Society's Attitude Towards Atheism | Teen Ink

Society's Attitude Towards Atheism

July 21, 2010
By fibonaccimathgenius BRONZE, Birmingham, Michigan
fibonaccimathgenius BRONZE, Birmingham, Michigan
4 articles 0 photos 17 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I'm going to bed before you two come up with a worse idea to get us killed -- or worse, expelled." -- Hermione Granger, HP #1 <3 :]


Throughout my elementary years, all students were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. That sentence alone might give you an idea of where I’m going with this, given the controversy in the news lately. Anyway, I had never been to a church in my life. My parents had decided to raise me and my brothers non-religiously. We celebrated Christmas every year, but that was the extent of our religious affiliation, and I had no problem with it. I mindlessly regurgitated the Pledge every weekday morning at 9:00, and was blissfully unaware of the complications that surrounded it. As I got older, though, and entered middle school, I became aware of the different religions and how mine didn’t really fit in. I had never met anyone who approached religion like my family did and so when my peers would talk about church group or similar activities, I would just quietly blend in with the nearest wall and try to look like I had some inkling of what they were talking about. The more I learned about this foreign concept called religion, the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how anyone could ever actually believe any of it. But, as I attended a predominantly Christian public school, I didn’t speak up for fear of being abandoned by my friends or bullied.

In my freshman year World History class, we were taught about all of the religions of the world and how they came to be. This was enlightening for me, because all I really knew were the major beliefs of each religion. Learning about how Mohammed supposedly had seizures and hallucinations in which parts of the Quran came to him really put religion in perspective for me. What would happen today if someone started having the same experience and claimed that God was talking to them? You know as well as I do that they would promptly be shut in a cushioned room in an asylum far from civilization. Yet people today still believe what Mohammed recited so many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to target Muslims in any respect; I am merely using their religion as an example of how ludicrous these ideas are to me.

After taking this history course, I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, wishing to learn more about the scientific backing behind atheism. Theistic religions just didn’t make sense to me – when I heard people talking about creationism with all of the evidence of evolution staring them in the face, I wanted to rip my hair out or punch something exceptionally hard. The God Delusion put everything straight for me. It confirmed my suspicions and decisively disproved a lot of common arguments that Christians make against atheists. My favorite quote from Richard Dawkins is probably “We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

Now, I don’t care who knows that I am an atheist. Many people resent me for it, or say that I offend them by not believing in God. My retort for that question is that I am offended by them believing in God. I have used this in more than one situation, and the person in question has countered the statement with a look of complete disbelief. Why do they think that it is okay for them to say something to me, but that it is not okay for me to flip the statement back at them? Ah, mysteries of society that I will undoubtedly never understand. My true friends are the ones that don’t care what beliefs I hold. Those who hold it against me are obviously not worth my efforts.

I think that society needs to realize that atheists are real people, too. As much as people nowadays think about not discriminating against Jewish people or Muslims, they do not think about the views of atheists. Why are public schoolchildren across the US forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning when it makes the reader swear that they are under God? Does the separation of church and state not go that far?

But do me a favor and think about religion and the factual evidence that is out there. Read Dawkins’ book. Ponder why you believe what you do. Is it because you’ve been told to believe it since you were very young? Or is it because it is truly what you believe? Don’t let yourself be blinded anymore. Open your eyes.

Thank you.


The author's comments:
I read the article 'My Religion' and really felt that my views could be expressed as well. Atheists have a voice and we need to be heard!

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This article has 145 comments.


BurningWrath said...
on Jul. 18 2011 at 4:01 pm
You're previous statement. I don't have to respect someone's veiws, but I'll respect the person though.

on Jul. 18 2011 at 11:37 am
ZeeBYoung BRONZE, Coatesville, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 72 comments

Favorite Quote:
Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. :)

I'm ignorant? Tell me, what led you to that conclusion?

BurningWrath said...
on Jul. 17 2011 at 1:02 pm
Shut up! I'm not in the mood! I left this evil website for a reason: to get away from the ignorance of people like you. 

on Jul. 16 2011 at 10:52 pm
ZeeBYoung BRONZE, Coatesville, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 72 comments

Favorite Quote:
Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. :)

The only reason people are attacking your belief in God is because your attacking their lack of belief in God. If you want to be respected, you must first be respectful.

on Jul. 11 2011 at 11:20 am
DesertFox94 BRONZE, McDonough, Georgia
1 article 0 photos 33 comments
I like it. It's good to see more people think than believe. 

Person said...
on Jul. 1 2011 at 4:11 pm
On a personal note, there are a lot of different branches of Christianity, meaning a bunch of different interpretations. If something has as many different interpretations as the Bible does, to me, that says there must be something wrong with it, but thats just me.

