James asks…
Why are atheists angry?
1. The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing Pagans (“They’re devil-worshippers!”), the Romans demonizing Christians (“They’re atheists and cannibals!”).
2. Vilification of homosexuality, resulting in discrimination, parents disowning their children, murder, and suicide.
3. People and animals sacrificed as an offering to gods.
4. Food destroyed because it doesn’t comply with specific religious beliefs.
5. Women treated like second class citizens, or even slaves, based on religious teachings.
6. Children growing up without music.
7. Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents’ religion – leading to appalling scientific illiteracy.
8. Tens of thousands tortured and killed as witches (a practice which still continues today).
9. Millions of cats killed in the belief that witches use them as familiars, leaving rats free to spread the black death throughout Europe, killing millions of people in turn.
10. People bothered and sometimes woken up by door-to-door religion salespeople.
11. People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.
12. People dying – and letting their children die – because their religion forbids accepting medical help.
13. People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms.
14. Female genital mutilation endorsed by religious texts.
15. Psychological and physiological conditions blamed on demons, preventing believers from seeking medical care.
16. People disowning family members for leaving their religion, in some cases symbolized by mock funerals.
17. Friendships and romances severed or never started over religious differences.
18. “Abstinence-only” sex education, resulting in five times the amount sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies – often leading to ill-fated “emergency” marriages.
19. Campaigns against safe sex, with similar results – responsible for much of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
20. Women having septic abortions — or being forced to have unwanted children they resent — because religious organizations have gotten laws passed making abortion illegal or inaccessible.
21. Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
22. The discouragement of rational, critical thought.
23. Believers whipping, impaling, poisoning or crucifying themselves during religious festivals as a demonstration of their faith and piety.
24. Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts.
25. People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides.
26. Environmental issues ignored because of beliefs that God will magically fix everything.
27. Wives told they will be tortured forever if they leave their abusive husbands.
28. People in times of trouble relying on advice from religious leaders without any sort of training in counseling or therapy.
29. Holy wars – followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods.
30. The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the persecution of the artists.
31. Persecution/punishment of blasphemers (Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence on him), and blasphemy laws in general.
32. Slavery condoned by religous texts.
33. Children traumatized by vivid stories of eternal burning and torture to ensure that they’ll be too frightened to even question religion.
34. Terminal patients in constant agony who would end their lives if they didn’t believe it would result in eternal torture.
35. School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools.
36. Persecution of Heretics/scientists, like Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake) and Galileo Galilei.
37. Blue laws forcing other businesses to stay closed so churches can generate more revenue.
38. Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they’re right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs.
39. Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children) – but hey, atheists are the immoral ones.
40. People accepting visual and auditory hallucinations unquestioningly as divine, sometimes with fatal results.
41. Suicide bombers, who are certain they will be rewarded in heaven.
42. Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court.
43. Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, “heathen” religions and cultures.
44. Violation of establishment cause of the first amendment of the national motto of America and the currency.
45. Fo
From my good friend, Dreamstuff.
“By the way, aren’t you vilifying and generalizing?”
What, exactly?
There’s like more, but I guess it doesn’t let me show.
The Expert answers:
Wow. I think you covered all the bases. That stuff only gets me mad if I dwell on it. I’m usually mellow and happy.
David asks…
Fellow atheists (only, please), why are atheists angry? (warning: long question)?
I’m trying to compile a proper list explaining why atheists are angry, for all the times it’s asked here.
Is this why? Would you add anything to this list, or change anything?
—
The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing Pagans (“They’re devil-worshippers!”), the Romans demonizing Christians (“They’re atheists and cannibals!”).
Vilification of homosexuality, resulting in discrimination, parents disowning their children, murder, and suicide.
People and animals sacrificed as an offering to gods.
Food destroyed because it doesn’t comply with specific religious beliefs.
Women treated like second class citizens, or even slaves, based on religious teachings.
Children growing up without music.
Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents’ religion – leading to appalling scientific illiteracy.
Tens of thousands tortured and killed as witches (a practice which still continues today).
Millions of cats killed in the belief that witches use them as familiars, leaving rats free to spread the black death throughout Europe, killing millions of people in turn.
People bothered and sometimes woken up by door-to-door religion salespeople.
People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.
People dying – and letting their children die – because their religion forbids accepting medical help.
People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms.
Female genital mutilation endorsed by religious texts.
Psychological and physiological conditions blamed on demons, preventing believers from seeking medical care.
People disowning family members for leaving their religion, in some cases symbolized by mock funerals.
Friendships and romances severed or never started over religious differences.
“Abstinence-only” sex education, resulting in five times the amount sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies – often leading to ill-fated “emergency” marriages.
Campaigns against safe sex, with similar results – responsible for much of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Women having septic abortions — or being forced to have unwanted children they resent — because religious organizations have gotten laws passed making abortion illegal or inaccessible.
Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
The discouragement of rational, critical thought.
Believers whipping, impaling, poisoning or crucifying themselves during religious festivals as a demonstration of their faith and piety.
Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts.
