Goddammit, my perception of the general populi has diminished again.
A few days ago, I was asked why I was an atheist. I began to explain, prefacing my explanation with a quote by Richard Dawkins: "We are all atheists towards most of the gods humans have ever believed in. Some of us go one god further." and the person I was talking to took great offence, perceiving that I was calling her an atheist, and out of fear of the invented stigma associated, began to deny the truthfullness of the first senctence of the quote, crying out that I was wrong, when anyone with any sort of a brain can understand that the statement is, in fact, true. To make matters worse, she completely missed the point of the quote, and when i tried to make her understand, she started calling me an asshole.
This experience showed me how the fear of the word "atheist" can cause an ignorant teenage Christian to scream in indignation.
"How dare you talk about my beliefs in such a provocative way? You can't compare me to you, we are obviously polar opposites. I believe in something and you don't belive in anything. I am a good person, and according to my church and parents, you are a bad person who will grow up to be an insane serial killer."
There we go, I fixed your post.
I don't think i need to explain, you're a smart guy, but I will anyway just for good measure.
I know it's gotta be hard hearing it from someone who probably looks like a Christian that this isn't an accurate portrayal of how Christians are. I won't lie though, the sad truth is, you are exactly right, this is how it is.
But it doesn't just stop at Christianity, it spreads like a wildfire through any religion or lack there of. I know because I've been on so many different sides of the fence by now, I've trampled all the grass so there's not too much left. Lets face it, there are idiots everywhere, that's just how it is. I've talked to atheists who had no real explanation as to why they were atheist and thought I was a pussy because I believed in a god. How awesome is that? I don't care though because I know that there are many reasonable atheists out there who don't give a damn about what I believe, just like I don't care what any of them believe, it's as simple as that.
So to put it in a really... really straight forward way. People are ****ing idiots, they always have been and they always will be. Don't lose sight of that fact and think that one group is solely responsible because frankly, it's a crock of shit.