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Why I’m Angry: An Anti-Theist’s 78 Reasons

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Martin Hughes

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1. I am angry that little children are told that they will go to hell if they don’t believe in the Bible.

Contrary to popular belief, and in spite of this long list, atheists are, apparently, not any more angry than the average Joe.  According to the abstract of a recent 2014 review of 7 studies on the subject that was published in the Journal of Psychology:
The prevalence and accuracy of angry-atheist perceptions were examined in 7 studies with 1,677 participants from multiple institutions and locations in the United States. Studies 1–3 revealed that people believe atheists are angrier than believers, people in general, and other minority groups, both explicitly and implicitly. Studies 4–7 then examined the accuracy of these beliefs. Belief in God, state anger, and trait anger were assessed in multiple ways and contexts. None of these studies supported the idea that atheists are particularly angry individuals. Rather, these results support the idea that people believe atheists are angry individuals, but they do not appear to be angrier than other individuals in reality.
In other words, the perception that atheists are angry seems to have nothing to do with atheists, and everything to do with believers.  We are not atheists because we are naturally angry people, and our grievances against Christianity are more likely to be actual grievances than expressions of a more taciturn-than-usual tendency.  So…maybe you should listen.
 
And please, don’t complain about how “unhealthy” it is to be angry.  Waste of time.  If you’re going to comment, tell me that I’m wrong and how I’m wrong.  And if I’m not wrong — why the hell aren’t you angry at these items?  Maybe this is a time to engage in some soul-searching of your own.

2. I am angry that, according to recent studies, Atheists are more distrusted in society than rapists.

3. I am angry that churches say homosexuality is a sin, and then deny that the teaching does any damage in the face of many homosexuals who claim the opposite, through tears and suicide.

4. I am angry that people spend their lives trying to figure out “God’s will,” paralyzing their lives instead of striking out and embracing it.

5. I am angry that people think individuals who I know don’t deserve it are going to spend eternity in hell.

6. I am angry parents teach their children that God once drowned almost everyone in the world because they thought like me.

7. I am angry that wives who are abused are told to submit to abusive husbands in church because that’s what the Bible says.

9. I am angry that Christianity makes “faith” a virtue, opening the door for parents to trust in prayer as opposed to medicine because of scriptures like that at the end of I Corinthians 5 (“the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well”), and literally allowing children to die, become deeply ill, or experience severe pain. I’ve seen the stories and interviews, and they make me cry and makes my blood boil, and I think they should.

10. I am angry that Christianity encourages parents to make their children read about the genocides in the Old Testament, which are “OK” because God commanded them through a prophet who just happened to have God’s advice. For me, it’s like allowing children to read about the Nazis and teaching them that God spoke through Hitler, but worse.

 
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OK, apologies for the interruption. Carry on.
11. I am angry that the church gives the Bible to drug addicts, as if it is the answer. It works for some, but doesn’t work for others (I’ve seen this in person), and when you see the desperation in their eyes…it breaks your heart that alternatives are not offered to them.

12. I am angry that the church spends millions of dollars on buildings and salaries for ministry staff that comes from people in the congregation — the people feel obligated to pay for the very people who are perpetuating the fraud of Christianity.

13. I am angry that churches get tax-exempt status when they are heavily involved in politics.

14. I am angry that the Bible’s concept of turning the other cheek has been used to convince the underprivileged in society not to fight back.

15. I am angry that Christianity defines the entire worth of other people based on whether or not they believe one of the most fantastic stories ever told.

16. I am angry at the way Christianity utilizes verses like 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 that tell people to take every thought captive, effectively making sure its ideology traps minds.

17. I am angry that Christianity convinces people to love a dead person more than they love their own families.

18. I am angry that most Christians don’t read their Bibles carefully before sending the treacherous book to third-world countries.

19. I am angry that the dedication to faith leads many Christians to categorically reject any careful study that disproves any of their faith tenets, and yet many Christians insist they are engaging in rational debate.

“You give me the awful impression of someone who hasn’t read any of the arguments against your position ever.”

