t feel that way though. I feel worried. I pray all the time. I pray for guidance, I pray for her soul. I pray she will find Jesus again and I cry. A lot. I wonder where I went wrong. I sent her off to college a Christian and a Republican and she came back atheist and liberal as they come. I was extremely close to my oldest daughter and now she hates me. She has negatively influenced one of my younger daughters now and because my oldest was such an over-achiever my youngest daughter looks up to her in a big way and she is now following in her path too. My middle daughter and my son are still believers. My daughter thinks that people who believe in God are uneducated, that science has the answers to everything.

People keep telling me that she will come back to Christ, but I’m not so sure. I feel like I should do something, but she doesn’t even want to have a relationship with me anymore because she and I were that close that I think when she looks at me she sees the disappointment in my eyes. I don’t feel that way though but I know how she thinks. She was the type of kid who did chores around the house without being asked to do them, got straight A’s on her report card and that some of it was because she liked and was used to approval from her parents. I can’t talk to her as she won’t talk to me about this.

She mocks religion and calls people stupid who believe in God. She is such a different person. When Christ was in her life she was smart and confidant and sweet. Now she is ultra feminist, but it’s misguided feminism in my opinion. It’s right out of the Democrats talking points. It’s a ton of things combined when it comes right down to it. I also think it’s other things…I feel like society does not hold up a woman who is a stay at Mom like myself. I know I did a good job, every one of my kids are/were honor roll students. I was always there for them but she has even erased all of this in her mind. It’s the most bizarre thing to us that she has suddenly rewritten her childhood to where she did it all herself. Even my husband shakes his head and says to me he doesn’t remember it this way or that way, the way she says and my answer is, “That’s because it didn;'t happen that way, I was there.” It’s as if since she became a atheist and democrat she needs to be a victim? I don’t even get it. She also acts like she came from a poor family. We lived in a townhouse for a while this is true, but then we moved to a house with a pool in the backyard. Both were good neighborhoods and she never wanted for anything. She wasn’t spoiled but she also never went without. It’s as mind-boggling as it is heartbreaking. She seems to want to do everything opposite of me which is…hurtful…considering in her senior year of Highschool she wrote a paper about the person who was her hero and she wrote it about me. How does somebody change so drastically, so fast?

Sorry for this lengthy post. I really didn’t mean for it to be this long, but I came here searching for answers and this topic sprung out at me and I thought maybe God was leading me somewhere? Have a blessed day.

 

[rose_kelly]

I wonder whether there could be cultural issues involved? Are atheists in highly religious societies like the US more angry than atheists in, say, the UK where people tend not to be so bothered one way or the other?

Certainly, I’ve witnessed atheists getting very angry with certain styles of on-line proselytising.

There are certainly cultural differences. The impression I have is that Americans are more likely to discuss their beliefs publicly than the English are.
Another difference is, that politicians in the US seem to be questioned more intensely on religious issues, whereas in the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) most of the voting public pay less attention to what a politicians religious affiliation is.

Regarding atheists online. On a general discussion forum in the UK I’m a member of, I’ve come across so many atheists venting their anger against anyone with a religious belief, not at all like the ones I know in my personal life.
If theists were proselytising I could understand it, but hardly any theists do, its the atheists that proselytise the most.

They have a right to express their views of course, but one thing I’ve noticed, is that some of the angriest comments have been directed towards the Christian faith, only because they know its considered a more acceptable faith to attack.

The Catholic religion receives the worst of the insults, but I think that’s partly due to the anti-Catholic attitude passed down from Britain’s historical past, that is inherent in some of them.

 

[Jelrak_TB]

Briefly, because this is a very painful subject, she was dating a guy in high school (typical jock also Catholic) and they had decided to wait for marriage before engaging in relations. His mother was her CCD teacher. Well, he cheated on her and she found out about it and was crushed even if she hid it well. To make matters worse the guy got this other girl pregnant and his mother, worried that her son’s whole life would be ruined, paid for the girl to get an abortion…and continued to teach CCD. My daughter quit CCD and in so was never confirmed. My daughter was not a quitter at anything so I positive that this bothers her to this day even though she will not admit it. Mind you when we lived up north she had already done all the prep for Confirmation but we moved south only months before she would be confirmed. Down here they don’t do it until 11th grade, which is ridiculous but anyways…That event shook her faith. She grew to hate religious people. She saw this woman who taught CCD as a fake and a hypocrit and rightly I might add. I would have done something about this had I known it at the time but this is one of those stories I didn’t find out about until about three years later. Add in the Protestant orchestra teacher that she had that acted rather fakey and was a weekend Pastor and then her new boyfriend who is now her husband and who has a major chip on his shoulder and who is as liberal as they come…One more thing to add in. My daughter is/was an overachiever. She received a full ride academic scholarship to a big name (and liberal like most colleges) University. She wanted to be a Doctor and she just received her Masters in Biology but opted for teaching instead when she realized the sight of blood made her queasy.

