Who's More Annoying: Atheists or Fundamentalists?

[sadic1]

They're essentially the same thing to me: people who prescribe to an artificial certainty about the existence of God out of the fear of not knowing if he exists and/or what he wants from us.

Personally, I find atheists more annoying because they close themselves off emotionally to experiencing God, if He does indeed exist. It's like a spoiled kid saying, "If I can't have it neat and on a silver platter, then I don't want it at all!". It's the cutting off of the nose to spite the face thing to me. The only basis they have for believing that God does not exist is the fact that God has not come to them in person to reveal Himself in a way that satisfies them. This in and of itself does not prove that God does not exist, and you know in their hearts, they're really not sure.

Fundamentalists are annoying because they pretend that God proves His existence by use of a book of unprovable origin and verbage. Not only that, but they pretend to believe that God tells them exactly how to live their lives. There is certainly no uncontrovertable proof that God exists, let alone that He cares who you vote for. They are afraid that without their church imposing strict control over their ideas and behavior, they will be the evil that they fear they are. They usually pretend that God has revealed himself to them because their preacher told them that that was what they were feeling. The one thing that makes them less annoying to me is that they are open to the possibility of experiencing God and I'd imagine that every once in a while they really do have a faith inspiring experience and leave the artificial constructs of their pretend religion.

Both perspectives are born out of fear, and it would appear that one of such a fearful mindset could easily be either one and ends up the one they are based on the environment they grew up in. Everyone has doubts, regardless of their spiritual perspective. Those who are not afraid of their doubts either become agnostic or members of a less tightly constructed and controlling belief system.

So, which of these are more annoying (other than the person asking the question)?

[SilverSurfer]

I don't pay much attention to either. Religion bores me. I believe in God, but just don't care much about talking about it.

[Puttingood]

Atheist are more annoying !

[magnus]

I don't know. Depends on who's doing what. An atheist who's confident in his/her findings and is willing to share those ideas, but not force them upon someone who believes differently, is generally not annoying. A fundamentalist that grasps at straws and goes by the letter without confidence or knowledge is annoying.

A fundamentalist that is a good person and shares his/her faith, but doesn't sit there and try to get you to read pamphlets and make you come to his own church without concerning himself with whether you're a believer or if you have a church, that's a good person too, as compared to the flavor of fundie I described in my aside just now.

A fundamentalist that doesn't act uppity and all "I've got God and more than you, nah-nah, nuh-nah-nah" is generally not annoying. An atheist that doesn't try to make you feel stupid for having faith isn't annoying.

A flavor of either, naturally, that tries to use the Bible to prove/disprove what you feel or what they feel or why something you're doing is wrong/right, that annoys me to no end. Generally this flavor has a hard time being wrong and just happened to

An atheist that turns against religion because they weren't popular in church circles or had a bad experience with a couple of dumbasses, that annoys me. The church social circle isn't faith. Just because a Christian does something horribly stupid to you, doesn't mean he's acting in the freaking name of God himself.

Naturally, I don't like Christian bigots either. You know, the ones who lecture you about being respectful of the name of the lord and saying a few words before you eat but drop the N word and disrespect women for no particular purpose. Granted, those are traditionally bad people who were simply raised with an ingrained discipline for religion, and assumed not to be the norm.

In other words I just wrote a lot to say the basic conclusion "it depends on the person and the action." So, Duh.

I think most will end up with the conclusion that it's the atheist. I've seen my share of bible thumpers and I've seen my share of those that sit there and disprove the bible with tricky language. In basic feeling, we're more likely to pick the one that's more annoying based on the one that least fits who we are.
I tend not to be the big fan of either. Whatever...I'm still going to feel what I feel regardless of anyone. Annoyance is annoyance.

[Superfluous_Nut]

Atheists are slightly more annoying, but Fundamentalists are vastly more frightening.

[Puttingood]

A good atheist that really believes in them selves are normally not heard. Just as a good Christian that is not called to spread Gods word will simply try to live it.

[LarryD]

the taliban is a bunch of fundies. fundies are dangerous when organized. and is it just me, or does it always seem that the lead fundie doesn't beleive what he's spewing half as much as the fundie lemmings?

atheists never did anything that really hurt anyone because they are too afraid of conflict to deal with emotion -- or too afraid of emotion to deal with conflict. that's why atheists are more annoying. their conflict is inner, yet they think it's outer.

i've much more respect for an agnostic. at least they show some thought and choice in the matter. the other two seem more reactionary.

[Superfluous_Nut]

You hit it on the head, Larry. Certainly people will say that there have been "Atheist" Leaders that have done as much bad as any Christian Leader, but you have to look past the leaders. Blind allegiance is a scary thing. Fundamentalists are natural followers, it seems to me. Heck, don't some Christians even refer to themselves as Sheep?

[sadic1]

I agree with most of what's been said here. Certainly, anyone who has a cause to unite for can have a greater impact on the world, which makes fundamentalists of any religion scarier than atheists. But when I ask which is more annoying, I guess I'm really asking a generic question: In the absense of absolute knowledge, do you find it more irksome when people are sure that God does not exist, or that He does exist? I consider the world to be a vast and mysterious place, and in all that is as yet unexplained in it, I find it more offensive to assert with conviction that there is no God than to assert that there is a God, but both assertions would be an insincere effort to force the world of the unexplainable into a structure that doesn't scare us.