20. I am angry that people are encouraged to follow Christ for primarily emotional reasons, but when they use that same emotional reason to leave Christ, they are told that they cannot do so. Christianity often highlights people’s emotions and states that hard thinking and rationalization for your stances is unnecessary when you are in Christianity, but when you leave, suddenly your emotions are invalid, and in addition many people’s ability to rationally defend themselves is diminished by decades of encouragement for the rank and file in the congregation to “just trust God.” Furthermore, the emotion to love other people often is a reason people leave Christianity, and it is applauded UNTIL they leave Christianity. In other words, Christianity often develops emotions inside people that it controls through definition (it decides whether you are a loving person or not, for example), and then it often bars people from the rational development that it then requires from people in place of emotion once these people leave Christianity. This seems very cruel to me. I’m not making this up…there are plenty of stories from other former Christians to this effect, and I have experienced it myself.

21. I am angry that due to years of being brainwashed by Christian ideology, you are given several “trigger” words put in your mind by expert pursuaders and manipulators, and that these trigger words (like “evil,” “mocker,” “sinner,” and so on) get assigned to you immediately upon announcing your deconversion, and that any negative reaction to those trigger words is used to guilt-trip you into coming back into Christian ideology.
 

“The hardest thing of all is that when we have exposed modern man to his tension [of hopelessness without God], he still may not be willing for the true solution. Consequently, we may seem to leave him in a worse state than he was in before…. We confront men with reality; we remove their protection and their escapes; we allow the avalanches to fall. If they do not become Christians, then indeed they are in a worse state than before we spoke to them.” — Francis Schaeffer, THE GOD WHO IS THERE, at the end of Chapter Two

22. I am angry that many apologetics books (especially those written by presuppositionalists in the tradition of Francis Schaeffer) explicitly train apologists to push their potential converts into suicidal shame and despair in order to make them pliable for brainwashing via Christian ideology.

23. I am angry that some Christian apologists out and out LIE in order to sell books (Frank Turek and Lee Strobel — here’s looking at you), and that the aura of Christianity as fundamentally good in this culture makes them exempt from moral criticism.

24. I am angry that belief in Christianity has caused many to think the world is going to end in catastrophe and they’ll go to heaven as part of God’s plan, making them less concerned about trying to save this world for their children (God’s got it under control, and He’s planning on getting rid of it anyway). This especially exhibits itself in thoughts on global warming.

25. I am angry that many Christians simply wear the title without taking the Bible seriously, because they are part of the reason there is so much misery among the confused people who actually do try to live by it. If you don’t take the Bible seriously as a Christian, just be honest and leave the religion instead of disparaging those who do take it seriously.

26. I am angry that today’s evangelism programs teach social pressure (as opposed to doctrine) as the primary motivator of conversion. The whole campaign to focus on relationships as opposed to doctrine seems to me, upon closer examination, manipulation — a tool to control people that needs very little attachment to doctrine — indeed, doctrine is often demeaned and discouraged in more liberal evangelistic churches, leaving the church to be a unit of specialists in creating cults of social control.

27. I am angry that children who don’t believe in God have to lie and say they do when they go to school just to keep from getting bullied.

Penn Jillette with Examples of School Bullying

28. I am angry at the witch trials that are still going on in Africa, as a result of the Bible, TODAY.

29. I am angry at the Christian participation in Rwanda, which was the most Christian nation in Africa when the Rwandan genocide occured (and angry at the Old Testament for giving them the idea).

30. I am angry at the fact that 40% of Americans will simply not vote for an atheist simply BECAUSE he/she would be an atheist.

31. I am angry that you can post all the derogatory things about atheists and the happy things about God that you want on Facebook, but the moment you are equally honest about your atheist stance, THEN you’re seen as disrespectful — both by people who agree with you and those who don’t.

Illustration of the Double Standard

32. I am angry that people don’t understand why the Christian story seems so ridiculous because they’ve been brainwashed with it for most of their lives. Many (though, of course, not all) are taken from a young age and trapped in the ideology until they die 70 years later, and that makes me upset.

If you had never heard of the Bible…..

33. I am angry that most churches vote against secular help for the poor from government, making religious charities in charge of who gets fed and who does not.

34. I am angry at the numerous stories I have heard of atheists’ children who were told by religious teachers and religious peers that their parents were going to hell, causing tear-jerking grief.

35. I am angry that one of the ways slavery was (and still is) justified is that it at least taught us negro heathens Christianity.

36. I am angry at the social stigma many single mothers receive because of the Bible’s false sense of morality.

37. I am angry that the same people who see obvious problems with taking the Bible “literally” have no problem with it being given to people, raw, overseas.

38. I am angry that Christianity encourages people to rejoice in their suffering, often making them feel guilty for feeling deep pain, hurt, and/or anger.