So add in all of those preceding factors, plus going to a liberal college and science major, where I suspect it was drilled into her that you can’t be a scientist and a believer at the same time. Comments she had made have made me think this way. What is sad is that she spent quite a few years in Catholic school when she was a child. She absolutely loved it and she excelled, learned great study habits and had a lot of friends. Now? Haha

The way she talks about it, it was awful that she was forced to go there…In fact, both my husband and I are believers and this has driven a wedge between us. We try to smile and be tolerant because she is an adult now (24) but she is smart and she knows that we are deeply disappointed inside, at least she thinks that. I don’t feel that way though. I feel worried. I pray all the time. I pray for guidance, I pray for her soul. I pray she will find Jesus again and I cry. A lot. I wonder where I went wrong. I sent her off to college a Christian and a Republican and she came back atheist and liberal as they come. I was extremely close to my oldest daughter and now she hates me. She has negatively influenced one of my younger daughters now and because my oldest was such an over-achiever my youngest daughter looks up to her in a big way and she is now following in her path too. My middle daughter and my son are still believers. My daughter thinks that people who believe in God are uneducated, that science has the answers to everything.

… …

She mocks religion and calls people stupid who believe in God. She is such a different person. When Christ was in her life she was smart and confidant and sweet. Now she is ultra feminist, but it’s misguided feminism in my opinion. It’s right out of the Democrats talking points. It’s a ton of things combined when it comes right down to it. I also think it’s other things…I feel like society does not hold up a woman who is a stay at Mom like myself. I know I did a good job, every one of my kids are/were honor roll students. I was always there for them but she has even erased all of this in her mind. It’s the most bizarre thing to us that she has suddenly rewritten her childhood to where she did it all herself. Even my husband shakes his head and says to me he doesn’t remember it this way or that way, the way she says and my answer is, “That’s because it didn;'t happen that way, I was there.” It’s as if since she became a atheist and democrat she needs to be a victim? I don’t even get it. She also acts like she came from a poor family. We lived in a townhouse for a while this is true, but then we moved to a house with a pool in the backyard. Both were good neighborhoods and she never wanted for anything. She wasn’t spoiled but she also never went without. It’s as mind-boggling as it is heartbreaking. She seems to want to do everything opposite of me which is…hurtful…considering in her senior year of Highschool she wrote a paper about the person who was her hero and she wrote it about me. How does somebody change so drastically, so fast?

Sorry for this lengthy post. I really didn’t mean for it to be this long, but I came here searching for answers and this topic sprung out at me and I thought maybe God was leading me somewhere? Have a blessed day.

I am sorry for the temporary rift in your relationship…it appears that your daughter now has the fervor of a convert…oftentimes the need to suppress one’s past beliefs in order to better conform with one’s current worldview can result in some overcompensation. It is probable that she will eventually relax her position once she has thoroughly explored it and its logical consequences. The essential means of maintaining a relationship with her at this time is through quiet acceptance…and to be sure to continue to include her in the family events.

I wish you the best hope for the future.

 

[drac16]

I acknowledge the fact that much of what they say has some truth in it. Religion has been used for evil and it can drive some people to madness. My stomach turns whenever I hear about the latest suicide bombings and the news outlets make sure to point out that so-and-so was muslim. My salafi brethren would do well to start condemning attacks on shi’as and the blowing up of sufi mosques.

I try to find some common ground with an angry atheist. There is tremendous evil that is carried out with religious motivations-- that’s something I and the atheist can agree on. I know that there’s truth in Islamic [especially *sufi] spirituality, though, so I try to help them ascertain that. As Ali ibn abu Talib [may Allah be pleased with him] once said, be as a flower. Even if a flower is crushed in a person’s hand, it lets out a pleasant smell before it dies. Likewise, I try to be compassionate to people even if they’re beating me over the head with accusations and anger.

 

[Kaninchen]

Regarding atheists online. On a general discussion forum in the UK I’m a member of, I’ve come across so many atheists venting their anger against anyone with a religious belief, not at all like the ones I know in my personal life.
If theists were proselytising I could understand it, but hardly any theists do, its the atheists that proselytise the most.

You could start screaming wars on the Internet over whether Kleenex Balsam tissues are better than Velvet Balm tissues (I’m recovering from a cold, so it’s a sensitive subject, or not, because of Velvet Balm tissues) it’s a place for manufactured ire and manufacturing ire.

