Atheism is just a non-belief in deities, nothing else.

That's a regiem. NOT Atheism. Communist genocides were not motivated by Atheism

Many atheists attack religious people every opportunity they get. I'm Christian and I'm very open about it, but I never try and force it on anyone. But atheists very often try and provoke me, then mock me or even get aggressive when I don't agree with them. I don't really care, because they're just making themselves look angry and foolish, giving me arguments that have nothing to do with anything. But I can tell you this much: I have been attacked by many more atheists in the 8 years I've been a Christian, than by Christians in the 28 years before I was saved. Atheists will argue until they run out of breath, and they will look foolish doing so. Real Christians (not the crazy American ones) know how to turn the other cheek and walk away.

I really dont think you should be downvoted because I've experienced the same thing. However, that does not mean atheists are just as bad as extreme religious and should not be treated as equals. It's sad that the extreme religious do terrible things, that is what makes Christians that don't do those things look bad. At least extreme atheists aren't treating majority of the population like s**t

I think that whether someone is atheist or religious, everyone should be treated as equals. You can't compare "atheists" with "extreme religious". You have to compare the extreme with the extreme. If someone is an extremist, whether they are atheist, muslim, Christian, belong to a new age cult, communist, militant vegan etc, they should be treated equally, and whether someone is a "regular" atheist or Christian (who usually get along fine) they should be treated equally. It's not a person's beliefs that make them an extremist. It's their behavior. An atheist extremist is just as bad as any other extremist. A bully is a bully no matter who they are. We have to learn how to judge a person by their behavior and not by what group they belong to.

Argue me and many others here on BP - we won't look foolish. You are arguing the wrong people.

I'm not arguing. I have only described my experiences. What you do with that information, whether you argue and choose to look foolish (getting aggressive and irrational, using strawman arguments, being prideful, not listening or taking in any new information etc), that's your decision.

In the temple of chaos, chance, and pure statistics. AKA watching baseball.

Perhaps humanism?

In North Korea, China, USSR,...

Giant Lenin statues, giant Mao statues, ...

Those weren’t built to celebrate atheism. That was about party/country leadership. Religion or lack thereof had no connection to why they were made. That’s like saying the Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson Memorials are religious landmarks.

Please stop this desperate attempt to equate atheism with religion, and this insistence that atheism is "just as toxic". Point me towards any attacks or killings "in the name of atheism" because I can point you towards hundreds done in the name of one god or the other. Besides, atheism is the default position - we are all born atheist. Only through indoctrination does anyone develop this absurd belief in "god".

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Ummm, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc. ... I find atheism absurb, but if you don't believe, fair enough. However, don't pretend nothing bad happened because of atheism, because simply untrue.

Non of the above happened due to atheism

To add to this. Every Nazi soldier wore a belt buckle that said "gott mit uns" (God with us). And the Nazi party had the full support of the Catholic church. So tell us again how Nazism is atheistic in nature.

Not the full support. The northern German bishops were ferocious opponents of Hitler when he came to power. They loudly claimed that the Nazi government was not legitimate. But they were cut off at the knees when the Vatican signed the Reichskonkordat with Germany in July of 1933.

Tell that to the 2000 priests that were in Dachau.

Actually they did. Communism is atheist. Many, many genocides by communist leaders were directed towards religious people. Marx said that "religion is the opiate of the masses" and many communist leaders during the communist era in Europe realized that Christians weren't easily controlled by the communist totalitarian governments (Christian throughout European history are known to be rebellious against totalitarian governments), so they prohibited religion. The communist rule in Albania is one good example, were people were literally killed in the name of atheism. Communism has caused over 90 million deaths. If you want to compare the death toll of extreme Christianity with extreme atheism, atheism wins. But this discussion shouldn't be religion vs atheism. This is about totalitarian governments and human behavior. Anything can be used as a means of power, if the polarization is high enough. We can't blame that on any particular belief system.

Communism does not equal atheism. There has never been a true communist state in written history. The people you are talking about claimed communist ideals in order to appeal to the masses, but, in reality, they were simply power hungry authoritarians wanting complete control. That’s not communism. Part of gaining complete control, for them, was getting rid of religion so that they could be the single authority and arbiter or right and wrong. You don’t actually know what communism really is, do you? Just because the USSR or Cuba, or even North Korea called themselves that, doesn’t mean they were nor does it make everything they did equal a true communist belief. What they did was much like the Nazi’s taking on “socialist” as part of their name, when, in truth they were fascists, which is on the opposite side of the political spectrum. It was propaganda. Atheism wasn’t Stalin’s or Lenin’s motivator in any of their actions. Stop spreading misinformation.

@bill hankel, cite your sources

That happened, but the basis was not in atheism

No, it’s not and no, that’s not why any of those people did any of the things they did. All of that is simply untrue.

One friend in one community does not make a solid case for this viewpoint.

I don't think that the claims of one very close friend is sufficient support for any position.

No, it’s not and no, we don’t. Don’t pull sh*t out of your *ss and pretend it’s true, it’s rude.

That's not true atheism. Anti-religion groups, and just not believing in God(s) are not the same thing. Anything that has dogma is a form of belief/principle, but I am being pedantic, and I don't know what your friend went through exactly. I apologize for any difficulties this group caused either of you. Everyone should be treated kindly no matter what they believe (as long as they aren't hurting anyone else).

What was this atheist community your friend was part of? I sure haven't seen much for organized atheist groups, and the few online communities that I've come across simply like discussing ideas and promoting critical thinking. What you describe here and in other comments ironically sounds like a church.

the closest thing i've ever seen to an atheist cult is the church of satan and they're an activist organization

Thats because there kind of aren’t actually any such groups. I do believe we have some free creative writing on our hands.

I've never met an atheist in my life who would consider having a dogma or wearing symbolic jewelry. There's no 'content' to atheism; it's a negative, a lack of belief. We don't even think about religion unless someone else brings it up, because it's not relevant to our lives. Don't paint all atheists with the same brush, especially given the OP's point.

No, it doesn’t, and no, it doesn’t and no, it doesn’t and no, we certainly don’t. Again - don’t freely invent things that are completely untrue about another group of people and present them as facts. It’s not nice.

One again this is a study of one person's experience applied to all.

Cause all the comments here are legit

Stop generalizing and assuming, ks.

Being atheist doesn't neccessarily make you part of a "community", except in the very broad sense of having something in common. I've never experienced or heard of a cult-like community of atheists, though of course there are always some people everywhere, who will have strong opinions on a topic (gods, art, history, politics, MLMs or chicken breeding) that they will argue to anyone, willing to listen or not, and extremists like preaching their lore and swearing in followers.

No. Still not true. You’re making things up again, and now you’re trying to stir up a fight that isn’t actually taking place. Stop it. It’s bad manners.

How can an atheist shove their belief down your throat when there is no belief to shove?

Incorrect. Not believing something is not a belief. If I told you I had a pet dragon, you likely (rightfully) wouldn't believe me. Would you consider your not believing my story a belief?

I agree with you, Dan. To an atheist, there's literally no such concept as 'belief'. Either something is factual or it's not. 'Belief' is what happens when you think something is real with no actual evidence. I can't do that. To me, it's delusional. (That being said, I don't care whether someone is religious as long as they don't try to force their rules on me.)

Belief simply means you think something is true. You can have a justified belief (like in gravity or something like that) or an unjustified one (like in the Yeti). The term for an unjustified but firmly held belief in spite of the lack of evidence is called "faith." We atheists have many beliefs, try to be justified in most of them, and avoid faith.