39. I am angry for Christianity moralizing the position people are in life — those who make good money often are more respected than those who do not, because they are “blessed” by God, and God supposedly puts every person where they are supposed to be. I am further angry that many of the more wealthy Christians deny this while not denying it every time they talk about how God has “blessed them so richly with a nice house and a good income” and so on in a way that bolsters their standing before other people.

40. I am angry with the fact that wealthy individuals in churches can and do pay to control their churches and, by extension, the people in them.

41. I am angry that the Bible licenses male promiscuity in several old testament passages (there are no restrictions agains male polygamy) and has no restrictions on male “modesty,” but speaks harshly against female promiscuity (there ARE strict restrictions against female polygamy) and has restrictions on their dress (according to how the Bible is usually interpreted) — translating to men being respected for their sexual prowess and women being demeaned for theirs, in many circumstances…which results in rape being seen as lowering a woman’s value (as she was probably “asking for it”), while the male’s value often remains unchanged (“boys will be boys”).

42. I am angry that the stats for how often Christians and Atheists “sin” is about the same (or higher for Christians), and yet Atheists are told they have no morality.

43. I am angry that Christians insist, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that Atheism is akin to nihilism simply because the Bible tells them so.

44. I am angry that Atheists are told by Christians they have no basis for morality, and then say they do because they follow the commands of an imaginary creator who just happens to be right about everything, just because. Morality is a system we made up to help us navigate the world — it can be refined and theorized. WE are the basis for our morality — we would have to be — and I get angry when Atheists are denied input into a moral system because Christians are committed to one that is about 3000 years old.

45. I am angry that when I am criticizing ideas and am CAREFUL not to demean people themselves, I am then demeaned as a human being AND my ideas are criticized AND I am told that I should not demean people.

46. I am angry that often when someone ends a conversation on religion with “I’ll pray for you,” they mean to insinuate that YOU need intervention from their imaginary God and THEY are fine. I further get angry when they use the phrase to guilt-trip you into accepting Christianity because they pray for you so often.

47. I am angry because religion somehow got attached to denying women the right to reproductive help.

48. I am angry that Christianity teaches that we are so evil that we need to replace ourselves with the self God gave us — taking away our individuality and what makes it unique.

49. I am angry that the entire, amazing, real universe is so often reduced down to an incredibly small myth that is used to intimidate and control individuals.

“It’s Just Out Of Proportion”

50. I am angry that if you doubt you need “help” in the Christian scheme — whereas if you have faith, you’re good to go. Faith should not be a virtue. In every other part of life, it’s not — why should it be here?

51. I am angry that there are so many preachers who push their congregation to their limits as far as following the version of Christianity that they advocate, but will privately disregard the message (one of the ten most attractive jobs of a psychopath is being a preacher, and it is a very popular profession for “former” con artists).

52. I am angry that the moment you step outside of Christianity, not only do you lose all credibility — you are seen as worse than a regular unbeliever who has never heard the Gospel (due, in part, to scriptures like that in Hebrews 6).

53. I am angry that many Christians lie (as many former believers have confessed) and insist they are not afraid of hell, which allows them to publically ridicule or demean honest Christians who say that they have a supposedly irrational fear of a place that’s infinitely worse than their worst nightmares that they would be in for infinity if they didn’t believe in God. These same Christians will turn around and say, “The reason I don’t do XYZ is because there are laws against it, and you’ll go to prison.” OK — so you can understand fear of prison but not fear of hell? Either you haven’t given much thought about what hell is, or you’re lying through your teeth.

54. I am angry that, in many churches, worship is set up like a giant trance session — the room is fairly dark, people are told to close their eyes, they are told to raise their hands, they are told to forget about everything else, the people who are most “lost” in the trance are the models for the rest — effectively brainwashing individuals week by week with a skillfully crafted, nearly hypnotic, environment.

Example of Hypnotic Suggestion in Religious Setting

55. I am angry that Jesus’ advice to not worry about life is actually followed by people (to their detriment) who SHOULD worry about life, and that his statement that if you seek first the kingdom of God, “all these things will be added to you” creates, in many segments of Christianity, poor people who think the answer is following God more when it is actually stepping back and being rational about the world. I am further angry that when people who trust in these scriptures most say, “I followed God. Why is this happening to me?” they are told by people whose didn’t invest as much in God as them but happen to be in a better position (partly because they WERE more rational) that they need an attitude adjustment and need to be further dedicated because they are worrying too much.

