ANSWERS: 78
  • Same reason as the other way around.
  • I'm not hostile to atheist,but atheism is false and leading people to hell.
  • It's only a couple of religions, and one in particular. Most other religious people couldn't care less. But then most other religions aren't bent on world domination under the guise of saving our souls.
  • Religion is a VERY touchy topic for everyone because religion to those that have one is an entire belief system. It's what gives comfort to some. To those that don't have a religion, they have an entirely separate belief system, not all believing in the same thing, but all NOT believing in a certain thing. When anyone threatens what comforts you (as the religious may feel about their beliefs), they may become hostile and generally a bit self-righteous. Because atheists do not believe in a God, those that have religion may feel that they're forsaken or at least wronging their God in some ways and that could lead to some beliefs that atheists are damned. Religion and lack of it makes for blindness. Please note that I'm NOT NOT NOT NOT trying to offend anyone here, I'm not putting my opinion in, just simply an observation.
  • Religious people are very intolerant to anyone that doesn't agree with them 100%. Their intolerance extends out further than just atheists...
  • The same reason Atheists are hostile to religious people
  • People who believe old unvalidated religious textbooks as truth truly know better inside. They have a hard time with the fact of those that see through their delusion. Tis sad. It's a 'misery loves company' sort of thing.
  • Ego. Anyone who doesn't believe as they do must be wrong/evil/whatever, else they've wasted a huge chunk of their lives.
  • It goes both ways. If you poke a bear with a stick, you will get a response. If you leave him along, you can live in harmony.
  • What you perceive as hostile, they call love. See, if they can't brainwash you into converting, they'll beat the crap outta you till you change your mind become one of them
  • It might have something to do with the hundred million innocent people who were murdered by atheists in the 20th century, mostly after starvation, torture and slave labor.
  • Because they are threatened by free thinkers.
  • They're afraid and insecure. They perceive Atheists as the big bad wolf that's gonna take their high away. All this because that what the church has been telling them since the beginning of time, of course. Most of them will confess that they have never even met an Atheist in their lives. See, we're just the kind of Boogie Men that their priests/pastor/preacher warned them about
  • They don't like the fact that most Atheists live a happier and fuller live than them.
  • I am only hostile to them when the name of my SAVIOUR or LORD or GOD is insulted and then also when I am told I am stupid or retarded or any other insult thrown at me because I believe differently than them.
  • I'm an Atheist & the passion I've read in all these answers makes it tricky to tell who is who. I think both sides need to turn down the fervour.
  • I think you are only hostile when you are fearful or feel threatened. The fact that some people can live great lives without having any religion at all scares many believers. When you are scared you tend to band together and then go on the attack. Just my opinion. Happy Friday! :)
  • For the same reason they are hostile to other religions or denominations - they just can't handle anyone or belief challenging the little world they have created for themselves. Most of the time I think those that are hostile are people with fragile characters whose life would fall apart were they not sheilded by the beliefs they have created around them.
  • I think that there is a cycle of fear and counter-atack that exists between many athiesits and Christians. And to say that there is no feed back that is to say anti-Faith Proselytes among athiest ranks is shere bias. I will fully grant that there are Many "Bible Thumpers" and fire and Brimstone "Evangelists" that attack any thing they don't understand. But my point is that the same charge in reverse can be leveld against some athiests. I would also like to point out that I harbor no "hostile" feelings toward Atheists in general, infact some of the best Theological discusions I have had have been with my Athiest friends, because they ask some of the hard questions. But sometimes they reach twoards broad sweeping generalitys that make assumptions.
  • Personally I think it only appears that way as it's always the nuts who shout loudest!
  • I don't how many are in "so many", but of those that are hostile there may be several reasons. One may be that some are not open to other ideas that are contrary to their own. There may be some judging of others. There may be some hypocrisy as they may not pratice what they preach behind closed doors. They may just be hostile people that like to run off at the mouth. They may think it is their calling to save you. There may be about a thousand other mays.+5
  • Simple! Conflicting beliefs. Arguments start over this ALL THE TIME. Religion is just a mass audience thing.
