Why are atheist obsessed with God?

[Swimmy]

I think this is far from a generalization. But it seems atheist are more obsessed with God and religion than most devout Christians. I spend quite some time over at the IMDB religion and spirituality forum and its dominated not by theist but atheist. A lot of them are angry atheist and seem to have issues with God and most notably Christianity. It also seems like a lot of them spend all their time trying to disprove religion..Again most notably Christianity.

Usually when I dislike something I don't hang around and talk about it for hours end. I prefer to spend my time around things I like.

[MarcusOfLycia]

Wow... the timing of this could not be better...

I just blocked a guy on Facebook that has tried to friend request me in the past (we went to high school but have never spoken a word to each other until this year... on Facebook). I always thought of him as kind of an arrogant jerk-type of guy... and just kept my distance. Turns out he's an atheist too. His profile pictures, his entire list of quotes (about a dozen), his 'activities', his political views, his religious views, and his status updates are all nearly exclusively anti-religious pro-atheistic material, most of which comes from comedians and other pseudo-intellectual atheist popularizers.

My Christian friends? They mention their relationship with God and then talk about other parts of their lives. Maybe a handful have quotes poking fun at atheists.

Its amazing though. I should copy and paste some of it sometime... its amazing how someone who is so against God can spend so much of their time talking about Him. He's a psychology major, I've gathered, and he seems to think psychology disproves God. Now, in the past, I've posted some psychology-related posts (because I am most certainly NOT a psych major) because not all of his points are irrelevant. However, another friend of mine, a Christian who is earning his masters for clinical psychology, mentioned that he spent a good semester doing a research project on some of the issues this atheist had used to try to claim that religion is merely a fear response mechanism. He found that the guy was totally abusing the theory and making wild statements with no relation to reality...

I wonder sometimes though - if we Christians spent as much time focusing on God as atheists typically do, this world might be a much different (and better) place.

I wonder also if these people fill the void that they have because they are missing God in their lives with the 'satisfaction' they get out of disrupting other people's relationships with God.

[Canuckster1127]

I see Atheists in generally 2 categories. Soft Atheists and Militant Anti-theists. The latter category is something of an enigma to me. They actually define themselves by what they are against rather than what they are for. This new wave has a lot of impetus from Dawkins, Hitchens, Dennett and Harris.

The things is, when you define yourself by what you are against, then you cede power to those you are against to define you. You're always in a reactive mode.

Some Christians do this as well by focusing upon society and defining themselves by what they're against in terms of social issues instead of what or more the point, whom they are for.

In that regard, and it may seem ironic, but there's times I think militant Atheists (or "new" atheists as they're sometimes called) and militant "Christians" (issue driven to the exclusion of a focus on Christ) have more in common with each other on many levels that with the "softer" elements of their own movements.

[Gman]

I think this is far from a generalization. But it seems atheist are more obsessed with God and religion than most devout Christians. I spend quite some time over at the IMDB religion and spirituality forum and its dominated not by theist but atheist. A lot of them are angry atheist and seem to have issues with God and most notably Christianity. It also seems like a lot of them spend all their time trying to disprove religion..Again most notably Christianity.

Usually when I dislike something I don't hang around and talk about it for hours end. I prefer to spend my time around things I like.

And we try to spend our time here trying to disprove their religion too... Because that is all this is really about.

[Mariolee]

I know most Christians state that the reason is because God is always prompting and nudging them toward Him.

But in order to make this a fufilling and thorough discussion, there needs to be two sides. Although I am a Christian, I will have to play (figuratively speaking, of course) the devil's advocate.

One possible reason that I've heard that most atheists are obsessed with God is because of how much it "interferes" with their lives. Take for example, this lesbian woman who has something to say about the subject.

And you know what else? I think we need to have some goddamn perspective about this anger business. I mean, I look at organized Christianity in this country -- not just the religious right, but some more "moderate" churches as well -- interfering with AIDS prevention efforts, trying to get their theology into the public schools, actively trying to prevent me and Ingrid from getting legally married, and pulling all the other [poop] I talk about in this piece.

