Why do they hate each other so much?

People have different opinions and humans are known to not accept or attack others with opinions that differ from their own or what they believe is correct.
Also is English your first language?

Humans in general like a sense of "Normalcy"(would that be the right word?). They fear and hate things they do not understand and/or do not agree with. As long as Humanity exists, there will always be conflicts of opposing opinions.

I think that the problem stems from the fact that most people react negatively to anything that might contradict what they consider to be a universal truth. Many religions are very tolerant of differing religious beliefs, even atheistic ones, but a great many Christian groups are focused on spreading their ideals onto any group that believes differently from themselves. They look upon any other viewpoint as a threat to their mission to spread the word of God.

Most atheists don't have an agenda to attack those who believe in religion, but rather are reacting to the attacks propagated by overzealous believers.

As an agnostic, I have a belief in something greater than myself, but I don't believe that truth is found within the pages of any book but rather in the truth we feel within our own hearts.

Until people can learn to accept that each person has a right to believe as they wish, there will always be such strife, unfortunately.

I have seen two cases of fellow atheists being hostile to theists. This will not be all the possible reasons, only the ones which I can empirically attest to have witnessing.

The first is simply something you will find in any group, organization, or other word for collection of people with some similarities. Some people are jerks. It doesn't matter what they are arguing over, what the basis for the argument contains, or who they are arguing against; they feel that they are right. Be it the existence vs. nonexistence of a deity, Keynesian economics vs. Supply Side economics, Edward vs. Jacob, or even which My Little Pony would best accompany The Doctor.

The second is for those atheists that have come from environments that were extremely hostile to any dissenting opinions. These individuals have come to the conclusion that religion is a "problem" that won't simply go away and must be dealt with directly. An example of religious hostility towards an individual can be found in this video entitled Richard Dawkins Reads His Hate Mail Again

WARNING SWEARING.

Some people having suffered similar indignities feel that they must push back, though this will often even be forced upon non-offenders. Now do these types of vitriols deserve similar caustic words, I feel both sides will end up getting burned but I tend to be neutral (sorry for the lame pun).

I don't get why people turn their fear into hatred. It's pretty irrational if you ask me, but then again I'm the guy looking in so I don't think I count. It's not the opinions that are bad, but the convictions people put behind them. It's difficult to denounce a cause when the driving force behind it is the people's will. Will knows good nor evil, it is an energy that is harnessed by both sides. A quote I read a long time ago stated this:



One could argue that evil ends in destruction, and that good ends in sacrifice. Are those words not the same, just carried in a different light? Humans fighting one another over petty things won't end, and yes, I called arguments of existance and religion petty. It's petty from my point because the universe lived before all this and will continue on after we're gone.

On the topic of apostasy, an apostate being someone who has left the faith. Here are a few examples from the Bible that speak of how to deal with apostates. Thankfully not even most Christians take the Bible literally.

Deuteronomy 13:6-11


2 Chronicles 15:13


2 Timothy 3:1-9


Jude 1:1-25


2 Peter 2:20-22

The thing is some Christians don't read the Bible or understand the stories told. Some take the Bible word for word rather than understanding the meanings of it. I have met more theist/atheist/agnostics(in real life and online) that know and understand the Bible more than some Christians. Also no, not all Christian believe atheist lost hope and you should try not to generalize people based on their beliefs.





I apologize if what I asked was rude.

I was gonna make a comment but I could not have said it better myself. I fully agree with you. Very well said. +1 rep

It depends on the individual. I personally don't mind the moderately religious because they keep their personal beliefs to themselves. It's when people begin using their faith to dictate how the rest of us should behave and I believe that is why atheists seem to hate christians and vice versa. Those who try to get Creationism into Science classes, those who use religion to remove reproductive rights from women and not allowing same sex marriage are all reasons I dislike theism but I don't go out of my way to attack them or their beliefs. When one speaks of their beliefs as truth I will call them on it. I have friends who are religious but they keep it to themselves and don't shut their minds off to knowledge when it contradicts their faith. Besides, I've seen more hostility from theists than I ever have from atheists.

I second this opinion.

I third ToyManC's opinion. It sums up what I would've said better than I would.

Atheists and Christians 'hate' each other because neither side can see the importance of the philosophies [or lack thereof] either espouses.

Atheists are people of logic and rationality, and as such cannot grasp the importance or value of faith or spirituality. Christians cannot understand why a person would want to go through their life without feeling spiritually enriched by a higher presence.

TLDR: They're both wrong, and thusly, both right.

I would argue that an athiest finds spirituality or a higher level within said logic and rationality. The question an athiest has, fundamentally is, if there is such a concept as a foreign body governing others(IE: God), what proves that X God is the one? The bible cannot be taken at face value, especially as there are other religions aside from Christianity.

Christians on the other hand, or really any official religion or dogma holds that their religion is the one true religion and cannot prove this, but rather through their own emotions and convictions, it must be so.

Infact, I would argue there's no spirituality within the Church, because it's more about one's convictions or arguments supporting the foreign entity in question, then it is about reaching a higher intellectual or feeling status.

1. Atheists place reason and logic above all other forms of thinking. They want hard, empirical proof of God but since we either a. cannot find said proof or b. simply do not have the technology to find said proof, they default to the conclusion that there is no external governing force.

2. Faith itself is supposed to be based on spirituality, the fact that most people are now cynical and misguided enough to not see it that way, does not make it any less true. Faith is meant to enrich the human experience, it's just.. many people have lost sight of that and choose to view religion as just a moralistic, limiting way to live your life. Many religious individuals are too repressed by their own lifestyle to find any meaning within their Faith anymore. So naturally, of course you are going to assume that Religion lacks spirituality anymore... but that is not the point of faith. The point of faith is something that hardly anyone sees anymore.

And well, why should they? 'The world's gone to shit'.

Which is also incidentally, another reason most Atheists believe any form of spirituality is bullshit.

Oh, and you double posted.

Thanks for pointing out the double-post and proceeded to edit accordingly. I was an athiest, and I still hold many of the philosophies of Athism and for me, the idea of logic and knowledge, is my sense of a higher purpose. Debating, learning, growing and obtaining knowledge is the purpose of mankind.

For example, we've debated before on several other topics and while I find your opinions mind boggling at times, I respect that you at least have them. Nothing could be worse than someone who can't think for themselves.

Faith, isn't subjective to Spirituality alone, to have Faith is to believe in something that may or may not be within reach(IE: A dream). You can have Faith for example in a God, but to become "one" with God, goes beyond faith and into spirituality.

You point out that the Church has become nothing more than a dogmatic, moralistic sanctuary for how they want to live their lives. They're still stuck in the "faith" phase, and cannot conceive a higher spiritual purpose, or unification.

Speaking as an atheist. I don't hate christians.

I just think they're wrong.

It's technically hypocritical for Christians to hate those who don't ascribe to their beliefs. Afterall, "love thy neighbor" is the second commandment given out from the Bible. So, instead of hate, they should love. But then again, as mere mortals, be it Christians or Atheists, we tend to flare up when our beliefs are challenged, especially when those beliefs are the ones we hold close to. Mere understanding of the other's perspective is insufficient; we need a civil, respectful environment where we can discuss, not debate or refute, our beliefs. Neither politicians nor the church seem to understand this importance.