Restless Wanderings

The Redheaded Skeptic writes:

In fact, come to think of it, everything I thought about atheists turned out to be wrong. Like the following:

• They’re full of anger toward God. A lot of atheists do get angry about things, but not God. Instead, we tend to get frustrated over the way we’re treated by Christians and other groups with prejudices.
• Everything is meaningless and hopeless, and there is a hole in their lives that only God can fill. On the contrary, everything is much more meaningful and brighter. Most atheists live lives full of meaning. There are those who don’t, but living a hopeless life is not limited to atheists. I know many Christians who are no less hopeful than some atheists.
• They’re mostly angry, bitter, selfish, miserable people. Most of the atheists I have met are bright, funny, and easygoing. Of course, people are people and nobody is perfect, so there are a few that are angry, bitter, selfish, and/or miserable. But this hardly characterizes them all.
• They have no morals. You don’t need the Bible for morals, I learned. Have you read some of the stuff that’s in there? Yikes! Atheists are less likely (both in actual numbers and percentages) to be in prison. And they tend to have better arguments for their morals because they are based on pragmatism, not “God’s making us do it that way.”
• Their arguments are easily refuted. Well, if that were true, I wouldn’t be an atheist.
• They weren’t true Christians, etc. For that, I am simply going to point you here. (Why say something that has already been said better than I could say it?
• There is no community. Granted, the church community is more established, and that does seem to be the number one thing I hear when fellow de-converts list anything they miss about religion. But there is a wonderful, supportive community online. If you are a mother, consider joining Atheist Moms on Yahoo. I also love hanging around other blogs and Free Jinger forums (though not an atheist site, it’s a site where many women of several faiths, atheist included, get together and talk about the evils of fundamentalism), answering emails, and interacting with fellow atheist friends on Facebook. And actual communities are coming together. The Parenting Beyond Belief people are working on some of that, along with many other community freethinker groups, etc.
• They want to kill babies (abortion), allow homosexuals to take over the country, and indoctrinate our kids with Darwinism. Not all atheists agree on any one issue. Except maybe evolution. I’ve met pro-life and anti-gay rights atheists, though granted, the latter tends to be pretty rare. I would hardly characterize it in that way, however.

Please check out the rest of The Redheaded Skeptic’s great post here.