Atheists are Arseholes!

Why do atheist[s] only tend to have Christianity removed from Public places?

When I was in 9th grade they could teach evolution (atheist god) and Greek god mythology and but not the bible. Plus atheists never seem to complain about Greek statues dedicated to Greek gods removed from public places like court houses.

This question was posted on Hatheist by a user called Gorillawits. Fair enough, to an Atheist it might seem like a dumb question, but to an outsider it makes sense to ask. It was a fair question. And it deserved a fair answer.

Here are some of the answers it got.

• At our weekly Athiest meeting, Satan said that the Greek Gods were OK and we shouldn’t complain if they were displayed in public.
  

• You actually made it to the 9th grade? Maybe miracles DO exist…
  

• Ummmm, I am guessing the 9th grade was the last year you were in High School?
  
• Do you ever read what you say back to yourself before you post it?
  1) No science class in 9th grade teaches evolution. You are making that up
  2) Greek and Roman and Norse gods are taught in mythology class. There are no mythology classes in the 9th grade. Those don’t start until college. You are making that up, too.
  3) What would be the problem with teaching mythology? Do you know what mythology means? It means IT’S NOT TRUE!
  4) Greek statues? You mean like the Scales of Justice? So what…do you have so much free time that you have to look for things like this to get pissy about?
• Huh. Oddly enough, I’ve never had any Christian stuff removed from anywhere. Your name suits you, btw.
  

Ok, I'm cherry Picking. There were many good, or at least polite answers on the site. But the highest rated answer was a clever and sarcastic response: 'I have no problem at all with Christianity being taught in mythology lessons.'

Ha ha! Aren't we atheists smart! Ho ho ho!

It's that kind of attitude that first inspired me to start this blog. Everywhere I look this kind of thing is happening. Atheist blogs laugh and mock believers. Believers questions are ridiculed. On twitter, a believer makes an argument and before long a whole pack of Atheists turn's against them, not with reasonable debate, but with insults, or slurs, or 'clever' put downs.

On our blogs we gloat when a believer slips up reproducing the stories like handbills that we can spread all over the internet. We smear a whole of a religion with one person's mistake. We keep our eyes peeled, and our claws sharpened, looking for the weakest prey. We take endless pleasure in mocking the believers and belittling their already little beliefs.<

What are we trying to achieve here?

Yes, religion causes harm. Yes, believers may be deluded. Yes, we are fighting a battle of ignorance. But are we going to fix any of that by being arseholes? Atheism is already a dirty word. We are seen as arrogant, evil or void of feeling. Atheists are the most distrusted minority in America, and even here in the UK public opinion can turn against us. How are we helping ourselves by being argumentative? How are we helping by putting people down, or by mocking them? How are we changing public opinion?

How much more effective would it be to open a discussion with believers, to find some common ground? What happened to the well mannered debate? What happened to etiquette? What happened to respect for your common man? Just because this the internet doesn't mean that people don't have feelings.

Maybe you'll argue that they believers do it too. But isn't it our duty to be better than that. Imagine a world where the atheists are seen as friendlier than the Christians! We can do this. This is within our power. But we have to stop being arseholes!

I'm no better than anyone on this, I've mocked, and I've belittled, and I've felt bad afterwards. Believers may have it wrong, but they have a right to be wrong. And they have a right for us to respect them even if they are wrong. Their beliefs may be stupid, but that doesn't make them any less human. If we want them to respect us, maybe we should respect them first.

Let's try it. Let's try answering their questions. Let's try being friendly, maybe even being humble, and let's just see what happens!

Don't be an Arsehole Atheist! There are enough arseholes in the world without you joining in.

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