There are a number of atheists on OLO who regularly deride those who express their belief in God or openly admit to being part of a religion. Often the comments are very strong and even vile. I've often wondered why an atheist should be so angry in their denial of the gods, the supernatural, and/or the Divine.

Admittedly it may be frustrating and possibility even aggravating living among 'the ignorant' who are also the majority. However the qualities of forgiveness and tolerance are not exclusive to the theists. Surely atheists also have the ability to show compassion, fairness, Love and understanding.

There are plenty of atheist websites with information and advice for atheists from an atheist perspective. What I have found in researching this post is that there is a wide variety of reasons for being atheist from the highly intellectual to simply just hating religion in general.

One comment that struck me as particularly insightful and sound advice was "Simply critiquing religion does not accomplish much and unfortunately, that is what occupies too much of the time of many atheists. The problem is, merely attacking religion will not necessarily cause any changes either in people's behaviour or in society. A better methodology is to ensure that such critiques take place within a general program of promoting reason.

Broad encouragement of the wider use of reason and logic in all areas of life does have a chance of creating changes for the better. Encouraging other people to get into a habit of being sceptical may eventually get them to approach their religious beliefs in a more critical manner, even if religion and theism are never actually discussed."

In a free, modern and democratic society every person has the absolute human right to follow any religion, any belief and any philosophy they choose. They have the right to proselytise, preach, educate and influence.

However, and this is VITALLY important, any person who disagrees with any religion, belief or philosophy has an EQUAL right to criticize it, complain about it, analyze it, oppose it, influence it and make revelations about it.

Without BOTH, a society is not free. To fiercely criticise religions is a good thing, and to fiercely criticize atheism is a good thing. That's precisely what freedom and democracy is all about; the free expression of views and opinions.

In the 'good old days' Christianity imposed itself upon the regions it influenced. It ruled with an iron fist of brutality. Islam was the same, and remains the same in various locations in the Middle East. Secular decency, secular democracy and secular freedom defeated Christianity, and it was slowly forced to change and reform. Islam in certain locations in the Middle East has still yet to fully undergo the same reforms, but it will happen more quickly than happened with Christianity. It took Christianity several hundred years, it will take Middle East Islam only about 100 years or so because of the modern communications age.

Long live the freedom to strongly be whatever you choose (subject to non violence), and long live the freedom to strongly criticize others for their choice (subject to non violence). It's all about freedom and democracy, and these 2 things have transformed mankind from what it used to be.

ConservativeHippie,

There are no excuses for vile comments, and I certainly agree with your last paragraph. To add to that, what we should be focused on is publically expressing enough rational thought to counter irrationality. Combatting irrationality is never a waste of time on a public forum. Even if we can’t reach the people we’re talking to, there may be fence-sitting onlookers that we can. By putting out there as many rational counter-arguments as possible to irrational claims, we can at least hope to make those who hold irrational beliefs feel too embarrassed to express them, even if we don’t change their beliefs. That in itself would be progress because irrational beliefs are less harmless when they’re not expressed.

I’ve been following OLO since 2004 and have even noticed a difference since the emergence of the “New Atheists” (such a stupid term). Just take a look at an archived OLO thread on religion back that far and see how many more crazy opinions were being expressed.

Yes, religion justifies good deeds too, but those who commit good deeds in the name of their religion would probably be doing so without it too. The only weakness atheism has (compared to religion) is that it is not enough of a reason in itself to band together for charitable purposes, and nor does it have the tax-free status, the guilt-laden past, or the philosophical burden of proof to make those who fit its descriptor feel the need to justify its existence in such ways, like religion does.

I’ve already answered a similar question at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=5547#151500. All I can add to that response is to say that when we believe things for bad reasons, we run the risk of believing other things for bad reasons, and none of us lives in a bubble - our beliefs inform our actions and our actions have consequences.

Forget holding hands in a circle and singing Kumbaya, just imagine how good the world would be if everyone simply strove to hold as many true beliefs as possible and as few a false ones as they could.

Conservative hippie, I think you will find that OLO has several vile and nasty contributors who claim to believe in a god.
Some of them make the atheist contributors seem very tame indeed.

I wouldn't say I was an atheist, but more of a skeptic, as I don't believe any human can either prove or disprove any God.

However, I tend to treat others with respect for their beliefs, as long as they don't come across as thinking they are morally more advanced than others that don't share their beliefs. I realise that religious beliefs can be very beneficial to some people.

I dislike people who think they are better than others, that only their beliefs are right, or who try to force their views on others.
I especially dislike those who claim to follow a religious book or God , but spend all their time on OLO spewing hatred about other people or religions.

May May and Suseonline have raised a good point regarding the undue privilege religion still enjoys. Theists can belittle atheists all they like and no-one says a thing. Speak out against religious belief in a harsh manner, and watch out.

It’s actually insulting towards people who hold religious beliefs, and a patronizing way of treating them - as if the poor “darlings” are so precious that they need their “little” beliefs protected. Furthermore, it could be interpreted as assuming that their belittling of atheists is so commonplace that it need not warrant a mention since it’s merely expected - as if they were inherently that nasty.

Suseonline,

Atheism has nothing to do with proving anything. Atheism, broadly speaking, is simply the lack of belief in any deities:

http://tinyurl.com/mtu4jg2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

If you are sceptical of god claims, then you’re an atheist. Don’t be afraid to use the term. By being so, we only play into the hands of the religious who want others to believe that those who hold no belief are as certain and dogmatic as they are.

>> "In a free, modern and democratic society every person has the absolute human right to follow any religion, any belief and any philosophy they choose. They have the right to proselytise, preach, educate and influence.

However, and this is VITALLY important, any person who disagrees with any religion, belief or philosophy has an EQUAL right to criticize it, complain about it, analyze it, oppose it, influence it and make revelations about it." <<

No argument with the above, but just because one has the right doesn't mean they are obligated to exercise it. As the old adage advises - Discretion is the better part of valour.

Sometimes it's not what you say but how you say it. Being overly defensive and/or fiercely critical of people's views, opinions, philosophies tends to polarise and in turn cement their ideas. It goes both ways, the theists on a high horse can really get up the nose of the none theists.

It's a fine line between criticising, complaining, opposing and coming off as rude or aggressive, especially in print (e.g. capitals indicate yelling in emails); this is why trying to remain as rational as possible is more effective. Angry discussions are rarely rational and generally won't leave either party feeling more enlightened on the topic.