Why do some people feel the need to denigrate the religious?

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Like some people seem to seek out religious people just to tell them they are wrong, they are idiots etc.
On the flipside there are some religious people who do the same to those of other religions or no religion at all.
I do think these people are just a loud, annoying minority in both sides.

Why do you think they do this? I see no purpose in it. Why can't people just be decent to each other, in your opinion?

many people like a good debate, and debates are good, but much less common is the knowledge on when and where they are appropriate.

A central reason is probably for a long time religion has felt it gets a special respect for beliefs that are 'sacred' and it has been sort of socially taboo to challenge them. I think some people have decided it's time for this to end and go out of their way to pop that bubble of perceived immunity from being challenged. Some use more tact while others skip civil debate and go straight into insults.

Good theory. From my persepctive theres nothing wrong with a debate, as long as basic respect is shown to the opposite side.

The whole lack of decency thing seems to be everywhere actually, and it grows and shrinks based on what society someone may live in. In some countries arguments and differences are handled through quiet somewhat passive-aggressive confrontations, while in others all out yelling, physical confrontation, or sabotage are the norm.

But the reason? I believe that many of us are self sufficient. We don't NEED to hurt others because it; A. Doesn't benefit us, and B. Hurts someone else unnecessarily. I like to treat people well no matter what they believe, even if they are contradicting my own opinions, as long as they will respect me back. On the other hand, many people "need" to hurt someone to feel entertained and powerful. They are a minority but still prevalent in our society, the 30% of truly "bad" people, who are followers. They can't think for themselves, they have a natural empathy deficit, and they will wilt and fail when put in an environment where they are not the boss. These kinds of people are as*holes, but there's no official name for them. They feel the need to insult anyone who doesn't share their opinion because they are bored, they want power and they enjoy pushing others down. To them it's a big whack-a-mole game, and their friends and family are those they can put down. You and I probably both know plenty of these "kinds". The best thing to do is ignore and avoid, if possible. They will be destroyed by their own loneliness. Their arguments don't matter, especially if it involves something like religion, where it's up to the individual whether they believe it or not.

The likes of Richard Dawkins. Yuck.
It always struck me that the motivation of many of these people (the ones who are not interested in debate, in exchange of ideas and perspectives, etc - the people who just want to aggressively attack religious people of all kinds) comes from insecurity masquerading as superiority. They need to prove that they are superior - usually intellectually superior - to these "idiot" religious people, an do that by denigrating them. Because fundamentally they don't believe they're very bright, and have a hell of a lot to prove.
That's not everyone guilty of that attitude - there are many complex conditions which may lead to the same behaviour - but sadly it does seem to account for a large chunk of that group.

I believe it all ultimately boils down to people trying to prove themselves self-sufficient and equal with, greater than or at least having no need for the Creator...and then they attack anything and everything related to religion in order to try to drown out the reminders and/or all evidence to the contrary.

To me, the Atheist vs Theist debates are (and always will be) a colossal waste of time. What's to debate? You don't know either way. Neither side has proof to debunk the other side.

Being an Atheist is fine, but when I see smug Atheists who think they're so smart and enlightened because they don't believe in God, I just have to roll my eyes. Most people have a hard enough time deciphering the full meaning behind a poem, book or film, and suddenly we think that we have the cognitive capacity to say without a shadow of a doubt there is no creator? Come on. Personally I'm agnostic, I don't have a dog in the race and I've never been compelled towards any religion. But I can understand that religious beliefs do a lot of good for people and represent a net positive.

A parent who lost her child takes comfort in the fact that she'll be reunited with him in the afterlife. A woman is brutally assaulted and turns to her faith to overcome. A drug addict turns their life over to God and uses that to become sober. Why would I want to take that faith away from any of them?

I've noticed that some atheists are quite as dogmatic as some religious people. It's charmless either way.

I feel that the atheists do less damage to others, though.

A lot of people have had very bad childhood experiences with religion, and this can fuel some bad feelings.

I have a strong distrust of religion myself. That doesn't mean I feel entitled to tell others how to live. It worries me that a lot of the religious people I know don't exercise the same restraint.

^ You do NOT need to ridicule someone, or their ideas, to make progress or incite discussions! You could choose not to be a jerk about it and skip the ridicule and just jump straight to a respectful, temperate, understanding discussion of ideas different to yours, without the shaming, aggression and hostility that ridiculing someone inevitably includes.

Many of the religious people who seem to want to tell others how to live (aka that the norms and rules and so on proposed by their own religion are "right" and everyone else's ideas, whether religious or not, are "wrong") do tend to be Christians from my experience.
BUT this often comes from a genuinely good place where many of these people are concerned. They truly believe that their religion is the one and only religion, and everything else is false. They believe their god exists, and has the powers their texts say it does. They honestly believe in some of the stories, such as the Judgement is coming and those who do not worship their deity will be destroyed. They are genuinely trying to save you, because they want you to survive and be happy, and in their worldview, the only way to do that is through their religion.
I think keeping this in mind helps when dealing with them. They're coming at it from a caring perspective - they just have tunnel vision, often because this is how they were raised to think and cannot think any other way.
It's an irritating attitude for people not of that faith, but it's a kind motivation on their behalf.

I'm all for debating ideas but what is there to debate on the religious front? And why would you want to take someone's faith away from them?

If people of faith try to impose their faith onto others, by all means fight back, but a person's spirituality isn't something we "move forward" on.

Religion is a person's own choice. It's based on "faith," usually, rather than pure "logic." it can be said that atheism is based on a certain "faith" as well.

I don't "argue" religion; I merely state my personal views.

I don't mind a discussion---but I find an argument useless because everybody has their own personal conception of it, based on factors which really can't be "argued' with.

That need to criticize the beliefs of others results from a need to believe in and assert their superiority. ...probably resulting from an inferiority-complex, or some other personal problem or unhappiness. In general, aggressive attack results from personal unhappiness.

I don't bother criticizing others' beliefs, including those of the people we're referring to here. I couldn't care less what they believe. I criticize only their behavior.

Michael829

Last edited by Michael829 on 29 Nov 2017, 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Because to me "faith" is what made people torture and burn people who wanted to "know".

A christian is taking the side of people who tore the flesh off the bones of a librarian in 412 CE and ushered in the dark ages.

Religious people are fair game.