  • That's what happens when someone feels that their beliefs are challenged. People get scared with the thought that they won't spend eternity with virgins and angels. The idea that death brings nothing but decay scares the hell out of them. No pun intended.
  • God loving people are not hostile to anybody.
  • Works the other way, too.
  • Perhaps because they always wish to argue with me? I do not push my beliefs on you, kindly do not shove yours onto me. You leave me alone to live my life as I please and you can do whatever you want as well. Yet every time I have been questioned about my beliefs and spoken honestly about them (not just atheists but anyone different), I get hostility and the other person trying to convince me I am wrong. Anymore I just respond to that sort of question with: "Do you want to know what I really think or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?"
  • Because athiests are also hostile to them. It's not like they are the only creating the debates and verbal disputes. Its a too way street, and with something as important as religion there will always be conflict.
  • Fear and insecurity. No one secure in what they believe will see contrary beliefs as a threat. This behavior is not exclusive to the religious. However, when athiests act this way I think more often than not it's based on the fear of being controlled by the religious. These reactions remind me of how people are about their sexuality. You see similar interactions between straight and gay people.
  • I wouldn't say I'm hostile to them unless they insist I see things their way. Than it's on. To me: An atheist telling me humanity would be better off without a belief in God is like a personal trainer telling me we'd all be healthier if we walked on all fours. It's a step backwards in the development of humanity. The very fact that we walk upright at all is a testament to our desire to connect with and be closer to the heavens. Figure it out.
  • I don't consider myself religious. I don't always agree with many aspects of organized religions and I haven't attended church, since I have been old enough to make my own decisions. I do however, believe in a god. I don't hate atheists but I don't enjoy hanging around with them either. I find them to be unhappy, bitter, depressed and often times, childish people and I have yet to meet one, who doesn't give off that impression. I am an up, happy person and I dislike associating with bitter people. I don't care to get sucked down, into the dark, negative abyss, that they dwell in.
  • What goes around comes around!
  • There hostile because they don't like it when we don't become a sheep like them. Religious people are bound in shackles and there actions are dictated by a religion that can never be proven, so they don't want to own up to the fact that there religion is wrong so they get hostile.
  • Im going to answer this one, It goes both ways, I have some friends who are athiest and I never was or will be hostile to them and they are not hostile toward me. whe live and let live. The Religious people who are hostile are not helping anything just like the athiest who are hostile to the religious. The bible never said to kill people for not believing in God. The Christians and Muslims during the Crusades who killed each other and other people who did not believe in their faiths are not people of God. You cant blame the religion for the actions of people who "claim" to follow it. I remember hearing on the news when an athiest shot up a church because he wanted to destroy religion. people need to live and let live. Its not religion that starts wars, it's intolerance. You can be religious or an athiest and still be tolerant to others.
  • Atheists don’t tolerate the control issues religions view as normal.
  • You can visa versa that as well.
  • I have to emphasis this exchange. It's a perfect response to anyone who thinks atheists and those religious people are equally hostile. http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/6153381
  • i aint hostile towards atheists. believe what you want imma say a few scriptures and pray for ya tho
  • Jealousy.
  • Its something I'll never understand like racism.
  • I think a better question is "Why are so many atheists hostile to religion and religious people?"
  • As in any belief not exclusive to religions, people who are insecure in what they believe will be hostile to others that do not. Funny thing, though. Some people will even get hostile when you say you believe in Santa.
  • Because deep down inside, in an untapped part of their syche, they don't really know for sure themselves.
