There are only around a few thousand Atheist, Agnostic or Freethinker in a country of 100 billion and we cannot avoid looking at the world through our black-tinted glasses. We are struggling the same fate as our fellow LGBT. There are many closet Atheists out there due to the fear of social prejudice. For those who already came out of the closet, some were rejected while some were accepted. Among those who were accepted by their families and friends, we still cannot avoid those half-baked acceptations.
As an Open Atheist, here are some common misconceptions based my experience and my fellow Atheists’ experience:
1. You are an Atheist/Agnostic therefore you are immoral, evil and misguided.
- Just like in other religion, not all Theists are good and vice versa. The same thing is also true for Atheists. Most Atheists do have morals and treat our fellow humans in a humane manner.
2. You are an Agnostic therefore you are stupid and unsure.
- Yes, it is true that we are unsure whether if a god or gods do exists. There is a possibility that they do exist and a possibility that they do not exist. The term “god” is an example of an unfalsifiable idea. For example, I have a mini flying spaghetti monster hovering around my shoulders that only I could see. You are not me and therefore cannot prove whether it exists or not. There is a possibility that it might exist and a possibility that it might not exist.
3. You are an Agnostic Atheist therefore you are even stupider and unsurer.
- Again, it is true that we are unsure about the existence of a deity but we are also unsure about many things in the universe. Some doubt their own existence and if reality really exists and some doubt the validity of theories yet many accept them as if it were true. We may or may not be stupid, we just think and question things a lot.
4. You do not believe in a god therefore you are a Satanist.
- Not all Atheists are Satanists and as a matter of fact most Atheists reject the idea of Satan actually existing. In the first place, Atheism is not a religion.
5. You do not believe in god because you hate him.
- Just because we do not love your god that we automatically hate him. Although we do enjoy stories some of these godly stories, especially the gods and goddesses in Greek Mythology.
6. You are an Atheist/Agnostic therefore you worship evolution.
- We do not worship evolution. It is the same thing with gravity, social stratification theory, mathematical theories, the big bang theory, the big crunch theory, the divine creation theory and other theories out there.
7. You are an Atheist/Agnostic but someday you will believe in him again especially on the verge of death.
- In the first place, most Atheists or Agnostics have already decided that they do not believe or need a god or gods. We did not choose to become Atheists just for show which is another misconception. For the fact that we are informed about science, reason, logic, history, culture, society and so on, we became Atheists and Agnostics.
8. You are an Atheist/Agnostic therefore you hate Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and other religious groups.
- This quote pretty much sums it up what some Freethinkers think (which means it includes some Theists.) The big religions out there actually have some good ideas about humanity and such although we cannot ignore the fact that there are other absurd and inhumane religions that exist out there that you might not even heard of.
"I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." –Mahatma Ghandi
- Though, there are also some Freethinkers out there that reject or hate religion in general but do not dislike the person believing in that said religion.
(Note that Buddha is not a god and that there are both Atheistic and Theistic Buddhists, but mostly Atheists.)
9. You are an Atheist/Agnostic because you have a miserable life.
- If there are optimistic Theists, there are also optimistic Atheists. Whether the individual views his or her life in an optimistic, pessimistic, realistic, or other point of view, it is up to him or her and not the religion itself.
10. You are an Atheist/Agnostic therefore your life has no meaning.
- Most Atheists and Agnostics live their lives meaningfully even without believing in any deity. Although there are some Atheist, Agnostics and sometimes even Theists who believe that there is no meaning to life.
We are the minority and we are often misjudged by religion. If we are well-informed, these things could be avoided. As a matter of fact, most Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers came from Catholic Schools and we became what we are today because of the knowledge we gathered about the world and not just science – knowing the history of your own religion, understanding society, logic and reasoning is just a gist of it.
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