People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides.
Environmental issues ignored because of beliefs that God will magically fix everything.
Wives told they will be tortured forever if they leave their abusive husbands.
People in times of trouble relying on advice from religious leaders without any sort of training in counseling or therapy.
Holy wars – followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods.
The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the persecution of the artists.
Persecution/punishment of blasphemers (Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence on him), and blasphemy laws in general.
Slavery condoned by religous texts.
Children traumatized by vivid stories of eternal burning and torture to ensure that they’ll be too frightened to even question religion.
Terminal patients in constant agony who would end their lives if they didn’t believe it would result in eternal torture.
School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools.
Persecution of Heretics/scientists, like Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake) and Galileo Galilei.
Blue laws forcing other businesses to stay closed so churches can generate more revenue.
Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they’re right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs.
Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children) – but hey, atheists are the immoral ones.
People accepting visual and auditory hallucinations unquestioningly as divine, sometimes with fatal results.
Suicide bombers, who are certain they will be rewarded in heaven.
Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court.
Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, “heathen” religions and cultures.
Ha
Oh, the question didn’t post fully. I’ll have to repost in a few days.
I really wish Y!A would fix those bugs once and for all.
But that’s not worth being angry about.
The Expert answers:
I’m angry about the millions of people who die needlessly every day because the Catholic Church has worked so hard to prevent scientific advancement throughout its entire existence that we are centuries behind where we could have been, had so many luminary minds not been systematically suppressed or executed.
I’m angry about the millions of people who will continue to die for many more years because some superstitious mouthbreathers in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world have managed to hold back stem-cell research because they embrace a definition of humanity based on a book written thousands of years ago by a pack of genocidal goatherders.
I’m angry about all the little kids who cry themselves to sleep every night because Mommy or Grandpa or some other loved one is being tortured forever and ever and ever. (I used to be one of those kids.)
I’m angry about the people who still pretend to believe in this superstitious crap because they are afraid of being ostracized or fired.
I’m angry about the billions of people who are the spiritual equivalent of mentally retarded because they were force fed a pile of dogmatic pig manure from childhood and are now incapable of making moral decisions or finding meaning in their lives without putting it in the context of an imaginary being who will give them an imaginary reward in an imaginary place when their imaginary soul leaves their very real body.
I’m angry about all the people who think that life is merely a test that may or may not qualify them for their important life.
I’m angry about the people who, as a result of this, believe that things must be guaranteed to be permanent to be meaningful–particularly since the guarantee they’re given is such a ridiculous fairy tale.
I’m angry that so many people think that without an imaginary friend to impress, there is no valid reason not to murder people, steal, rape children, or generally create misery in the world.
I’m angry that billions of people are so pig-ignorant to the beauty of the world around them that they need to invent a reason to be joyful.
I’m angry that we still need to have this discussion.
Richard asks…
Can the person who created this list take out any points that does not apply to Christianity?
Specifically Catholicism and Orthodoxy:
The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing Pagans (“They’re devil-worshippers!”), the Romans demonizing Christians (“They’re atheists and cannibals!”).
Vilification of homosexuality, resulting in discrimination, parents disowning their children, murder, and suicide.
People and animals sacrificed as an offering to gods.
Food destroyed because it doesn’t comply with specific religious beliefs.
Women treated like second class citizens, or even slaves, based on religious teachings.
Children growing up without music.
Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents’ religion – leading to appalling scientific illiteracy.
Tens of thousands tortured and killed as witches (a practice which still continues today).
Millions of cats killed in the belief that witches use them as familiars, leaving rats free to spread the black death throughout Europe, killing millions of people in turn.
People bothered and sometimes woken up by door-to-door religion salespeople.
People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.
People dying – and letting their children die – because their religion forbids accepting medical help.
People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms.
Female genital mutilation endorsed by religious texts.
Psychological and physiological conditions blamed on demons, preventing believers from seeking medical care.
People disowning family members for leaving their religion, in some cases symbolized by mock funerals.
Friendships and romances severed or never started over religious differences.
“Abstinence-only” sex education, resulting in five times the amount sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies – often leading to ill-fated “emergency” marriages.
Campaigns against safe sex, with similar results – responsible for much of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Women having septic abortions — or being forced to have unwanted children they resent — because religious organizations have gotten laws passed making abortion illegal or inaccessible.
Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
The discouragement of rational, critical thought.
Believers whipping, impaling, poisoning or crucifying themselves during religious festivals as a demonstration of their faith and piety.
Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts.
People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides.
Environmental issues ignored because of beliefs that God will magically fix everything.
Wives told they will be tortured forever if they leave their abusive husbands.
People in times of trouble relying on advice from religious leaders without any sort of training in counseling or therapy.
Holy wars – followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods.
The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the persecution of the artists.
Persecution/punishment of blasphemers (Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence on him), and blasphemy laws in general.
Slavery condoned by religious texts.
Children traumatized by vivid stories of eternal burning and torture to ensure that they’ll be too frightened to even question religion.
