In a recent survey, atheists were found to be the least trusted minority in America. Why?
http://www.ur.umn.edu/FMPro?-db=releases&-lay=web&-format=umnnewsreleases/releasesdetail.html&ID=2816&-Find
debugceca didn't even respond to the question! As to the whole, there is no such thing as an atheist. You are very ignorant on the matter. The Flying Spaghetti Monster could really exist somewhere in the universe. It could. Does that mean it actually exists?!? Until I see proof, I don't believe that it exists. If I am proven wrong, I will change my viewpoint.
Cassi, Atheists have to answer to themselves and their peers. Have you ever felt guilty about something you've done to a friend? There ya go!
Lighthouse, if you believe in something... why does it have to be a god? Why couldn't an atheist believe in themselves or their fellow humans?
The religious right wing people feel threat ed and have and continue to spread lies about atheists because all religious leaders need and want to brainwash people into their wacko ideology and hinder a persons ability to think for themselves
There can be no such things as an atheist. This is why: Let's imagine that you are a professing atheist. Here are two questions for you to answer: First, do you know the combined weight of all the sand on all the beaches of Hawaii? We can safely assume that you don't. This brings us to the second question: Do you know how many hairs are on the back of a fully-grown male Tibetan yak? Probably not. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that there are some things that you don't know. It is important to ask these questions because there are some people who think they know everything.
Let's say that you know an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. To know 100 percent, you would have to know everything. There wouldn't be a rock in the universe that you would not be intimately familiar with, or a grain of sand that you would not be aware of. You would know everything that has happened in history, from that which is common knowledge to the minor details of the secret love life of Napoleon's great-grandmother's black cat's fleas. You would know every hair of every head, and every thought of every heart. All history would be laid out before you, because you would be omniscient (all-knowing).
Bear in mind that one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, Thomas Edison, said, "We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything." Let me repeat: Let's say that you have an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. Would it be possible, in the ninety-nine percent of the knowledge that you haven't yet come across, that there might be ample evidence to prove the existence of God? If you are reasonable, you will be forced to admit that it is possible. Somewhere, in the knowledge you haven't yet discovered, there could be enough evidence to prove that God does exist.
Let's look at the same thought from another angle. If I were to make an absolute statement such as, "There is no gold in China," what is needed for that statement to be pr oven true? I need absolute or total knowledge. I need to have information that there is no gold in any rock, in any river, in the ground, in any store, in any ring, or in any mouth (gold filling) in China. If there is one speck of gold in China, then my statement is false and I have no basis for it. I need absolute knowledge before I can make an absolute statement of that nature. Conversely, for me to say, "There is gold in China," I don't need to have all knowledge. I just need to have seen a speck of gold in the country, and the statement is then true.
To say categorically, "There is no God," is to make an absolute statement. For the statement to be true, I must know for certain that there is no God in the entire universe. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion.
If you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, "Having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God." Owing to a lack of knowledge on your part, you don't know if God exists. So, in the strict sense of the word, you cannot be an atheist. The only true qualifier for the title is the One who has absolute knowledge, and why on earth would God want to deny His own existence?
The professing atheist is what is commonly known as an "agnostic" - one who claims he "doesn't know" if God exists. It is interesting to note that the Latin equivalent for the Greek word is "ignoramus." The Bible tells us that this ignorance is "willful" (Psalm 10:4). It's not that a person can't find God, but that he won't. It has been rightly said that the "atheist" can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman. He knows that if he admits that there is a God, he is admitting that he is ultimately responsible to Him. This is not a pleasant thought for some.
It is said that Mussolini (the Italian dictator), once stood on a pinnacle and cried, "God, if you are there, strike me dead!" When God didn't immediately bow to his dictates, Mussolini then concluded that there was no God. However, his prayer was answered some time later.
Because they threaten the foundation of modern man's 'security blanket'....Athests face a species who's majority still think with the obsolete genes inherited from their distant cave man relatives, IE, using the Limbo system to believe in something based on faith rather than rational science...it's easily explainable. Atheists have moved to the cerebral cortex of the brain and look at Objective Reality... This really threatens the Theist to their very foundation. Fearing the unknown means they can't trust something they can't understand....its easily explainable.
Did you know there's a certain percentage of scientists who believe in God. Even Eistein referred to god often. But of those scientist who do believe, the least percentage are the astronomers...hmmm. Obsolete genes do not disappear overbite.
Religious people fear rationality. Sorry, that was kind of mean... I think it's that people who believe in heaven and hell often think that people who don't have no reason to behave in a "good" manner. The idea that an individual can do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do, and not because he needs to do it to get into heaven is beyond the grasp of the average human, so people think that atheists will not do the right thing. People think that because we don't believe in God we have no source of morality. However, the need for morality can be seen through the study of sociology, psychology, biology, and philosophy, and to an educated individual it should be evident that it is necessary to do the "right" thing for reasons besides gaining admission to an imagined utopia.
In response to debugcecaatheist is someone who does not believe in God, not someone who "knows that God does not exist." We know that God does not exist just like you know He does. Of course, we happen to be right, but atheism is no less possible than any other religion. Your argument is analogous to saying that religion does not exist because it is possible that God does not exist.
Hmm... In my opinion its because if a person doesn't believe in God.. they can not be on his side.. so... what is a person who doesn't believe in God.. doesn't fear God.. capable of
Just look at the negative attitude of Cassi. She think religion has all the answers. WRONG my dear. Secondly atheists never claimed to have all the answers, it is religion that makes such claims.
Religious people hold onto religion like a security blanket, they feel lost without it. Therefore they will spread and make up lies about people who are non-believers.
I think it's because atheists, by definition, say "I don't believe what you believe, I don't think that what you believe is true." That can be threatening. Even if someone is of a different religion, the fact that they have faith in a higher power makes them more "trustworthy" than someone who outright denies a higher power altogether.
Either way, that's rather sad to hear, and I think it shows how little people really understand atheists.
Because people are scared that once they die, they might actually be gone forever. Its quite natural, but some of us are evolving amongst our brethren to accept this fact. We dint want this escape mechanism to cloud our judgment and hinder our lives.
Aetheists of what?Anyone that has such a one sided view of life and the people in it and have the gall to condemn those that dint have the same line of thought or belief is condemned as least trusted????Who the hell are the believers ? and in what? Jews,catholics, Muslims, Buddhists,protestants, who is going to be saved from which belief when "judgment day" comes.Give me a break.
Let me tell you i am an atheist but an honest one.who conducted a survey wanting that sort of information. why atheist. another tool for the religious fanatics to put fear into non- believers. take a good long look at yourself.
God spoke of the atheist, He said, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God." That tells me he thinks he, himself, is the "all knowing" and since he refuses to admit he might not know everything(he may have made an error in his God thinking.) Who can trust a Fool with anything? Certainly not I.
I don't know why the least trusted. But I'm tired of everyone crying about being a minority. That's what started this whole anti-Christian revolution.
When you get nailed to a cross with thorns in your head after dragging your tired, hungry, thirsty, dirty body through dirt and rocks carrying a cross 3 times your body weight while people yell obscenities and throw things at you, THEN you can complain.
Probably because they have their own relative code of ethics. I'm not saying that they are dishonest, but anything that is relative gives one pause. This might be the reason for the distrust.
because we ha vent been brainwashed by the church and dare to think for our selves which a threat to all the religious money makers out there (I'm from England and we are no where near as nutty about religion over here)
Why are atheists the least trusted minority?
