I follow Almighty God on Twitter. He’s an atheist who likes to poke fun at believers by posing as their god. He frequently re-tweets ridiculous claims made by theists and I noticed the other day one of them talking about how atheists are angry or afraid. I can’t remember the exact line, but a recent one was something to the effect of “Why are atheists so angry toward a god they don’t believe in.” Cute, but I think you’ll find that atheists are generally actually angry at blathering idiots who presume to impose their delusions on others and not angry at the delusions themselves.
And Toothpaste for Dinner made a joke the other day about atheists being smug. I have no doubt there are people out there who are smug about being atheists, but I’m sure they’re no more smug than some Christians who paternalistically pat me on the back and insist that I’m not REALLY an atheist.
I remember there was a time in my life when the question of god’s existence was of paramount importance. I gave it a lot of thought. I talked about it a lot. I read about it a lot. I read internet forums and posted questions and arguments. I do also recall that sometimes I was angry, smug, and rude. But in those discussions, I wasn’t always an atheist. That time was a period of transition from being a Christian theist to being a poorly defined mystic to ultimately being an atheist. And there were times when a bad attitude came with me.
So, I think it is trite and a bit smug to attack atheists as emotionalistic or condescending when we all know very well how the other side can be the same way.
If you continue to struggle to imagine a time when a Christian was smug, think about how many times you’ve heard someone say, “It’s freedom OF religion not freedom FROM religion.” The person who says that is a jackass, a snotty, smug, condescending jackass.
But here’s the thing I want to point out to Christians and mystics at large: it is rare than an atheist remains preoccupied with the existence of god for a long period of time. Why? Because it’s boring.
I used to talk about it all the time even after becoming an atheist, but then I slowly realized that I was spending way too much time on something I professed to not believe in and I ultimately just let it go.
The question of the existence of god is simply not a big deal to an atheist. Even atheists who talk about it all the time, atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, do not actually consider the existence of god to be a major philosophical issue among atheists. It simply isn’t because there is no part of an atheist’s philosophy or ideology which hinges upon the existence of such a creature.
So, let’s be clear about this: the fuel for continued rants and anger about the existence of god, the host, and magic does not come from atheists. It comes from those whose ideas on metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics hinge on an affirmative answer to the question. It comes from theists.
Atheists aren’t angry or smug about the idea of god itself because that notion is purely arbitrary. There’s nothing really to be said about it. When atheists are angry about this topic, they’re angry with people espousing that idea and it’s usually because the theists are trying to do something stupid and impose their stupidity on atheists.
And when atheists are smug, they’re smug toward theists who are espousing nonsense. They’re smug because there isn’t a perceived threat (a threat would result in anger) but they nonetheless have an emotional response toward someone being very, very silly.
If theists want atheists to stop being smug and angry toward them, they should start being more quiet and stop trying to force their religion on others. They should take the advice of Matthew 6 and practice their faith quietly, in private. Because without their noisy fuss, atheists would have little to talk about.