The Catholic religion receives the worst of the insults, but I think that’s partly due to the anti-Catholic attitude passed down from Britain’s historical past, that is inherent in some of them.

I think Islam might have something of an edge in the unpopularity league at the moment.

 

[Lea101]

the atheists I know are usually really angry because religion (usually Islam, Christianity and Judaism) is against the things they believe in.

Like homosexuality, transgender issues, abortion, feminism etc. They view religious people as oppressive. “How dare you oppose abortion? I don’t believe in your religion, don’t force it on me!”

Not to mention that terrorism, church scandals etc make them think that the world is better off without religion-that it causes more bad things than good.

They just don’t see how there is a God that will “send all the gays to hell”, that created pedophiles and rapists, etc.

At the end of the day, it’s better not to lose your temper with them (or people with other religions). I would be extremely annoying and say “God bless xo”, but other than that, there is no point!

 

[Jelrak_TB]

the atheists I know are usually really angry because religion (usually Islam, Christianity and Judaism) is against the things they believe in.

Like homosexuality, transgender issues, abortion, feminism etc. They view religious people as oppressive. “How dare you oppose abortion? I don’t believe in your religion, don’t force it on me!”

Not to mention that terrorism, church scandals etc make them think that the world is better off without religion-that it causes more bad things than good.

They just don’t see how there is a God that will “send all the gays to hell”, that created pedophiles and rapists, etc.

At the end of the day, it’s better not to lose your temper with them (or people with other religions). I would be extremely annoying and say “God bless xo”, but other than that, there is no point!

This is also fairly accurate…though I would suggest against giving in to the temptation of wishing a blessing upon them. I would prefer to merely have you offer to shake my hand and depart as friends…the more positive imprints one leaves upon the atheist with regards to Christians, the better…

 

[ChurchSoldier]

I would ask his/her story. In my experience, far more people are turned off by representatives of God than God Himself. More often than not the anger is based on a negative experience. I would just open the conversation and provide a safe space for them to elaborate and acknowledge the pain (without trying to fix it).

Then, let bygones be bygones; meaning being available if they want to talk, but not forcing it if they don’t seem open.

Good luck.

 

[Latias]

Hi, new here. I am going to chime in on this topic because I have a daughter who is one of those angry atheists. She fits into category 1 of that study mentioned. She was let down by somebody in the Church. She was once a practicing Catholic and of my four kids and myself she was the most religious of all of us.

Briefly, because this is a very painful subject, she was dating a guy in high school (typical jock also Catholic) and they had decided to wait for marriage before engaging in relations. His mother was her CCD teacher. Well, he cheated on her and she found out about it and was crushed even if she hid it well. To make matters worse the guy got this other girl pregnant and his mother, worried that her son’s whole life would be ruined, paid for the girl to get an abortion…and continued to teach CCD. My daughter quit CCD and in so was never confirmed. My daughter was not a quitter at anything so I positive that this bothers her to this day even though she will not admit it. Mind you when we lived up north she had already done all the prep for Confirmation but we moved south only months before she would be confirmed. Down here they don’t do it until 11th grade, which is ridiculous but anyways…That event shook her faith. She grew to hate religious people. She saw this woman who taught CCD as a fake and a hypocrit and rightly I might add. I would have done something about this had I known it at the time but this is one of those stories I didn’t find out about until about three years later.

You should know the importance of sentiments on human moral judgement, but acknowledging that would lead to charges of “relativism”.

I do not know precisely about your daughter’s thoughts on the Catholic Church and its moral stances. One hypothesis is that she believes that “pro-life issues” are merely a cudgel to fulminate about a decadent liberal culture with a tone of hypocrisy and self-righteousness or idealistic pablum. Perhaps, she realizes the “realist” and “cynical” view that abortions could be conducted in the name of expedience in the real world while one momentarily disavows any idealistic tenets. She does realize that the issue of abortion would cause the mother to experience the castigation of her congregation if they discovered that she paid for the abortion of the girl who had an affair with her son, and should want want the incident to be handled as discretely as possible. Your daughter would likely be disappointed in that woman’s failure to be courage. What you did not mention was the CCD’s attitude towards abortion? Was she liberal concerning that issue? If she remained vocally conservative, your daughter would obviously see her as hypocrite by failing to adopt an alternative consciousness of empathy regarding abortion and that she acted in her self-interest by not wanting her son to face the consequences of his affair and wanting to evade the umbrage by her fellow parishioners.