  • There's something about some people of "faith", who can't understand and refuse to except the opinions of those who disagree with them. They think they have the answer - and when you have or, ( god forbid ), offer them a different answer then they themselves have arrived at they go crazy in the head and get really pissed over something quite trivial. Heck, look how some religious people act towards those who fancy a religion of a different flavor, Jews Vs. Christians for example, or Jehovah Witnesses Vs. Mormons...., some people can't even have a rational conversation about the merits of their belief system verses another without going totally psychotic on one another. We see it everyday - we see it here on answerbag - there are some who just cannot talk rationally about their religious faiths or some one else s beliefs. It's a good question why anyone who was firm in their choosen faith would loose their rationality so quickly when confronted by an opposing viewpoint - my theory is that their faith isn't as "firm" as they profess, and they are worried that somebody else s ideology is going to drag them over to "the dark side" - where they will loose the love of their god and go to hell or something worse. Religions needs willing converts who are open enough to embrace a questionable series of events and to support that theory against all others no matter the proof or commonsense others might offer as a more plausible sequence of events. Hay, some like to embrace facts and plausible theories to answer "the big questions" - while others look for mysticism and old fairy stories to find meaning in their lives. It's hard to say which side of the coin is the better one - and in the end it really doesn't mater which side you choose - your life is your own - you can waste your time here on this planet in whatever fashion you choose - spend it in church or praying for something better - or spend it on the golf course or actually work towards improving conditions through sweat and toil. Anyway - it's my theory that as time goes by humanity will eventually reject superstition and embrace more plausable theories for the answers they seek - it will take time - but it will happen.
  • They're not.
  • You'd have to ask them individually. I think the ones you've talked to, could be. But that would be a tiny sampling. Wouldn't it?
  • its because our beliefs dont sound stupid and made up.. walking on water pfft
  • I don't know how many and I don't know how hostile so I'm not sure if I see a question here. If I was to agree with you on those two points I would surmise it would be because people often feel threatened by those that do not think as them.
  • The same could be said from the other side of the fence. Why are atheists so hostile to religious people. Can you see the circular logic of it all? This is a age old argument that won't see a conclusion anytime soon.
  • The golden rule hasn't sunk in to some people yet, and how the golden rule can improve their life. Then somepeople say that they are hostile towards christans. 'Love thy nabior as yourself' is a two way street.
  • It's a two way street. Why be hostile at all?
  • They just want the best for you. They don't want you to burn for eternity in hell. They want you to know our great savior Jesus Christ and see all the wonderful things that he has done for us.
  • I personally have never met a Christian who was hostile to an atheist. Vitrually all the Chreistians I know are very kind people as a rule. Christians are harder on other Christians than they are atheists. They claim that none of us are or will ever be perfect but when a Christian makes a mistake or "sins" which is to be expected they can become very unforgiving. As a good friend of mine put it "Christians are the only people who kill their wounded"
  • I really don't know. I have asked many Christians this same question and I always get a response of: "I have found something amazing and I just want to share it and save you." There are two problems with this answer 1: The conversation preceding this statement usually involves them telling me that I am a sinner and I'm going to burn in hell. How is that kind and helpful? and 2: Why would they think that I want to be 'saved'? I mean If I wanted to have a religion, I would! It's not like I've never heard of any religious practices before. I am quite happy 'living in sin'. I am a nice, generous, caring person and in my opinion, I have more couth and respect for others than the people that have tried to 'save' me.
  • Because it is just everything they are against and live there live on. Basic human behavior.
  • I am a religious person and I am not hostile toward atheists. I understand that my faith is mine. I do not care if someone believes differently than me. I have noticed a lot of hostility on this site coming from both sides. I can honestly say from a lot of what I have seen on this site I would not want to be associated with ether group.
  • They are prideful vessels of sin and iniquity and carry with them the seed of dissent.
  • Christians, true christians, are not hostile to anteists - they feel compassion and sorrow for the lost. To know that someone is choosing to spend eternity in the everlasting darkness and torment of hell separated from their Creator is just the saddest thing I can imagine and I would never feel hostility toward an anteist. There is still time while you still have breathe - the bible says "Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened" - God loved you enough to send his one and only begotten Son to die in YOUR PLACE as atonement for YOUR SINS....his blood has wiped clean the record of your sins in the books of life - IF you believe in Christ and what he did for you, accept it and Him, submit to His authority and follow Him. It is the MOST AMAZING experience in the world when you first feel the drawing of yourself toward God and realize, not imagine or think or hope, but actually KNOW and EXPERIENCE the love of God within your soul. I wish you could be saved. Pray about it.
