Why religion makes some atheists angry

[pseudophonist]

Fair warning: i did not realise how stupidly long this post was going to turn out.

Ultimately, the answer to this question is frustration.
Most of society is religious. One third of all people on the planet belong to one of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity/Catholicism, Judaism or Islam), following that just shy of a sixth are Hindu. Unbelievers

Comments

Theism

[benshee]

How do you feel about agnostic atheists?

[pseudophonist]

Do you mean people who are undecided about the existence of a supreme being?
I'm not so sure about this view; it seems like a waste of effort to actively pursue something which you may not have compelling reasons to do so. I do think the burden of proof lies with the believer and until then there seems little reason to believe.
Its ok to call yourself an agnostic if you're partly convinced by either side. But not if you choose not to have an opinion. I'd advise enumerating the reasons for and against.

[toast_is_lovely]

loved it. especially the imagery of emerging with pelt of exotic cat.

[pseudophonist]

:)

[gwendolyr]

I don't know, I don't think there is a "universal" reason for why atheists get angry - at least, being a skeptic does not mean you are driven to uncover the unknown, just that you believe in critical thinking.

[pseudophonist]

Thats true, of course. Though i did write this as logically and critically as i could, it is after all just a collection of hypotheses and opinions, and hardly cohesive or far reaching enough to be called a theory.
The question of critical thinking is definitely an interesting one. One question i would pose is 'why are atheists more often critical thinkers?' Obviously the statistics would have to show strong correlations between critical thinking and atheism.
I would suggest that the motivation for learning to think critically is still one of discovery. Critical thinking with the scientific method historically is the most successful way of getting to the truth, but it is not a natural way of thinking. It must be learned and learned with motivation. Most people don't learn it, or give it up as useless very early (just read letters to the editor). Therefore those who keep at it must be well motivated.

[gwendolyr]

Not so much motivated as paranoid - never taking anything at face value :P