Person said...
on Jul. 1 2011 at 4:02 pm
Oh, and this is just a personal thing, but there are a lot of different branches of Christianity (Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Protestant, Methodist, etc...) basically meaning this many interpretations. To me, if something can be interpreted that many different times, to me, that says there's something wrong there. Again, thats just me...

Person said...
on Jul. 1 2011 at 3:49 pm
I never said God didn't exist, I simply pointed out that the Bible may be false, but the fact that you immediately assumed, Im sorry, but its hilarious. I whole heartedly believe God does exist actually. Moving on, these are the few of the I can think of of the top of my head: It says Thou shalt not kill, but at the same time, it says whoever does such and such should be put to death. Linking on to this, since when is it a humans place to judge? I thought that was only God's job, as he also says we have no place to condemn anybody, only He does. If we all came from Adam and Eve, then that means their kids had kida with each other, and so on, but at the same time, it also says incest is bad. How does that work? "The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." it says this, but then also says this "Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen." I dont get it, war or peace? But again, these are just those I named off the top of my head.

Person said...
on Jun. 30 2011 at 10:48 pm
And another thing, your arrogant attitude is sickening.

on Jun. 30 2011 at 2:59 pm
Really? I doubt that. Your scienctists have proven the existence of former cities So.dom and Gorm.orrah. So.dom and Gorm.orrah are mentioned in the Bi.ble. So tell me has it wrong? You do. Bi.ble is fact, evolution was just made up by mankind by lies. :)  

Person said...
on Jun. 30 2011 at 4:32 am
Okay, I accept. While a few events in the Bible have been "proven", that doesnt make the entire doctrine true, simply because there is no proof that the events were acts of God. Plus the Bible is too inconsistent for it to be 100% correct.

SevantofGod said...
on May. 29 2011 at 9:45 pm
If your someone else than what I thought of, sorry. I get people mixed up here because people attack my faith in God, and it annoys me. 

ServantofGod said...
on May. 29 2011 at 9:42 pm
You're evidence seems VERY doubtful, then again I don't believe seculars at all because they lie too much. :) 

EstebanV said...
on May. 29 2011 at 1:49 pm
EstebanV, Burlington, Massachusetts
0 articles 0 photos 13 comments

Alright, I decided that I should bring some factual evidece into this discussion.

The more you look at the world around you, the more you start to realize that life would be entirey impossible without God. For example, take the scientific theory for how life began. In the Miller-Urey Experiment, several chemicals were contained in a large flask. They were then stimulated with electricity and amino acids, the building blocks of life, were created. However, the chemicals that were used in this experiment could not be found on Earth at this time.


on May. 19 2011 at 11:01 am
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

I'll say that even is that's theoretically true, my point is valid. There ARE biblical inconsistencies.

on May. 13 2011 at 8:43 am
Put darwinism and evolution back to the fictional section, 'cause that's all I see in it. Put the Bible in the nonfiction section, because it has been proven time and time again. I dare someone to comment this!

ServantofGod said...
on Apr. 26 2011 at 11:34 am

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." (Psalm 14:1)

"And through all of this, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, no fear, no insecurity, no doubt, no hesitation that will ever, ever stop us. Because we are the sons of the living Go.d, because we are the children of the Almi.ghty, because we are the residents of the kingdom of heaven, and we are soldiers in an army of the immortal. And when we speak life, life happens, and when we speak healing, healing happens, and when we speak truth, truth happens. And when we go take what we found to a dead world, we'll see it come to life again, and when we take what we found to a hopeless world, we'll see hope come back. We'll see the heart of our world start beating again, and we'll see the color come back into people's faces. Absolutely nothing will ever stop that. Mountains will move before us, and oceans will part before us, and the dead will raise before us. And the world will know that our Go.d is the Go.d that heals, and our Go.d is a Go.d that lives, and our Go.d is a Go.d that loves, and like anything that anyone has ever felt before, because we are fearless, and because we are His hands, and because we are His feet. Forever, and ever." (Talmidim (The Servants), by For Today)




veliegamknat said...
on Apr. 26 2011 at 8:33 am

ServentofGod,

Provide solid evidence for your imanginary god and maybe we would believe in that god. Atheism is not us lying, but rather a simple belief that there is no god. 


Nikkko BRONZE said...
on Apr. 14 2011 at 10:24 pm
Nikkko BRONZE, Bayside, New York
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Effort=Success

Love this !( Both the article and the instensly heated debate below.)I completely share your views on religion.I finally hear some logical perceptions  about the world we live in coming from a teen. Nowadays being an atheist is definitely  a challenge .

on Apr. 7 2011 at 10:08 pm
blues_are.still_blue BRONZE, Southampton, Pennsylvania
3 articles 0 photos 109 comments

Favorite Quote:
This sentence is false.
- Unknown

Okay. I'm disappointed to have to say this but in all honesty i can no longer continue to try to speak on logical terms with you. It's clear you have no plans to actually listen to any other view besides your own, so sorry but i'm done here. Your comments speak for themselves.