You also emphasized that she was a “Republican”, indicating that her perception of the Catholic faith strongly has a political dimension. Do you think that a more liberal version of the faith may be more palatable to her? Also, in your previous discussion with her, did you emphasize that Catholic teaching was “truth”. That type of rhetoric turns people off.

 

[Padres1969]

This is also fairly accurate…though I would suggest against giving in to the temptation of wishing a blessing upon them. I would prefer to merely have you offer to shake my hand and depart as friends…the more positive imprints one leaves upon the atheist with regards to Christians, the better…

Yeah that’s basically the track I’m taking right now. I’m trying to simply be a good example of a Christian who isn’t pushy, doesn’t mention my religion except maybe to say I’m going to church if I have to excuse myself from an event, etc… Along with some other Episcopalian/Anglican specific positions that might also quell their generalized anger at Christianity in particular.

 

[Jelrak_TB]

Yeah that’s basically the track I’m taking right now. I’m trying to simply be a good example of a Christian who isn’t pushy, doesn’t mention my religion except maybe to say I’m going to church if I have to excuse myself from an event, etc… Along with some other Episcopalian/Anglican specific positions that might also quell their generalized anger at Christianity in particular.

This is the optimum response…your actions will convey what words cannot.

 

[HisSavingGrace]

I was never an overly zealous Catholic. I raised my children Catholic and even paid for them to go to Catholic school because I thought it was better than public school. She was indoctrinated by some popular atheist book that unbeknownst to me, my agnostic sister, her Aunt, sent to her for her birthday.

I will say that from the time my daughter was a baby it was apparrent to me that she was really smart. I used to say to everyone that one day she would receive a full academic scholarship and eventually my daughter said to me, “Mom you know that isn’t going to happen. Hardly any kids get scholarships. It will NOT happen.”

Well…I prayed about it a lot because I wanted the best for her and I knew we couldn’t afford to send her to college. She picked her college, applied for financial aid and was all set to go to a different college when out of the blue she was given a full ride academic scholarship from a school she had applied to and was accepted to, but had decided she would not attend there. We never applied for this scholarship at all so it came as a BIG surprise to her. Not to me though, because I had faith and someone I knew she would receive one some eighteen years earlier. God is real and she has seen it in her own life and not just in that experience, yet she touts science as having all the answers. I find that naive and completely worldly. I don’t need proof to know that I am a spiritual being. I feel it. It’s beyond me how others can’t.

I have bit my tongue, accepted her for having beleifs that I feel are completely wrong and tried to focus on our similarities versus our differences. It’s she who doesn’t want to come to family functions and it’s having a negative impact on the family.

 

[Allegra]

I was never an overly zealous Catholic. I raised my children Catholic and even paid for them to go to Catholic school because I thought it was better than public school. She was indoctrinated by some popular atheist book that unbeknownst to me, my agnostic sister, her Aunt, sent to her for her birthday.

I will say that from the time my daughter was a baby it was apparrent to me that she was really smart. I used to say to everyone that one day she would receive a full academic scholarship and eventually my daughter said to me, “Mom you know that isn’t going to happen. Hardly any kids get scholarships. It will NOT happen.”

Well…I prayed about it a lot because I wanted the best for her and I knew we couldn’t afford to send her to college. She picked her college, applied for financial aid and was all set to go to a different college when out of the blue she was given a full ride academic scholarship from a school she had applied to and was accepted to, but had decided she would not attend there. We never applied for this scholarship at all so it came as a BIG surprise to her. Not to me though, because I had faith and someone I knew she would receive one some eighteen years earlier. God is real and she has seen it in her own life and not just in that experience, yet she touts science as having all the answers. I find that naive and completely worldly. I don’t need proof to know that I am a spiritual being. I feel it. It’s beyond me how others can’t.

I have bit my tongue, accepted her for having beleifs that I feel are completely wrong and tried to focus on our similarities versus our differences. It’s she who doesn’t want to come to family functions and it’s having a negative impact on the family.

Is it possible that religion is a secondary issue? Is your daughter possibly angry or resentful with you over something else entirely and she is rejecting Catholicism because she associates it with you?

Also, I notice that you seem to strongly associate your faith with your political affiliation. I personally think that’s a bad idea. A person does not have to be a republican to be Catholic and neither the republican nor the democratic platform are 100% in line with Church teaching. Some prominent republican politicians express views that are not only incompatible with the tenants of Christian faith, but are repugnant to the consciences of people if all kinds of faiths or lack thereof. I know of several “staunch republican Catholics” that are getting less staunch by the moment due to the psychologically exhausting nature of the moral and logical gymnastics they have to do in order to justify that stuff that comes out of these people’s mouths and reconcile them with their faith. Maybe your daughter has had enough of that. I have a close friend who was raised as an evangelical and her church’s theology was completely entwined in their politics. Disagreeing with the political rhetoric, no matter how extreme, was akin to apostasy. Catholics aren’t supposed to operate that way. Some issues are non-negotiable like life issues, but others have room for disagreement and discussion. I agree with a previous poster that you might gently point out all the tenants of our faith that appeal to those who are left-leaning politically. Will that alone inspire her to go to confession and get right with God? Probably not. But it might help ease her up on the anti-Catholic anger.