56. I am angry that evangelical associations like the International House of Prayer use the squeaky-clean, “revolution”-type, trendy Christianity to take missionaries to countries like Uganda and preach messages about the “crime” of homosexuality that they cannot teach in the United States, resulting in so much anger against homosexuals in Uganda that there are strict laws against homosexuality that many Ugandans are fighting to make stronger (for example, life imprisonment for one homosexual act, and capital punishment for multiple homosexual acts).

57. I am angry that if I were to die right now as non-Christian, many of my friends and families will think that I was burning in hell every moment of the rest of their lives. Worst funeral ever. I am further angry that this phenomenon has already happened countless times and will likely happen countless more times.

58. I am angry that the United States has a long history of being seen (falsely) as a Christian nation that is therefore better than other nations and should be protected and have as much control as possible (the “City on a Hill” concept), because this has caused untold destruction to other countries and to people — like Native Americans — in this country. I am further angry that we fail to see our hypocrisy when Muslim nations say the same thing. This mentality goes back to the crusades and it is STILL happening.

59. I am angry that the military is full of religious chaplains, but literally bars atheists from the job position.

60. I am angry that the Boy Scouts of America don’t allow atheists to serve as Boy Scout leaders — and only a couple months ago allowed atheists to be Boy Scouts at all (many Boy Scouts who were atheists had to lie).

61. I am angry at the philosophy that faith — void of science and reason — is not enough to build drones, bombs, or support national security, but is enough to prevent women from having an abortion. I am further angry that about 30% of women will have an abortion over their lifetime, and many of these women do and will feel they have to keep the abortion secret in order to keep friends and escape public shaming — these secrets, according to psychologists, actually PRODUCE shame.

62. I am angry that the United States has the HIGHEST incarceration rate IN THE WORLD (not just among developed countries, but among ALL countries), and one of its HIGHEST recidivism rates in the world, as well, partly because of the false mentality that “sinners” deserve to be punished, which is a clear implication of the concept of hell. I am further angry when I see other atheistic countries in northern Europe in which the goal is not punishment, but rehabilitation, and look at their admirably low incarceration rates and recidivism rates, and think about how much better off we would be if we got rid of this destructive concept of hell.

63. I am angry that I Corinthians chapter 1 out and out states that the philosopher and scholar cannot understand Christianity, effectively making it immune in many people’s minds from the critique it needs — if you speak about it you’re often automatically wrong because, “You’re a scholar,” and you get trapped in that box when you really have important things to say.

64. I am angry at the fact that a major reason so many people are Christian today is because there were several inquisitions, forceful conversions on entire tribes, and aggressive punishment and laws against speaking against religion that were enforced by government because of no separation between church and state.

65. I am angry that atheists are not allowed allowed the same privileges as religious individuals, who are allowed to go into the prisons as chaplains and convert the inmates – and that prisons in the United States often become a Christian conversion mill for individuals due to the conditions there, the powerlessness of the inmates, and the exaltation of Christian principles.

66. I am angry that the Christian answer to doubt is that it is Satan testing you, but that God wants to use it to strengthen your belief. If doubt, then, brings you back to God, it’s fine, but if it doesn’t it is hard proof that Satan is winning. This ingenious device has trapped people in Christianity for years, because I know from experience that (almost?) nothing is scarier than thinking you are being decieved by Satan and that Satan is winning. I am further angry that people who doubt and are manipulated into coming back to God from that doubt often see people who have this fear of being decieved by Satan like individuals who have a mental illness, and as somewhat inferior religious people who they need to pray for and pity.

67. I am angry at the social alienation many in the Bible belt physically experience when they say they are no longer able to believe the Bible’s incredible story — often losing friends and family in truly disturbing ways.

68. I am angry that Christianity states people should follow a certain behavioral code that NOBODY follows — but Christians are seen as still squeaky clean in significant segments of Christianity when not following them, because grace. Atheists, on the other hand, are often denigrated wherever they break the code, and it is used as proof that they are “still in their sins.” I am further angry that the socially constructed guilt that comes from this denigration is used to say that atheists who were formerly Christian left Christianity solely because they wanted to sin and not for any justifiable reason — which immediately causes them to stop being heard by those in church (while those in church who sin regularly but are forgiven by “grace” still keep their credibility). I am further angry when the concept of “sin” is used by evangelists using the Bible (like Ray Comfort) to shame people into thinking they are fundamentally terrible, evil people, a shaming that is used to manipulate them into Christianity.

