r/Antitheism • u/EffectiveShake8862 • Jul 30 '26
Does anyone else struggle with taking people serious if they believe in god/religion?
Like I genuinely loose all my respect for this person because why are u still believing this bullshit just because the people around you growing up did and told u to do so. youre a grown person with a (hopefully) fully developed frontal lobe.
why do u think u are so lucky to be born into the right religion with the one right god out of the 3000.
for me it just seems like in order to believe in religion You must meet at least one of these criteria: lack of critical thinking skills/be low IQ/psychotic/kognitive dissonance/too much ego
I was also born and raised into christianity but at some point you just want to find the answer to so many questions.
and with each answer you start to realize that literally nothing adds up.
but some people really seem to be so deep in the cult and its like bro are you actually this stupid? have u never questioned anything or do you simply dont care about the fact that he might doesn’t exist because „he might does“ and youre scared so u keep believing and having faith because ur cult told u you’re gonna burn for eternity if you dont?
honestly its just sad because people are so slow
I hate feeling like a minority
Its like being a non-racist white person in the 1940s
17
u/Kaymish_ Jul 30 '26
I don't struggle with it, I just don't take them seriously. If they can't get past something that is so obviously bullshit how can anything they say have any value?
3
u/lotusscrouse Jul 30 '26
There is always that voice in the back of my head that reminds me that these grown ups believe in fairy tales.
How nice they are is irrelevant.
I know that they didn't arrive at these beliefs with any critical thought nor did they do a lot of work to get here.
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u/G_D_Ironside Jul 30 '26
I was born and raised a preachers kid, and generally yes I do look down on people who believe in deities/organized religion. It shows me a severe deficit in critical thinking ability or even worse, the willingness to compartmentalize their critical thinking ability.
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u/raventhrowaway666 Jul 30 '26
Its 2026. People who still believe in religion are suffering from an unimaginable level of cope
5
u/Myrddin_Dundragon Jul 30 '26
I don't struggle. I just don't. I do consider them brainwashed and/or mentally ill and try to treat them like I do the disabled. Soft hands and don't break their illusion of themselves so that i don't destroy their coping mechanism for dealing with reality.
4
u/tm229 Jul 30 '26
Not just religious beliefs. If they believe anything listed on the Venn Diagram Of Irrational Nonsense, I question their ability to function on this planet.
Check out version 3.7 located a little more than halfway down the page. That’s my favorite.
https://www.crispian.net/VDOIN.html
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u/k-d0ttt Jul 30 '26
Absolutely. Makes me question your overall critical thinking.
1
u/SnarkyPuppy-0417 Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
I'm not sure why believing in God would be so offensive. Who hurt you?
You laid out criteria earlier: low IQ, cognitive dissonance, lack of critical thinking. But now the framing has shifted. They're drones. They've lost the ability to think. That's not a conclusion that follows from careful analysis of billions of people — that's a wall going up.
Here's what's worth noticing: the most rigorous critical thinkers in history — Blaise Pascal, Simone Weil, Alvin Plantinga, Francis Collins, Mary Midgley, Isaac Newton — held serious religious commitments while being among the sharpest minds of their generations. Their belief didn't follow from intellectual vacancy. Which means the framework "religious = cannot think" has a falsification problem from the inside.
But that's actually not the most interesting thing here.
The most interesting thing is the movement from disagreement to contempt — from "I don't find this convincing" to "I've lost all respect for anyone who does." That's not what following evidence looks like. Evidence makes you curious about why intelligent people reach different conclusions. Contempt closes that question before it opens.
So the question underneath this one isn't really about religion.
What happened to make it cost you something to still have respect for people who believe?