 

[Latias]

I was never an overly zealous Catholic. I raised my children Catholic and even paid for them to go to Catholic school because I thought it was better than public school. She was indoctrinated by some popular atheist book that unbeknownst to me, my agnostic sister, her Aunt, sent to her for her birthday.

So what was the cause of her disbelief? Is it disillusionment with the hypocrisy of the Church or something more directly related to the question of the existence of God. Did you let her articulate any grievances towards the Church?

 

[Moro_Rock]

When a relative who’s a Mason (brought up a Catholic) said to me . The Catholic Church is full of hypocrytes, I answered him " there’s always room for one more !

 

[Faith1960]

I’m not an Atheist anymore, but as being non religous I can try and give meaningful comments to this discussion. I have had many debates and am not seeking one with these comments, just putting out info.

1. Many Catholics on this site use broad statements of Atheists. “They are without hope” All Atheists are condenmed to hell" Atheists are bad people" etc, This causes them to get extremely defensive about their beliefs and fight back understandly.
2. In my personal belief atheism isnt a choice. Tommorow you couldnt wake up and no believe in God. When I was an Atheist I wanted to believe in God so badly, I went to church, participated in my ministry, volunteered, but deep down I could not believe. This was immensely frustrating

IT A. Atheism isn’t a choice.

 

[Faith1960]

When a relative who’s a Mason (brought up a Catholic) said to me . The Catholic Church is full of hypocrytes, I answered him " there’s always room for one more !

. Haha!

 

[LethalMouse]

I use the term evangelical atheist for these, when I was an atheist it was in the simplest sense of the word. I just didn’t believe. But many, especially the ones you’d encounter in an active group or such are part of a religion of atheism. They have groups, meetings, try to convert and preach. It is a different placement of the mental state of religion into what is “not religion”.

I also believe that people have much affect on other people. And many of the hardline hostile atheists have dealt with people from religion in a way that turned them off drastically. If I look for God in his people I rarley find him. I think a quote from Ghandi is applicable “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians” I have come to decide to be a Catholic in spite of people Catholic or other Christians. But that takes alot to come to terms with.

I remember in researching I had come across catechism.cc which was not helping, seemed legit and made me question Catholicism. It was actually CA after seeing a contradictory info that debunked that site as some guy’s version of the catechism and not a real one. But this guy was also referenced as holding beliefs that many do. If I encounter people like this, I want to run from religion… as a “normal” person in being more like a mainstream person than a Christian in personality, I have a hard time dealing with these people and feel a degree of hostility lol.

From a purely theological standpoint, assuming God is 100% what he is generally thought to be… well if you turned from him in that way wouldn’t it make sense to develope the hostility? I mean to hear people talk about He that you reject? And many still have that ever so slight twinge of “what if God?” Well, who wants to be reminded of shunning God and going against Him? I would imagine it would create a negative feeling on the soul.

And take the abortion issue, no one wants to hear they are killing a “child” so think if you are convinced abortion is not so and that it is good. Someone comes along and puts the seed of thought that you are advocating murder? Ouch, that would not be a good feeling. It reminds me of a talk with two protestants about the relevance of trying not to sin. Eventually despite the “grace alone” mentallity I was told “well, you are right we shouldn’t sin, but no one wants to hear anything that makes them feel bad, so we fight against anyone who makes us feel guilty” so that we basically agred on the concept but they admitted they just didn’t want to know/acknowledge their wrong doing.

 

[crenfro]

Hello.

Just a thought. Where there is love, there is never indifference. Where there is anger, joy, kindness - all those passionate things - there is love. An angry atheist, in my opinion, is in danger of becoming a believer at some point because somewhere in their soul they are passionate about the idea of God. I think C.S. Lewis said something about atheists can’t be too careful.

It’s the cool, indifferent atheists who I worry about.

“Oh” is a good reply to an angry atheist, then to pray for them and give the best example of being a Christian as I can. That keeps me busy as I fail so often at being good myself.

So I was curious how folks on CA have dealt with atheists they’ve come across over the years that don’t just reject religion, but atheists who are downright hostile towards it.