69. I am angry that many Christians, including the parents of atheist children, blame the child’s atheism on the deeply religious parents’ bad parenting. Christians regularly use this to shame the parents of atheist children, as I have seen in my own experience. I have awesome parents, and my atheism is a result of what they did right, so that makes me furious — and I am not alone there.

70. I am angry that many atheists and Christian doubters are told that their problem is that they are putting their ways above God’s ways — when human beings have crafted every “way” they follow in the first place. In other words, the false humility of, “Unlike you, I’m humble…it’s just that this all-powerful deity who both you and I should accept without question happens to agree with everything I say, and you should submit to Him and, if you don’t, justice demands that you are tortured for eternity because that’s what you deserve” is absolutely infuriating, especially when I see it used as a manipulation tactic. That is, in my mind, one of the proudest positions you can have, especially if you believe that with no evidence and take pride in your “faith.”

71. I am angry at the number of atheists who are shamed into silence and, as a result, try to shame other atheists into silence regarding the things we have every reason to be angry about in society. It is difficult being an atheist and much easier to have the “nice atheist” persona, but if you care about the world, like many of us do, it is frustrating to be told that the most caring thing we can do is NOT care or voice our concerns regarding religion’s effects on society.

72. I am angry that the verse, “If a man does not work, he should not eat” is used to moralize employment situations. If a man does not work, maybe it’s because he has a hard time finding work. Maybe this is an opportunity to have compassion on him instead of thinking the Bible defines his situation and what he deserves.

73. I am angry that the Old Testament stories of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac at God’s command (even though he was stopped) and Jephthah killing his daughter after making an oath to God (Judges 11) are stories that teach Bible-readers that a nonexistent God is more important than the lives of their children. It seems clear that this conviction has been a source for several parents who have claimed that God commanded them to kill their kids (cf. Deanna Laney, Carlos Rico, Jennifer Cisowski, LaShaun Harris, and several others).

74. I am angry at the concept of demon possession in the Bible, which has resulted countless times today and throughout Christian history in traumatic exorcisms instead of the medical treatment and understanding that the mentally ill individuals need.

75. I am angry that the concept that homosexuality is an abomination in the Bible is the ONLY reason why Christians refuse to see gay relationships as legitimate ones that can be christened as marriages — when the Bible, at the same time, seems to have no problem with polygamy (on the man’s side, not the woman’s) and the taking of multiple concubines — who aren’t wives, but are there for sex purposes.

Varieties of Biblical Marriage
Varieties of Biblical Marriage

76. I am angry that circumcision — the cutting of a person’s genitalia — is regularly performed without a male’s consent when he is an infant.

77. I am angry at the Biblical concept that what you have, you should thank God for — because the implication is that God has “blessed” you with it. Saying God blessed you with something is a way of claiming a right to it that other people, whom God hasn’t blessed in the same way, don’t have. I mean, the clear, logical implication of this thinking is that one person is “blessed” with riches while another has been “blessed” with poverty and malnutrition — and the subtext is that each should be grateful for what he has. Paul’s statement that he’s learned to be content in every situation (Philippians 4:11-12) indicates that it’s a virtue for the poor to be as satisfied with their lot as the rich. This thinking masks very real social changes that need to take place for the suffering to be cared for, so it makes me, at times, absolutely livid.

78. I am angry that Christianity creates the very problem of sin and the concept of the sinner, along with all the psychological damage that problem and concept causes, that it then claims it is the solution for.

Note: A different list has been recommended in the comments, and I thought it would be helpful to include it here:  Greta Christina’s book Why Are You Atheists So Angry: 99 Things That Piss Off The Godless.  As of writing this note, I have not read it, but it comes highly recommended and Greta Christina is an excellent author.

 

Comments

2 responses to “Why I’m Angry: An Anti-Theist’s 78 Reasons”

  1. Bri Avatar
    Bri

    I think you just compiled one of the best lists of why an atheist can be angry…We are not angry with the Christian God, we are angry with the two-faced lies, pain, shame, and damaging emotions, physical and mental affects Christianity has on its survivors.

    1. Peter Mosley Avatar
      Peter Mosley

      Thank you Runa! And yes, that’s an accurate statement. The impact Christianity often has on its survivors — when they turn the Christianeze back on them — is horrific. And the upsetting thing is that I suspect many Christians know it.

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