[Superfluous_Nut]

Really? Then I would say Fundies. Because they not only believe that there IS a God, but that they know what it is he/she wants from us. Atheists simply fall back on the pretty safe ground that if you can't prove it exists, then it probably doesn't.

[PhotoGuy]

Anyone who tries to impose their beliefs on me is annoying. I will respect anyone's beliefs and opinions, but if I am not a part of your party, don't try to get me to join you.

[Superfluous_Nut]

How about if we offer you 10% off on magazine subscriptions? Free dental? Uhh.... 5% commission on all sales? :)

[Imonlyhuman]

Im an atheist. I will not tell anyone they are wrong for believing what they believe in. I like a good stimulating conversation with someone that is willing to learn why I dont believe and where I learn why they believe. But when it somes down to someone telling me Im wrong, I will stop the conversation and walk away. I just will not shove my belief down anyones throat. As the matter of fact, a few of my friends dont know Im an atheist and therefore dont find me annoying. I do love to learn and Im very fasinated about different religions from all walks of life.

[VOR]

The Anabaptists. Anytime I see them buggers toolin down the road in their buggys I so much want to ramp my car up their asses and yell that'll teach you to leave piles of horse shit all over the road.

[wossa]

Originally posted by PhotoGuy
Anyone who tries to impose their beliefs on me is annoying. I will respect anyone's beliefs and opinions, but if I am not a part of your party, don't try to get me to join you.

amen brother photoguy.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

About the only person I want imposing their beleifs on me is kakia.

I might be able to "swing" her way.;) If she is convincing.

[magnus]

Originally posted by Imonlyhuman:
>>Im an atheist. I will not tell anyone they are wrong for believing what they believe in.

Good for you on both counts. You have respect for others and should get that respect for yourself. I had a girlfriend who, for years, berated those around me for believing what they believed, and what I believed, but never said it to me. She couldn't see that she lacked respect for my beliefs when I respected hers.

>>But when it somes down to someone telling me Im wrong, I will stop the conversation and walk away.

Most aren't that good. I think that's where a lot of atheistic angst comes from, the other side of the coin. Doesn't make it right, though, to retaliate in turn, especially on those that aren't looking for a fight. Sometimes you can care enough to be strong in belief without wanting to get into a pointless argument about it.

[Fred]

Fundies grate on my nerves worse. Athiest (as a general rule) are very easy going people who act more "Christ-like" than most Christians. Fundies are just functioning schizophrenics.

[magnus]

I've heard as a trend that gays tend to gravitate toward that and leave religion behind. Not to say that it's that way in this case but part of it comes from internal shame and misguided followers more so than religion itself. but then again I think Leviticus is a bunch of junk anyway, right up there with the cloven hoof. God's the guy and all but I'm going to go on ahead with the pork regardless.

[magnus]

>>In the absense of absolute knowledge, do you find it more irksome when people are sure that God does not exist, or that He does exist?

Well, that's why agnosticism is so rational to so many. I for one feel that God is something we've created, an image, of something we believe exists. I believe that such a thing is out there. I also believe we're not certain of its form or ability, and that a book written, at latest version, 2000 years ago in a language that's no longer spoken, by average man of that time, won't completely grasp that idea by any means.

But that's my opinion. And that doesn't force such things to be true or to exist. That doesn't mean that someone who thinks differently is wrong in my eyes.

[Superfluous_Nut]

I'm agnostic with atheistic tendencies (like when I want to annoy somebody :) ).

Anybody that says they believe one thing or another must do so out of a personal faith. You can't argue personal faith. However, when people start trying to "prove" their beliefs... that's a whole nother story.

[Miss tery]

I'm sort of in a rush now...I will post on this later. (Hehe......I just may surprise you!)

[Miss tery]

Nah, changed my mind....I won't surprise you at all. I will admit to being very outspoken during some of my earlier anti-religious rants.

And got paid back by being isolated and humiliated in other threads.

What this forces me to do, if I want to be a member of this community, is to censor my opinions, and keep my more unacceptable thoughts to myself.

How sad.

[Superfluous_Nut]

I would think that as long as you don't inject anti-christian/anti-religion sentiment into other threads, you won't have a problem.

But clearly the topic of this thread has meandered into atheism, agnosticism, etc. Go ahead and have at it. If anybody holds a grudge, it's their problem, not yours.

[Miss tery]

Obviously you have not been around long. I have been vituperated for my posts in religious threads. It is dangerous to fuck with their gods in this part of the country.

[Superfluous_Nut]

Oh, I've been around. Sure, Fred may call you a Godless bitch on occasion, but to be honest, I don't see that "issue" having come up without a little baiting. (Well, maybe it does with Fred...)

There are places where people expect to hear about one's religious views and places where they don't. This is one of the places you can say what you think. Granted, if what you think is odd, you'll likely hear about it.

However, if you say that anybody that believes in God is insane in a thread where it isn't topical, then you're gonna be labeled as an instigator.

Personally, I think there isn't a God. I think Christianity and Religions in general are man made to keep people in line. If there is a God, I really doubt he's anything like what people down here think.