Looking through the Atheist eye

Before I start my post, I am going to introduce myself.
I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and I am a Christian. I am posting this in regard to see what it felt like to be an Atheist for a day.

Hamilton downtown yields many Christians, and Jehovah's witnesses handing out flyer's. Now I am a Christian and I did have respect for these fellow men and women doing God's work. For one day I wanted to see what it felt like to be and Atheist talking to a hardcore Christian. I just finished work and this thought did not even click in my mind until I proceeded into the heart of the downtown area.
I seen a fellow Christian women who was handing out flyer's, as I walked by her she proceeded to give me a brochure which the content contained writings by Mathew. As she handed me the brochure, the thought clicked in my mind to see what she would say if I said I was an Atheist. So here is the conversation that took place:

Lady: Sir, here is a brochure about God's work, it is the teachings that he passed down to the apostles.
Me: Sorry I am an Atheist. (I was trying to see the response, I thought she would be Christian about it and tell me God bless little did I know)
Lady:Well sir, your going to hell!
At this point a certain verse jumped into my head.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye."
MATTHEW 7:1-5

Me:Miss please don't judge me.
Lady:You already have been judged and you are going to hell!
(At this point my blood started to boil just feeling what an Atheist felt for about 2 minutes)
Me:Well, did Mathew not say Judge not les ye be judged?
Lady: No point, your going to hell.
(She proceeded to walk away)

That put me in a bad mood knowing that I have been defending Christianity so people like this lady to bring it down. I understood what an Atheist would feel after talking to certain Christians or Jehovah's witnesses.
So I am here to tell my fellow Christians and and other religious people not to judge anyone based on their beliefs. I understand why Atheists come on ATS and go against Christianity the most:
1.biggest sector in North America
2.most persistent extremists
3.has some of the most arrogant people

God Bless everyone!

Not so much the "theist's"eyes as "non-believers" eye.
But yea, us non-believers do get spit on by such as her maddeningly OFTEN.
But that doesn't excuse what some people do in response to said BS.

Wow, Equinox -- I was going to avoid this post because I was thinking it was just going to be more of the same stuff -- misunderstanding us and reviling us in a sort of hidden backwards way.

But it wasn't.

I am really impressed with this post and your actions. I think now you might understand why some of us atheists come across as tetchy and short tempered.

I really appreciate your attempt at seeing the world through my eyes.

Starred and flagged.

Honestly at first I was not going to do it but something told me to say I am an Atheist, I don't know what. I usually would never do that but I guess I wanted to look through a non-believers eyes for one day and see what they see. All I seen was that person looking down on me. Now I would never do that but I seen how Atheists get treated, and looked down upon. It gets frustrating to get judged by someone who should not even judge.

Originally posted by Equinox99



...Me: Sorry I am an Atheist. (I was trying to see the response, I thought she would be Christian about it and tell me God bless little did I know)
Lady:Well sir, your going to hell!...

I guess we all know why she is a christian, and the way that I see as mostly the reason people are Christians...

FEAR, fear of going to hell, which is a selfish reason, they spread christianity for nothing more than to save their own butts.

An Athiest who does good works without alterior soul saving reasons are worth their weight in gold. A genuine unselfish good soul.
I'm pretty sure the vast majority of christians are so because they fear burning in hell, and the more christian they are the more they fear that, it makes for some pretty crazy people!

reply to post by Toadmund


I have to agree with you on this one. I don't consider myself Christian anymore because of the bad name some have achieved for us. I personally do not believe in a hell anymore, there was a time where I thought there was. I thought to myself why would God punish us if we grow up in a family which has different beliefs? If God is going to punish people for being born in a family which did not believe, then I say send me down with them because they are mis-informed.

Ask a so called christian this:
'If a person on some island, or a member of a certain tribe or somebody somewhere have not heard of Jesus Christ., Therefore they do not believe in Jesus,and certainly do not worship him.

Are they going to hell?'

A lot of Christians will actually say yes.

Because the only way to salvation is through him, the rest be damned. (See, this is how a religion beats out other religions and become dominant, fear of exclusion, fear of praying to the wrong god, don't pray to Ktulu!)

A lot of good people are burning in hell right now!

Christianity causes Atheism and Agnosticism.

Those were the exact thought running through my mind I guess you can say I am agnostic. It is kind of ironic that a person who is trying to convert people just made me switch. I am so disgusted with some peoples way to convert other into their beliefs. Fear is their true motives and I have always seen it but I only seen it through a Christian eyes. I had never seen it another way or never dared to question what I believe because I feared eternal damnation.

While I would be delighted to welcome you into the ranks of the Agnostics and Atheists, Equnox99, I cannot do that. You have to realize that no group, with theological beliefs from militant atheist to fundamentalist theist, are free of irrational demagogues. As a thinking Christian you ran into a "Christian" who sickened you. Similarly, as a militant Atheist I have found some who share my beliefs who nauseate me with their dogmatic extremism.