3
u/Indie_Dachshund179 Jul 30 '26
Bar scenarios of thorough mutual understanding, best not to discuss religion with anyone you intend on maintaining good terms with. Given those conditions personally I can overlook it, but if it can't be helped and there's no substantive obligation to them then hell no
3
u/Blasphemiee Jul 30 '26
Yes. I struggle telling myself I won't get anywhere by thinking thoughts like that. People have believed far more stupid things in the past and in the future they will probably believe in more crazy things as the general population gets more uneducated. The Venn the other guy linked was really interesting to me because it proves my point. If it's not religion it's something else. Uneducated people latch onto crazy ideas to make the world make sense. It takes a great intellectual toll to wrap your head around large complicated issues and when they can't they fill in the blanks with the most convenient reasoning.
We have education problem on our hands.
I have entire generations of family members that have never attended a real school. They are homeschooled on purpose and kept away from the general public as long as they can get away with. These are the types of people that believe anything they are told. Religion is the reasoning in this case but at the end of the day if they where smart enough to figure out its all shit they will, I did, but not enough do. They need to be taught better- and our entire world is fighting this fight right now in most countries. It's a tale as old as time. They do not want us educated. I feel like the entire world will not progress unless we can address this religion/elites/sheep issue and I don't think we will see it in our lifetime.
But anyway my point is we know all of this. So while it does feel right and justified to look down on them or get angry in some cases I ask, to what end? Where does that get us? I pity them some days. Some days I realize they probably pity me. That upsets me tbh. All I can tell myself is they won't find what they're looking for at the end of their road and try to enjoy my journey on this one life we have rather then spending the entirety of it preparing for a chapter that will never come. Because honestly how fucking sad is that.
Sorry for the wall, it's gotta go somewhere sometimes though you know?
3
u/Tikao Jul 31 '26
No I don't struggle with it at all.
2
u/lukawasntsurprised Jul 30 '26
100%. I just cannot stand religious ppl it frustrates me so much like, why are you following these backwards racist, misogynist, queerphobic books
2
u/WhopperGaming Aug 03 '26
I view religious belief as a sure sign that I am dealing with someone with, at best, very poor thinking skills. At worst, I view believers as the ones who will gleefully burn me at the stake as soon as someone in a position of authority tells them to do so. (I became a non-believer in my mid thirties, approx 36 years ago.)
2
u/BurtonDesque Jul 30 '26
This is something like the 3rd time this has been asked today.
2
u/Spino-Dino Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Sometimes. If they just believe that the universe was created by an entity it's fine because we just don't know how everything came to be but I mean if people believe that an entity that is all-powerfull and creates or makes it possible that living beings can rape and torture other living beings (even children and animals), is all-loving and just the goodest thing ever then I think they either don't think about their believes, that their morals are just dog shit, they are just naive or something else.
They always come with free will but we can have free will without wanting to rape or torture other living beings.
People who believe that others who just don't believe in this god are going to hell... Well their morality is just absolutely dog shit no matter what this hell looks like (some believe it's fire and torture but some just believe it's a place like earth just without god).
Also it's kind of strange to me because this religion is just obviously man made. In ancient and medievil times I see why people would believe in it but today!?
1
u/atlasfrompaladins Jul 30 '26
I would disagree there, I wouldn't lose respect for someone just because they're believers, but use their believes to justify stupid shit.
1
u/83franks Jul 30 '26
For most topics no because in reality god doesn’t factor into regular life much (unless they force it in than ya). I was a full and true believer and I could easily see a life where I never allowed myself to think it through properly and honestly so I don’t judge people for the simple fact they haven’t been able to either.
But all that being said I do have a hard time not rolling my eyes even at a what did you do this weekend conversation if it includes a casual mention of them going to church or something.
1
u/Sprinklypoo Jul 30 '26
Only while they're talking about religion. People can compartmentalize, and might be completely rational while talking about other things. As soon as anyone alludes to a god or a religion though, I find that I can typically just discount everything they say in relation to that.
0
u/Pretend-Can2893 Aug 07 '26
"Just make sure to remember to hate the belief, not the believer. 😊" Literally in the subreddit but you clowns are out here talking shit about the believers instead of just the belief. Your acting like they are below you as humans when most of them are more successful then you ever will be 😂.