What do atheists think about pagans and pagan so-called gods? Is our God the only one that atheists refuse to believe in?

[livingwordunity]

I’ve noticed that many atheists will spend a lot of their time trying to criticize the religion of Christians and Jews, and many of them will vehemently deny belief in our God. But they never criticize the pagans and their so-called gods. For example, militant atheists will protest even a small cross on public property, but I’ve never heard them calling for the Statue of Liberty (a huge public statue of a pagan so-called goddess) to be taken down. I find this omission of protest to be interesting. It seems kind of ironic to note that the early Christians were called atheists (falsely, of course) by the pagans because the Christians refused to believe in the false gods of the pagans.

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

I suppose the same could probably be asked of Christians, you figure they would be just as offended by Libertas as atheists, if not more so (since for Christians it might be considered ‘evil,’ whereas it is, at most ‘silly’ to an atheist).

But it doesn’t seem to bother Christians or atheists, since there are so few people that believe Libertas is anything more than symbolic figure, and it really has no influence on their lives. There isn’t a single pagan legislator in the U.S. federal government, for example.

 

[MacQ]

I’ve noticed that many atheists will spend a lot of their time trying to criticize the religion of Christians and Jews, and many of them will vehemently deny belief in our God. But they never criticize the pagans and their so-called gods. For example, militant atheists will protest even a small cross on public property, but I’ve never heard them calling for the Statue of Liberty (a huge public statue of a pagan so-called goddess) to be taken down. I find this omission of protest to be interesting. It seems kind of ironic to note that the early Christians were called atheists (falsely, of course) by the pagans because the Christians refused to believe in the false gods of the pagans.

Mostly atheists deny the existence of ANY god.
If Lady Liberty is fashioned after a pagan goddess, that is a bit of interesting but esoteric trivia unknown to most people. In any case, in her current form, she is not a religious symbol.
Whereas crosses are.

 

[DMC12]

firts of all, many stuff might not make sense because they are blinded by anger, what do they care if people like to wear or put Crosses in public?

some people would even go to say “religion is a form of control, but I think Buddhism is good.”

they are angry towards Christianity because they live here, it is probably the religion they left, and/or the one they have heard negative stuff by people on their same situation. what about Japanesse militant atheist? who do they turn their atention to? Shinto, Buddhism, Christianity? do we have any asiatic guy here who can tell us about it?

 

[BlueEyedLady]

If I believed in pagan gods I would be a pagan, not an atheist.

 

[Lokadottir]

If I believed in pagan gods I would be a pagan, not an atheist.

So the question is: Will you respect me if I respect you and we both agree we don’t know but we’re going with what we feel is right?

 

[Lokadottir]

.
Atheists are not convinced of the existence of any “God”.

The Gods and Goddesses of the past, who were once taken as seriously as the Judeo-Christian God is by many today, are not a concern for Atheists since the general belief in the world centuries later is that they are only myths and symbols.
If there was an actual Lady Liberty religion and people insisted on using the Lady Liberty prayers in school and making people sing the LL songs at the baseball game and inserting the LL beliefs into our laws and justice system, you’d hear from Atheists.
I don’t know anyone personally who actually believes in a “Pagan” God…do you?

Yeah, early Christians were the first Atheists!
At that time, most people believed in many Gods for various needs, not just one…so for a Christian to choose just one and not keep the others, too, was a very odd move at the time.
I can’t remember if the Jews at that time allowed for the pagan Gods as well…I’m gonna check on that.

.

Um… Hi! yep Imma pagan!

But the point you make is a good one. Sensible atheists just don’t want someone’s religion all over their government.

 

[livingwordunity]

Um… Hi! yep Imma pagan!

But the point you make is a good one. Sensible atheists just don’t want someone’s religion all over their government.

The point of this thread is that atheists seem to have no problem with the pagan so-called gods or with all the pagan symbols and signs that are in government.
So, why is the God of the Christians and Jews the only one they can’t tolerate?

 

[Tzimisce]

I’ve noticed that many atheists will spend a lot of their time trying to criticize the religion of Christians and Jews, and many of them will vehemently deny belief in our God. But they never criticize the pagans and their so-called gods. For example, militant atheists will protest even a small cross on public property, but I’ve never heard them calling for the Statue of Liberty (a huge public statue of a pagan so-called goddess) to be taken down. I find this omission of protest to be interesting. It seems kind of ironic to note that the early Christians were called atheists (falsely, of course) by the pagans because the Christians refused to believe in the false gods of the pagans.

Note: my Gods are not false.

Atheism literally means “no God”.

An Atheist is someone who believes in no God.

What I find interesting is that there are atheists who believe in magic, witchcraft, divination, karma, tarot cards, ghosts, angels and demons.

 

[livingwordunity]

Note: my Gods are not false.

I realize that pagans believe this. But this thread is mainly about atheists and why the God of Christians and Jews is the only one they won’t tolerate. I want to know why they only focus on our God.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

I realize that pagans believe this. But this thread is mainly about atheists and why the God of Christians and Jews is the only one they won’t tolerate. I want to know why they only focus on our God.