  • Why are so many atheists hostile to religion and the religious? It goes both ways.
  • I cannot answer that question because I have not met anyone who has hostility towards atheists or atheism. And I have been a faith believing Christian for some years now. It seems to me, so many atheists are hostile towards people of faith. Meanwhile christians are taught to love their neighbors and to love the person but to hate the sinful acts they/we commit. Remember we too have our own vices to deal with. !$!$!$!$ No One's Perfect.
  • Religious people fear and hate atheists because they expose the fraud and hypocrisy of religion. They have a much better time with followers of rival religions because all religions suffer from the same problem - they make spectacular, supernatural claims that are not substantiated by evidence. So they don't fear each other because they can always "turn the tables on them" in any contest of wit. However, atheists make no supernatural claims. So all of a sudden, they're confronted with a challenge to their claims that they cannot just throw back. The very existence of atheists - especially moral, intelligent, ones - is a great threat to religious claims.
  • ignorance, they are too blind to look elsewhere, when you start talking to a person with "faith" they look right thru you , its as if you arent even talking , they are really not listening , just ready to start talking soon as your done, most of these people are followers not leaders.
  • They picked up the rules of a religion and use them as a weapon. Their heart stayed the same.
  • Well in defense of the Religious... Some atheists can be arrogant pricks sometimes. And in defense of the Atheists. Some religious people often talk out of their asses and sound rather ignorant and annoying while doing so... Mostly because they are so adamant about it. I say you go to one end of the planet and you go to the other and stay the hell away from each other. Us God believing Newtonian science geeks would like some peace and quiet. THANKS!
  • Good question
  • Basic human nature: most are scared of the unknown. Atheists and Agnostics are such because they've postulated their way there through reason and logic, a task the religion world forbids it's followers to partake.
  • risking my feedback here lol I am not an atheist I believe in God. But I do not think any true follower should be judgemental. That is not our right... and it is a sin. Respecting other peoples beliefs is important. Anyone that believes in God also should believe He gave us free choice. That was his will so we should not being trying to "force" changes in this area. Also again risking my feedback... I believe God judges us based on what is in our hearts. Unlike a lot of people I know who think if you are not abiding by their religious rules and standards then you will be doomed! This is not what I believe.... God is love... he is forgiving...and I think anyone even atheist could still end up right with him. Its not about atheism its about whats in your heart... if your an atheist but you have a good heart and care about humanity maybe even more than some people that go to church every sunday then you are still on the right path.... Bottom line God is NOT HOSTILE! People who are being so are not following what he would want.
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  • They are just jealous of our cool sunglasses.
  • As a christian I have never been hostile to a atheist. I do not see disagreeing with people's point of view as hostile. Also I do not force it down someones throat. If you do not want to believe, fine that is up to you.
  • Because they are so shallow they cannot understand why someone would do right just for the sake of doing right when they require an invisible being to get them to do right? And frequently fail.
  • I was one once and they are hostile to me when I give them my opinion. I could care less what athiests think, I admire the journey they are on. No one is ever an athiest for real though. It's an impossibility since they cannot prove that God does not exist anymore than they think believers can't prove that He does so they are just Agnostics with an attitude.
  • Its probably just their insecurities.. And as Jessica said above, feeling threatened by free thinkers.
  • I haven't noticed that to be true any more than the reverse. However, people in general tend to be hostile to those who think and see the world differently. No particular ideology has the hostility market cornered.
  • For the same reason Christians are hostile against Muslims. Or Muslims against Jews.
  • I think it is lack of knowledge. one believes there is a superhuman God and other believes it is not. Truth may be different. Butthey fight for nothing.
  • Because they dont freethinking to exist or they dont whant people to live a free lives
  • Look up Deuteronomy Chapter 13. It tells what is to be done to non believers.
    • bostjan the adequate 🥉
      You are incorrect. Deuteronomy commands followers of Jehova to murder followers of other gods. It makes no mention of people who don't follow any god.

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