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I know almost all of what I'm about to say can be found in the FAQ, but I think it's appropriate to have out in the open in light of recent circumstances. >**"Atheists are smug, arrogant know-it-alls."** Smug? sure. Arrogant? guilty on numerous occasions. Know-it-alls? Here's where some of you may be misunderstanding. The fact is, most of us don't actually claim to be certain that there is no god. >"Wouldn't that make you agnostics?" Short answer: Yeah, pretty much. Long answer: Technically, yes. Most of us are what they call "agnostic atheists". We don't believe in god the same way you don't believe in Santa Claus or Leprechauns. You can't be 100% sure that Leprechauns don't exist, but if we're being honest with ourselves, it's clear that they probably don't exist. We simply apply that same logic to the idea of god(s). Now don't get me wrong, there are some people out there who are "gnostic atheists" and claim that there is definitely no god, but they're few and far between (in my experience). >**"You guys sure love Lucifer. Maybe what mom said about atheists worshiping the devil is true."** We don't worship Lucifer. Seriously. It's a joke. Also, and more to the point, there's a legitimate literary argument to be had concerning Lucifer's place in the Bible. In many respects, he can be viewed as the hero. I won't get into all that here, but remember: we don't believe in any of this stuff. We're just participating in literary criticism and interpretation. >**"All you guys do is bash religions. Christianity especially."** On this one, I'm really inclined to refer you to the FAQ, because this issue is so eloquently explained there. Here's the most important part: > "...we're not merely pointing out their convictions out of spite. And we're certainly not upset just because we disagree with their point of view. The problem is that religion - and in the Western world (the U.S. especially), that would be squarely on the shoulders of Christianity - has been so much more than simply another way of looking at the world. It has been a tool of ignorance, hate, rape, slavery, murder and genocide. And in current times, it bombards us (again, especially in the U.S.) with an unceasing shower of judgement, scorn and bullying. Religion creeps into our schools, our science classes even. It makes itself home in our politics, our social views, our very laws. Those who adhere to religion FORCE their beliefs on the rest of us, from the Pledge of Allegiance, to testifying in court, to our currency, to the Cub Scouts. Religion has wormed its tentacles into every facet of our daily lives, often to cruel degrees." >**"You guys are just as preachy as the evangelicals!"** I won't argue that a lot of what we say and do comes off as preachy. Remember, though: r/atheism is a place to talk about these things. Call it a circlejerk, call it what you will, but this is our place to discuss and share. Some of us really do make an effort to have stimulating, thought-provoking conversations here, and I encourage all of you to join. Outside r/atheism, I can understand why atheists *seem* preachy. There's a lot to be said about the way religion is protected from real scrutiny in modern society. I like to use the example of a sports team: If you come to me and say "Piratiko, the Chicago Cubs are the best team in the history of baseball." and I respond with "No they're not. There aren't any numbers to back up that claim. You may like them, but they're not the best." There's no problem with this conversation. I'm not bashing the Cubs, and I'm not preaching. This is completely socially acceptable, and the Cubs fan probably won't get mad. On the other hand, if you say "X is the one true god and you should seek salvation in Him" and I say "You don't know that. There's no proof for what you're claiming. That may be your god of choice, but he's no more real than Zeus or Vishnu." Suddenly I'm preaching. Suddenly I'm bashing religion X. The point of all this is that we hold religion to the same standards of social scrutiny as we do everything else. An even better example than the sports team would be astrology. We have no problem chuckling at the woman on the bus who's convinced that her daily horoscope is actually true and indicative of the future. We chuckle, and we don't think twice about how maybe we're bashing astrology. And if we say "You don't actually believe this stuff do you?" We don't think about how maybe we're preaching non-astrology. One last thing that I want to be perfectly clear to anyone who cares to read this far: We're not much different than you. In fact, the difference between theism and atheism is largely negligible in everyday life. We all have very similar morals (yes, many of us take our moral guidance from religious figures from Confucius to Buddha to Jesus), we're not violent people (at least not any more violent than anyone else), and we're not angry at the world/god/our pasts or any of that. We're very much like you. In fact, I've seen a large number of agnostics showing up lately with an attitude that suggests "I'm an agnostic. I'm nothing like these atheists." Remember, most of us are agnostic too, in a technical sense of the word, so the difference between us is absolutely minuscule. I hope this clears up some confusion. One of the most frustrating things I've found about being an atheist is being *misunderstood*. I truly hope this makes us just a little more understandable. Thank you for your time. Take care. **TL;DR as provided by a-t-k:** >*"Atheists are smug, arrogant, know-it-alls"* Most of us don't *claim* to know, but just don't *believe* there is one. >*"So you don't know there no god?"* Yes, in the same way that theists can't know there's a god, but choose to believe in him all the same. >*"You really like Lucifer, are you satanists?"* No. Lucifer as a fictional character sounds quite fun to the non-believer, so we enjoy our little jokes about him. >*"All you guys do is bash religions. Christianity especially."* We certainly share a strong dislike for the fundamentalist aspects of the every, but especially the christian religion, as it is sadly very common. >*"You guys are just as preachy as the evangelicals!"* You have your dogmas, we have our debates. You may feel they are preachy because of the religious context in which you put them. >*"You guys have no morality!"* Everyone can define one's own morality with or without religion as reference point. more