And I look at atheists sometimes being mean-spirited and snarky in blogs and books and magazines.

And I think, Can we please have some goddamn perspective?

Because the other thing I'm angry about is the fact that, in this piece, I've touched on -- maybe -- a hundredth of everything that angers me about religion. This piece barely scratches the surface. I know, almost without a doubt, that within five minutes of hitting "Post" and putting this piece on my blog, I'll think of six different things that I'd wished I'd put in. I could write an entire book about everything that angers me about religion -- other people certainly have -- and still not be finished.

Are you really looking at all of this [poop] I'm talking about, a millennia-old history of abuse and injustice, deceit and willful ignorance -- and then on the other hand, looking at a couple of years of atheists being snarky on the Internet -- and seeing the two as somehow equivalent? Or worse, seeing the snarky atheists as the greater problem?

If you're doing that, then with all due respect, you can blow me.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled attempts at civility.

More to read: http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta ... nd-an.html
I suggest reading the whole thing before replying.

[Swimmy]

I would say she has some points. But for the most part it seems like a pity part of incessant whining and blaming religion for all her woes. A great example is when she blames the Christians for AIDS in Africa.

[MarcusOfLycia]

I think she confuses religion with human behavior. If religion is merely human behavior, then people would probably act the same way without it, substituting something else for it and her critique should be on humanity. We've lived in secular societies for the last couple hundred years, and the 'abuse and injustice, deceit and willful ignorance' are actually just as bad or worse now.

If religion is more than mere human behavior, then abject, mind-clouding hatred probably is not a good stance to have on it.

[tomkitch2]

As an atheist myself, who lives in an area where there are a great many others, I can tell you that the vast majority of atheists think about god very rarely. The subject almost never comes up unless religious people are present and start the conversation. If you encounter most atheists online, they may appear obsessed with the idea of god simply because you don't notice atheists when they're not sharing their beliefs. I've also noticed that the few atheists I've met from more religious areas tend to make their disbelief a bigger part of their identity, probably because they're forced to constantly defend it.
But even though I don't believe in a god, I do find the idea interesting and intensely important. I have a lot of reasons for thinking the way I do, and I'm interested in people's reasons for thinking differently. Religion is not just a personal matter--if one of them is true, I'm going to hell, and if none of them are, then a lot of people are making daily decisions based on false assumptions. So it's important to talk about it.

[Gman]

Essentially, there really is no reason to reject God. Science most certainly cannot explain our origins, and as far as being religious, well, everyone is religious.. Even though Christianity and Judaism is not a religion. And even if you don't worship the God of the Bible, you will simply just transfer your authority to something else and worship that as truth.

The main reason I see many reject God probably is a misunderstanding of God, although I do see a spiritual side to it as well.

God is ALL PURITY, ALL LOVING, ALL KNOWING. Once you understand that and get it into your mind, the heavens will open up to you and your understanding will be lifted.

[Noah1201]

Most of these are 15 year-old Dawkins wannabes. They read the God Delusion and get the urge to imitate his militant, anti-theist attitude.

[Silvertusk]

Most of these are 15 year-old Dawkins wannabes. They read the God Delusion and get the urge to imitate his militant, anti-theist attitude.

Athiesm at is core it prideful behaviour. It is people being too proud to want to live by any ideal other than their own moral code and structure. True this in most cases matches with societies laws and moral codes but when you get down to "personal freedoms" athiests really want to do what they want, read what they want, watch what they want and not have to answer to a higher moral authority. This has certainly been my experience of athiests. Pride is the greatest sin - it is stating that you don't need God's help or care about his plan for you.

What I don't understand if the creator of all existance is taking a personal interest in your well being - wouldn't you want to lean on him? Blows my mind that God actual cares about me so much that even if I was the only human being in existance he would still have sent his son to die for me. This is from a deity that didn't even need to create me in the first place.

What exactly is wrong with that picture - Why do Athiests hate God? Like has been said - it is because many of them don't really know who God is.

Silvertusk.