Quote:
Originally Posted by blastingas10
Because I don't know many non-religious people. Anyone I know who is non-religious is an atheist.
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I would say the overwhelming majority of non-religious people are not atheists. I can't count the number of times I've heard people refer to themselves as "spiritual but not religious" and there are loads of "undecideds" out there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blastingas10
And it's not really an assumption. Based on my experience, atheists do despise religion and people who practice it. I'm sure that's not true for all atheists. I'm just speaking from personal experience.
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Well I'm an atheist, and while I do generally see
religion in a negative light, I certainly don't despise religious
people. A lot of my favorite people in the world are religious: my wife, my grandparents, many of my closest friends. The world's a difficult place and I don't really begrudge people latching on to something that makes it easier for them to cope. My issues with religion come in when it goes beyond that and starts actively causing problems in people's lives and in the world in general.
There's often a very extreme confirmation bias that goes on with the way religious people view atheists imo. Obviously, you don't know if someone is one unless they choose to make it known, and in a culture which is openly hostile to atheists like the US, the people most likely to loudly proclaim their atheism are going to be the most aggressive of the bunch. This course only serves to fuel the prejudiced view among religious people that atheists are all angry, bitter people.