That’s a shift away from what the original question was, which was asking about atheist believing in (not tolerating) other gods. Asking about toleration is much better. Though a word of advice before this thread potentially gets locked.

I think what you may have been observing isn’t about the toleration or the lack there of for various gods. Rather I think what you’ve been observing are various peoples reactions to people that claim the same god/religion/denomination. If an atheist is not convinced that god X exists she is as far as she is concerned not going to be able to react or interact with god X. There’s probably not a lot of people that are proposing laws or helping/hurting or praising/condeming other people under the name of other gods, so there’s probably not a lot of reaction to it.

When I was a child we had a neighbor that slipped into our house while my parents were planting flowers and we (my siblings and I ) were playing in the yard. She locked every one out of our house because, according to her, her god commanded her to do it. Our evaluations of the scenario are are about her, not her god.

I’ve personally not encountered pagans that have been engaging in some frequent behaviour or making frequent claims thus I’ve personally have not formed general opinions on pagans. Are Hindu’s considered pagan? If so I’ve worked in environments that were almost entirely hindu. But beyond some statues of Hindu gods on their desks and the Dwali celebration every year there wasn’t a lot of exposure to their god-concepts. Nor was there any general behaviour that I could identify in day to day interactions that were motivated by their god concepts.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

I realize that pagans believe this. But this thread is mainly about atheists and why the God of Christians and Jews is the only one they won’t tolerate. I want to know why they only focus on our God.

Well, you do live in Ohio. 76% of the population there is Christian ^]. So chances are the non-religious in your area are most likely to have encountered some one promoting an Abrahamic concept of God.



Across the United States 80% of the population claims an abrahamic religion^]. So chances are random atheist that you encounter are probably reacting to other people that say they worship an Abrahamic God.

I could be wrong, but do you know of people frequently engaging in behaviours under the flag of another god?

 

[VeritasLuxMea]

livingwordunity:

I realize that pagans believe this. But this thread is mainly about atheists and why the God of Christians and Jews is the only one they won’t tolerate. I want to know why they only focus on our God.

How about Allah? I know a number of atheists that are not fond of Islam at all.

Well, you were talking about the Statue of Liberty before so let me try using immigration as an example. One of the reasons there was so much anti-Irish sentiment and xenophobia surrounding Irish people in the U.S. for quite some time (besides anti-Catholic bias) is that there were so darn many of them entering the country.

Now there’s not so many new Irish immigrants, but there’s a whole bunch of Mexicans crossing the border, so there’s the same kind of anti-Mexican sentiment.

In other words, people fear 1) what’s different from them and 2) what’s powerful at the moment. While paganism is “different,” it’s not powerful in the U.S. and doesn’t influence many people’s lives. Christianity sure does.

 

[Lokadottir]

The point of this thread is that atheists seem to have no problem with the pagan so-called gods or with all the pagan symbols and signs that are in government.
So, why is the God of the Christians and Jews the only one they can’t tolerate?

Because Christians are the ONLY ones who try to legislate their religion.

 

[livingwordunity]

Because Christians are the ONLY ones who try to legislate their religion.

Christians have never tried to pass a law that makes America into a Christan theocracy. If you mean how there are Christian symbols in government there are pagan symbols in government, too. But I’ve never seen Christians trying to take the pagan symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, out. So it seems that the Christians are the more tolerant ones.

 

[Lokadottir]

Christians have never tried to pass a law that makes America into a Christan theocracy. If you mean how there are Christian symbols in government there are pagan symbols in government, too. But I’ve never seen Christians trying to take the pagan symbols, such as the Statue of Liberty, out. So it seems that the Christians are the more tolerant ones.

How about laws on gay marriage, abortion, drinking, or prayers in school? The US isn’t a theocracy, but there are christians who try to make rather theocratic laws.

 

[livingwordunity]

How about laws on gay marriage, abortion, drinking, or prayers in school? The US isn’t a theocracy, but there are christians who try to make rather theocratic laws.

The institute of natural marriage being between one man and one woman predates our religion and goes all the way back to the first man and woman. It is based on basic biology and on what is best for a child. It isn’t based on religion. Does one have to be a Christian to have morals, believe that infanticide is wrong, and to believe in traditional family values?

 

[Lokadottir]

The institute of marriage being between one man and one woman predates our religion and goes all the way back to the first man and woman. Does one have to be a Christian to have morals, believe that infanticide is wrong, and to believe in traditional family values?

No but wanting CHRISTIAN prayer in school definitely is.

 

[livingwordunity]

No but wanting CHRISTIAN prayer in school definitely is.

If you mean in public schools, no one is forced to participate. If people don’t believe in it they can simply remain silent. Were you against prayer in schools when 9/11 happened?

 

[Lokadottir]

If you mean in public schools, no one is forced to participate. If people don’t believe in it they can simply remain silent. Were you against prayer in schools when 9/11 happened?

Yes because preschoolers are not impressionable.