As an Atheist that goes to a predominantly religious school, I receive a lot of questions about my beliefs, or lack thereof. Today I want to dispel some of the myths that people have about atheist.
1. We hate religion/religious people.
People assume that because I don’t believe in God that I hate those people who do. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of my friends are religious and I really have no problem with religion. I personally just don’t believe in it. If you are religious then that’s great. If you aren’t religious that’s equally great. I really don’t care either way as long as your happy with your decision.
2. I just don’t understand the Bible.
Some people assume that I’m atheist because I have never read the bible or because I just don’t understand the bible. I was raised as a Christian and attended Sunday school until I was a junior in High school. I understand the bible, I just don’t believe what it professes. So please, stop trying to ”educate” me about the Good Book.
3. I worship Satan.
Now thankfully this has never been directly said to me, however, I’m aware that some people believe I worship the devil. So to begin, no I don’t worship Satan. In fact, I don’t even believe in his existence. Being atheist means I don’t believe in a higher power. An all-powerful demon lord ruling over a fiery underworld is simply not something I believe in. I can’t worship it if I don’t think it’s real.
4. I have no morals.
There are some people who question my morals because I am not religious. I understand that line of thinking to an extent. Religion often professes an assortment of morals so by not believing in religion I must not believe in those morals, right? Wrong. I think some Christian morals are just societal morals. For example, treating other the way you want to be treated is pretty much a universal guideline. Sure, it’s religious in origin but I still abide by it. Just because I don’t believe in God doesn’t mean I don’t believe in being a good human being
5. I just don’t see the beauty and intelligent design around me.
Some people assume that I’m atheist because I can’t see the beauty and genius of the world and the things that make it up. I do see the beauty in these things but instead of attributing it to God, I attribute it to science. I understand how crazy it is that the world works in the way it does. However, I chalk that up to nature, not God.
Being an atheist isn’t really that different than being a Christian. If you think about it there are thousands of Gods in this world. Christians reject thousands of them and choose to believe in one. Atheists reject thousands of gods and at the end of the day only believe in one less than Christians do.