While I cannot accept most of the claims of Christianity (with the exception of a few ethical ideas) I suggest that you don't reject your faith because of a stupid person you encountered. The only way you should do that is to study the ideas of Christianity and see if they raise too many questions in your mind. If they don't, then you may want to go back to your faith. If they do, then you'll have a rational basis for your reasons for leaving it.

In any case, I have to compliment you for your clarity of thought and willingness to look through the eyes of others.

Occam

reply to post by Occam


It is actually beliefs and the people that allows me to question my beliefs. I mean it is a good religion do not get me wrong, but the idea of a hell and everyone who is not Christian is going their bugs me. In my mind it does not seem right, and how outsiders are not welcome in a church also bugs me, the extra denominations etc. etc.

Equinox99 I just want to say thanks for having the will and ability to put the shoe on the other foot for a while. I have also flagged and stared this thread.

reply to post by xpert11


Your welcome, and if everyone can do the same and see how people feel at the end of the barrel this world will be a much better place.

I have a lot of respect for you, Equinox. Thank you for being open-minded enough to do that.

Starred and flagged.

reply to post by Paresthesia


Thank you, well I urge everyone to be open minded about everything. That is why I love living in a country where no pressure is put on your decision making for person lives.

This thread reminds me of those TV shows where they have like two hot chicks put on fat suits for a day to see how they are treated as fat people. At the end they're all sobbing saying "I was treated horribly, it really sucked to be fat." lol



[edit on 15-11-2007 by thehumbleone]

This is one of the things that bugs me most about Christianity. I have very devout friends who keep telling me I am going to burn in hell.

The Christians believe in two entities:
One is God, he lives up in heaven, and if you are a good person, and you believe in him and find Jesus, he will let you go and join him.

The other is the Devil, he lives in hell, but he will accept anyone into his kingdom.

How does it work, that the one who does not judge, the one who is accepting, is the Devil? How come God is so lacking in this character trait he supposedly asks us all to have (not judging)?

I commend you Equinox for taking a second to sit on the other side of the fence. This is a great thread.

Most non-Christians (including athiests and agnostics) that I know simply wave them away, don't say anything, or say very politely "no thank you."

We don't identify ourselves ("no thanks, I'm pagan/Buddhist/Jewish/Catholic/agnostic/athiest.") or make an issue of it. It makes our day easier and it makes their day easier -- they can focus their mission on someone who wants to hear their message, and we don't have them in our faces.

[edit on 18-11-2007 by Byrd]

There was a show where these people would live a certain way or with a family of a different culture or religion. And one of the shows was a family of a couple with 2 kids and were christian had a woman live with them who was an athiest or non believer or what ever you call it. And at one point I thought the man from the family was going to attack the woman who was a non believer because she didn't believe in god. For some reason the guy just couldn't get it through his head how someone couldn't believe in god. But yet she had no problem with him believing in god or a religion.

Starred!

Great Post Equinox99.

I am an atheist and I've been told many times by hardcore Christians that I'm going to hell. I don't fight back, or say something mean, instead I just walk away.

-Staples

Interestingly enough back when I was in high school (catholic school, private) I never had to deal with this issue. I remember that in 9th grade we had a really kickass Theology teacher that was openly homosexual. There was a discussion about how Moses went back to Egypt to let the Jews free and I simply asked:

"Don't you find it convenient Moses used a God to justify his actions? I mean, wouldn't it be easy for anyone of us to say: God is behind me and my actions?"

and I was immediately asked by a kid in front of me:

"What? You don't believe in God?"

and I simply replied:

"No, but what made you jump to that conclusion?"

a very eerie silence and one of the kids went:

"That's a sin, you're going to be tormented in hell for all eternity"

and before I could answer the Theology teacher cut in and said:

"What about me? For being a homosexual? Here I am teaching you kids that the bible is allegorical in most if not all cases!"

and pretty much from that moment on I never had to deal with the issue of being an Atheist in a catholic school. Nobody really gave a squat. I'm pretty sure they held out on bashing me with their nonsense, but, kindness eventually prevailed. Not to mention people became interested and a few kids felt like expressing their opinions openly from that point on wasn't blasphemy.

What I found is that:

Letting people know you and who you are and what you stand for is all that truly counts. There are always going to be bigots that will attempt to piss on you, especially if you're the minority and ESPECIALLY if it comes to religion. So what? Let them cherry pick their bible and their so called moral beliefs.

Not to mention it's very healthy to hold back, especially once you're out of a relatively "safe" environment. There's a time and place for everything. I personally don't feel that preaching should be done openly. People's beliefs or lack thereof should be done privately. They should NEVER be forced upon anyone and especially should never block advancement of our kind.

So in short:

What you did was very admirable. You understand why some of us Atheists get ticked off really easily over what one might believe is a "mundane" topic. Unfortunately, in the western world, it's mostly here in the United States that this happens most often. Being treated like dirt, that is. I've always felt much more open in Europe, except for places like Italy & Poland. Believe it or not, church goers and non-Agnostic/Atheists are the minority out in the E.U, but, it's very rare to find fighting amongst believers and non-believers.

I can't wait to see that happen here in the U.S. It's about damn time already.

Stared and flagged.