Do Atheists Hate God? Do You Hate Dog?

Here's another claim leveled against atheists - we hate God.

Let's say I am walking through the park and we meet, and we say hi. I ask you what you think of my dog. You tell me you don't see any dog. I counter, no, I am walking my dog. You shake your head and say no, there's no dog here. To that, I assert that the dog is invisible. You then tell me you don't believe I have a dog.

When I then moan, "You hate my dog!", am I making any sense? How can you hate a dog you don't even think exists?

Now, plenty of people hate Barney the Dinosaur or Harry Potter. But you can't actually hate them. They are "real" in the imaginations of a lot of people, but they don't actually exist, like a dog does. What you really hate, or love for that matter, is the idea of Barney or Harry, the fictional universe in which they dwell and their unique place in it, and perhaps in the minds of others who also imagine them to be real. You can't really hate Barney; you can only hate the concept of Barney.

To be fair, the concept of the God of the Bible, as one example, is not very appealing to me. I don't think what's written there about God is particularly flattering. I personally wouldn't like the guy if he was my neighbor. But that's one giant "if".

Because I don't have any motivation or reason to believe this, or any, god is real in any sense outside the imagination of numerous people, I don't have any motivation or reason to hate him or her.

I can't hate your god any more than you can hate the Monster In The Closet your child needs you to check before bed. Closet monsters are a pain in the ass, they are not part of how you wish the growing-up process should be, but there's your kid scared to death of something that you know full well is imaginary, and you have to deal with it.

If you believe your child and agree there might be a monster, you might have reason to hate it. But so long as we do not believe in the imaginary thing which another person is so damn sure exists, we are not capable of hating it.

We can hate that the poor tot can't sleep. We can hate that getting from child to adult has to be so hard. But we cannot hate what we believe is not real.

Why do you hate me?

The statistics are too familiar. Atheists are less appealing than homosexuals and Muslims in the American public eye. So I often ask myself, why do people hate me so much? Here's a partial list of reasons I have seen, and my reactions and comments.


1. Atheism = Communism

This one is just baseless. It has its roots in McCarthyism, where being American meant not being even remotely linked to the Communist movement, and Communism often is associated with atheism. But it is associated erroneously. Yes, 20th century Communist regimes were anti-religion, but that was only to remove the strength of will the people might gain from it. Atheist capitalists are as plentiful percentage-wise as capitalists overall. There is nothing in your belief in a god that determines whether you prefer capitalism or communism. It's just a silly proposition, and people need to recognize it.


2. Atheists Destroy Religious Traditions

Well, this depends on the traditions we are talking about. If we are talking about choosing Christmas as a federal holiday for all, well that's just a date on a calendar. It doesn't really favor Christianity, it is the same holiday for everyone. No one is harmed by this. We can argue whether federal holidays like Christmas, Memorial Day and Labor Day are really worthwhile as a whole, but there's nothing in the federal Christmas holiday itself that hurts anyone.

The fact that during November and December you can't go into a store without being inundated with Christian and Christian-inspired imagery, that's not even actual harm. Private businesses can feel free to decorate as they like. Private homes too, so long as they do not violate any other laws or neighborhood agreements in the process. People can opt not to patronize a business if they disagree with the views the business communicates, so there's no problem there.

If we are talking about governmental advocacy of religion, there's a different thing. A standing Christian display in a school, a courthouse, or a public park establishes a religious preference for that government, and the first amendment does not allow that.

Any tradition of a government which lends support to a specific or general religious view is neither a legal nor a moral tradition.

This does not stop a religious person from praying before an exam in school. This does not stop a group of religious people from convening on public property. That's not what anyone's after. But actions by a government or its representatives which discriminate on the basis of religion, however ecumenically the actions might be intended, are not ok.


3. Atheism Hurts The Faithful

If atheists can show they live morally-grounded lives and are happy with their freedom from the arbitrary rule of a deity, what does that say about the religious? Does it mean the religious are stupid? Does it mean their parents taught them poorly? Aren't atheists, by their existence, insulting and eroding the institution of faith mankind has enjoyed?

If my being the way I am shakes your faith, maybe your faith is weak or misplaced. If it did not prepare you to deal with a person like me, perhaps it is not me who is faulty, but the ideas you hold.

And my parents taught me a lot of things that used to be relevant but are no longer important or even true. That is how it works. (I can get a TV to come in great with a shotgun ariel, for one, but old-fashioned UHF broadcasting is no more.) But also how the unknowns were filled in - I was taught by traditional values, but then I formed my own opinion. Parents teach children the best they can, but no child should accept every word of their parents as unerringly true.

If being religious works for you, I'm happy for you. Your believing in a god does not hurt me at all, unless you let it. And I would fight for your right to believe.

But if seeing atheists makes you question your faith, maybe it is your faith that is the problem.


Well, that's just a short list. I'd love to hear other ideas about why atheists are reviled. Feel free to comment.