Terminal patients in constant agony who would end their lives if they didn’t believe it would result in eternal torture.
School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools.
Persecution of Heretics/scientists, like Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake) and Galileo Galilei.
Blue laws forcing other businesses to stay closed so churches can generate more revenue.
Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they’re right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs.
Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children) – but hey, atheists are the immoral ones.
People accepting visual and auditory hallucinations unquestioningly as divine, sometimes with fatal results.
Suicide bombers, who are certain they will be rewarded in heaven.
Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court.
Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, “heathen” religions and cultures.
Hardship compounded by the guilt required to reconcile the idea of a fair god with reality (“why is God punishing me? What have I done wrong? Don’t I h
“Christians seem to think we only think the specific god they believe in is harmful, but they all are.”
I don’t know what you think. And you can’t say the Judeo-Christian God is harmful, that is only your opinion. “The vengeance of the Lord is not spiteful, it is righteous judgment.”
“And I like how you want to dissociate yourself from the harm caused by other branches of your religion.”
Well, I just don’t think it’s fair you group Christianity with every other religion out there. I simply just wanted to see which ones apply to Christianity, but you and I know very few of them do… Maybe that’s why you refused to list them.
The Expert answers:
OK, as you said what doesn’t apply to Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the following don’t apply to Catholics or Eastern Orthodox Churches. I did have a far more involved answer to each, but it was too long and Y! Answers rejected it as a result.
People and animals sacrificed as an offering to gods. .
Food destroyed because it doesn’t comply with specific religious beliefs.
Children growing up without music.
Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents’ religion – leading to appalling scientific illiteracy.
People bothered and sometimes woken up by door-to-door religion salespeople.
Female genital mutilation endorsed by religious texts.
People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.
People dying – and letting their children die – because their religion forbids accepting medical help.
People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms.
Psychological and physiological conditions blamed on demons, preventing believers from seeking medical care.
People disowning family members for leaving their religion, in some cases symbolized by mock funerals.
The discouragement of rational, critical thought.
Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts.
People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides.
School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools.
Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they’re right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs.
Suicide bombers, who are certain they will be rewarded in heaven.
Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court.
Robert asks…
Why politically sensitive or non-offensive questions deleted?
Two weeks ago, I answered a question about why Britain is not returning artefacts to Ethiopia with two simple sentences:
“What China demands from Britain, they get. What Africa requests from Britain, sorry.”
The question had been there for a while, but 10 minutes after I submitted my answer, the question was “deleted”. My activity showed I had two points for having answered a deleted question. But I found the question was reproduced under another question id, without my answer. Having done lots of programming, I would know how to reindex a question too.
The few other questions I answered after was also deleted, even though they were mild questions and answers like as though someone was shadowing my Yahoo activities and preemptively deleting the questions I laid my hands on. Frightening.
Do you think Yahoo is sucking up to China or do you think there are lots of pro-China trolls submitting deletion requests for answers/questions not favourable to China?
Two months ago, I had a non-offensive question why American Evangelical Christians say that they should not spend time and resources on environmental issues so as not to be diverted from their important goal of spreading their gospel but yet they spend a lot of time and money getting politically involved refuting (or in more modern terms “refudiating”) that human activities causes harmful global warming. That they preach asking why should we take the risk of going to hell, and yet they spend time and money defending human activities that kills millions of unborn children worldwide. Yet all the while, their Jesus advocated a life of poverty and care for fellow humans.
There were quite a number of response, all of which were respectable, including from two pastors. That question was deleted. Why?
Frightening. Why??
The Expert answers:
It has been my experience that the YA censors or monitors always follow the path of “Political Correctness”. If they allow ONLY what they want to allow. If Yahoo were a government, it would be called a dictatorship. If any Yahoo censor disagrees w/ a posted opinion, the opinion is deleted, under the guise that it was a “violation”. Trust me, I’ve had more than my share of “violations.”
Yahoo cannot take criticizm.
In a forum, where one is invited to express one’s opinion or feelings about a comment or subject matter, one is free to do so, unless Yahoo thinks someone’s feelings may get hurt, or if they disagree. They then delete that person’s opinion, under a BS heading of a “violation”. The only one can do, is stop posting opinions or comments. Yahoo doesn’t care, as they are too arrogant.
I shouldn’t even post this comment as it is more than likely to be treated as a “ranting, or raving, and thus, a violation of the Yahoo Community standards.” I say, screw you, Yahoo!!
Ruth asks…
What’s a good catchphrase for a flyer fighting deforestation?
In English class, we have this assignment: we have to find an environmental issue, make a poster about it and a flyer for an organization we supposedly founded that fights the environmental issue we chose. My group and I chose deforestation, and on the flyer we need a good catchphrase or slogan that illustrates well our goal. If you could help me find a good wordplay or pun that encourages people to leave a carbon footprint or help protect the trees, specifically in the Amazon and/or Central Africa, it would be much appreciated!
PS: if the assignment sounds a bit easy, it’s because I go to a French school. We study English as a second language. Even if I’m fluent 😉
The Expert answers:
Leaf the trees alone!
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