Posted on 05/01/2011 6:06:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Long after blacks and Jews have made great strides, and even as homosexuals gain respect, acceptance and new rights, there is still a group that lots of Americans just don’t like much: atheists. Those who don’t believe in God are widely considered to be immoral, wicked and angry. They can’t join the Boy Scouts. Atheist soldiers are rated potentially deficient when they do not score as sufficiently “spiritual” in military psychological evaluations. Surveys find that most Americans refuse or are reluctant to marry or vote for nontheists; in other words, nonbelievers are one minority still commonly denied in practical terms the right to assume office despite the constitutional ban on religious tests.
Rarely denounced by the mainstream, this stunning anti-atheist discrimination is egged on by Christian conservatives who stridently — and uncivilly — declare that the lack of godly faith is detrimental to society, rendering nonbelievers intrinsically suspect and second-class citizens.
Is this knee-jerk dislike of atheists warranted? Not even close.
A growing body of social science research reveals that atheists, and non-religious people in general, are far from the unsavory beings many assume them to be. On basic questions of morality and human decency — issues such as governmental use of torture, the death penalty, punitive hitting of children, racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, environmental degradation or human rights — the irreligious tend to be more ethical than their religious peers, particularly compared with those who describe themselves as very religious.
Consider that at the societal level, murder rates are far lower in secularized nations such as Japan or Sweden than they are in the much more religious United States, which also has a much greater portion of its population in prison.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This fact is lost in the militant atheist camp. They think all of their people are as pure as the driven snow. Sorta like the tone of this article.
The irony of that is it gives more credibility to the Christian God (John 1:18).
Atheists in places such as Denmark, et., are entering into other men’s labors, that being a Christian foundation, the effects of which does not disappear overnight.Where is theit a state founded by atheism? Communism is the most substantial testimony to what an atheistic State effects.
And as regard the money factor, etc. in the US, you should find this revealing. http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Statistical_Correlations.html
More stats:
Atheists, agnostics and people associated with non-Christian faiths are most likely to be politically liberal and least likely to say they are happy;
42% of atheists and agnostics (who make up approx. 9% of the American adult population) claimed to be stressed out , 14% said they were lonely, and 68% concerned about the future. 4% describe themselves as being conservative, 2% as being politically liberal, and 71% as having traditional or family-oriented values. 60% were concerned about America’s moral state.
Consistent with the public’s image of atheists and agnostics, they were the segment most likely to describe themselves as being politically liberal (32%) and were the group least likely to describe themselves as being conservative (4%) or as having traditional or family-oriented values (71%).
About four out of ten skeptics were registered as Democrats, four out of ten as independents and just two out of ten as Republicans. http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/80-peoples-faith-flavor-influences-how-they-see-themselves?q=atheists+stressed
Three-quarters of the self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics say that all moral truth is relative to the person and circumstances; only 10% believe in absolute moral truth. Their views on morality are in extreme contrast to those of the two born again segments. For instance, seven out of ten believe abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances; six out of ten approve of clergy performing gay marriages; nine out of ten approve of cohabitation; more than three out of four embrace pornography as a moral behavior; and two-thirds deem drunkenness and using profanity to be morally acceptable acts.
As was true among the adults associated with non-Christian faiths, several million atheists and agnostics grew up regularly attending Christian churches (30%). As would be expected, their religious views vary widely from those who associate with Christianity. Just one out of ten believe that the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches; only one-fourth say their religious faith is very important in their life; and large majorities reject beliefs in the existence of Satan, the reality of the Holy Spirit, the notion of Jesus leading a sinless life, and a biblical depiction of the nature of God. http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/66-american-faith-is-diverse-as-shown-among-five-faith-based-segments?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=
According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s monumental “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey” that was issued in June, 21% of self-proclaimed atheists believe in either a personal God or an impersonal force. 10% percent of atheists pray at least weekly and 12% believe in heaven.
Lots more re spiritual/moral stats http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/Statistical_Correlations.html
“I am not an animal.”
But atheists are animals by their own insistence and that is the problem.
Why?...
Could it be that we, in spite of what our current president says, ARE a Christian, God-believing nation. And over the past several decades have been treated with hostility by Atheists who have been fighting to wipe God and our right to worship, pray or celebrate Him out of our culture.
Maybe THAT’S why, dude...
THX.
Rushing along toward church.
Boy Scout Oath
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
The Boy Scout Oath has three promises:
• Duty to God and country
• Duty to other people, and
• Duty to self
The Boy Scout Oath puts God first. An atheist puts self above all others. A Boy Scout would help an Atheist – wouldn’t care about their faith. Boy Scouts were spat upon during the flag ceremony at Gore's Democrat convention, because they are "morally straight"
So who are the haters?
I think, prejudice aside, people generally don’t mind folks who keep their views on religious subjects to themselves. Proselytizers for any view arepretty hard to take; most of us tolerate the first event kindly and then avoid the subject going forward.
The problem is that you pretty much have to believe in evolution to be an atheist, and only idiots believe in evolution any more. Would you want YOUR daughter to marry an idiot?
Everyone is promoting something, and men like Hitchens, Dawkins, et. are increasingly strongly promoting - their views, or ideology much as those in formal religion, and State-sanctioned secularism effectually promotes atheism and ever morphing morality, in rejection of the “old paths.
Even Atheists don’t like Atheists.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2713145/posts
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“The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalm 14:1
“Why do Americans still dislike atheists?”
Answer: Godless communists....next question....
My only complaint w/ atheists is their efforts to legislate ‘God’ out of everything. What is the big deal w/ “in God We Trust”, and the 10 commandments, etc.
Fine, be an atheist, just leave my faith alone and I will leave your non-failth alone.
As well as the open contempt by atheists for religious belief.
Why dislike atheists?
I would observe that the majority of atheists I’ve met are angry and bitter.
Neither quality endears humans to other humans. Certainly not all atheists
are bitter and angry... just he majority I’ve met.
Atheists, by definition, assert certainty in an area they cannot prove, given
they do not have all knowledge. If they claim to know everything, they ascribe a characteristic of God - omniscience - to themselves. Look, the majority of us just don’t believe atheists are god.
That’s a start. What’s likable about someone who denies that creation had a creator, attribute it to chance by claiming to be god themselves, and then go through life bitterly and angrily attacking the faith of others...?
Not endearing to me, certainly.
But, hey, it’s a free country. No one will be an atheist in the end.
* As individuals, atheists tend to score high on measures of intelligence, especially verbal ability and scientific literacy.
* They tend to raise their children to solve problems rationally, to make up their own minds when it comes to existential questions and to obey the golden rule.
* They are more likely to practice safe sex than the strongly religious are
* They are less likely to be nationalistic or ethnocentric.
* They value freedom of thought.
* Denmark, which is among the least religious countries in the history of the world, consistently rates as the happiest of nations.
* Studies of apostates — people who were religious but later rejected their religion — report feeling happier, better and liberated in their post-religious lives.
1cor 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
Amen Brother!
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