Here are the most common atheist misconception and me addressing them. Before even starting off I feel inclined to say not all atheists are the same and believe the same things. Just the same not all religious folks believe the same or interpret their holy book the same even.
1. Myth: Atheism is a religion.
Response: Atheism is simply a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. Religion is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny. So in order to be a religion atheists would have to believe in a supernatural power (god or gods). Seeing as atheists do not believe in the existence of a god or gods and most but not all do not believe in the supernatural. We are in no way a religion. We dont organize and pay tithes or have a church. There are however some atheistic religions who do not believe in a god but have doctrine and believe in some supernatural things like karma for instance.
2. Myth: Atheists have no morals.
Response: Atheists have a sense of right and wrong. This is not learned from religion only. A trait humans have is to be a social animal. Being social requires you to not kill everyone you see or treat them bad. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Not only this but if we didnt have morals we couldnt just do what we wanted. Governments would not allow us to be free people if we just went around robbing, raping, and killing others. I cant speak for every atheist but i have no will to do any of those things ever.
3. Myth: Atheists never tried to find god.
Response: Through various groups ive been in online talking with others and my own personal experience i can say this is wrong. Most of us are born into religious families and eventually see the error of our faith in one way or another. I myself studied many religions after losing faith in my original one before becoming atheist. Ive seen many others who have a very similar story as mine. Many atheists are more familiar with religious books then people who believe in those books simply because we read them and seen various things in them like the contradictions, factual errors, and racist, bigoted, womanizing in those books.
4. Myth: America is a Christian Nation.
Response: This is simply not true. The founding fathers were not all Christians. The constitution makes no mention of god. The first amendment says there will not be established religion. The declaration of independence is the only thing that mentions a creator, not god or jesus but a creator. Under god was added to the pledge in 1954 because of communism and in 1956 in god we trust was put on the money probably for the same reason. Both of these things were sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.
5. Myth: Atheist must think life is meaningless.
Response: Atheists find life very meaningful and most believe that we give our own meaning to life. We believe life is what you make of it.
6. Myth: Atheists hate god.
Response: Atheists simply do not believe in god. In fact some religions are atheistic. Here is a list of those religions.
Raelians
Scientology
Religious Humanism
Ethical Culture
Buddhism
Taoism
Confucianism
Hinduism
We simply dont believe that a god exists based on the lack of evidence. We have no reason to hate something that doesnt exist. While some atheists might hate god not all do. I personally dont and know many atheists who dont because hating something that doesnt exist is pointless.
7. Myth: Hitler,Stalin, (blank) was an atheist.
Response: Hitler was in fact not atheist. He was Catholic and in many speeches he referred to god and jesus. Stalin was atheist yes but didnt ever kill in the name of atheism. If he had it wouldnt have made sense he would be killing in the name of nothing. Stalin did allow churches to be built because it improved morale. They were both horrible people but they would kill anyone standing against them atheist or theist. This argument has no point really. Atheist and theists both have the potential to do horrible things. The only point to the atheist side of that argument is that bad things are done in the name of religion which no one can deny. The crusades, salem witch trials, and world trade center attacks among many other things were done in the name of a religion.
8. Myth: Atheists are all militant.
Response: This isnt true. Some of us are, some of us arent. We dont take kindly to being told we dont have morals or you trying to force your religion on us. For the most part though most atheists dont care as long as you dont insult us or force your religion on us. We all have different views on things though and respond differently, same as most religious people would.
9. Myth: Atheists have no proof of gods non existence.
Response: No we dont have any proof at all that god doesnt exists. We use science and science shows no evidence of god existing either. Also seeing as the religions believe in god the burden of proof is really on you. Neither of us have proof however either way. Atheists tend to not believe in a god or gods because of the lack of proof.
10. Myth: Its better to believe in god than risk going to hell.
Response: This is called Pascal’s Wager. Its a invalid argument. The only way to keep from going to hell would be to follow all religions and please every potential god out there since not all of them could be real if one was real. Plus in most religions god is all knowing. If he is all knowing he would know you dont truly believe in him/her/it and would most likely be more mad that you acted like you do opposed to being honest and saying you dont.
11. Myth: Atheists always turn to god before they die.
Response: This one is false because there are many atheists who have died who did not suddenly become religious. Not only that some die instantly like in car crashes.
12. Myth: No atheists in fox holes.
Response: This is not true. I recently spoke to a atheist who was in the vietnam war. There are many atheists in the army. The whole idea behind this is that people turn to religion to avoid death. Yet religious people also die in wars so it makes no sense to assume that becoming religious will save you from dying somehow.
13. Myth: Atheists worship the devil.
Response: We dont believe in god but we believe in his imaginary foe? No atheists dont believe or worship any god or any of their imaginary friends or foes.
14. Myth: Atheist are communists.
Response: No this is from during the cold war. Atheists just as religious folks have varying views on politics. Im a constitutionalist personally like Ron Paul.
15. Myth: Atheism is faith that god doesnt exist.
Response: This is a argument purposed by theists to swing the burden of proof over to us. You dont need faith to not believe in something. There is simply no evidence of gods existence. If evidence was found to prove god is real then we would no longer be atheists. Its usually hard for religious people to understand how someone cant believe in a gods existence.
If you have more misconceptions that i have missed please post them here so i can add them to the list. Educating people on us should help get rid of the lack of trust and hate that we sometimes experience.
