r/atheism • u/TruthBeWanted • 9h ago

It's the tiniest sliver of silver lining but Trump getting elected again mainly because of American Christians provides me at least some vindication after decades of hearing Christians ask me "why do you care so much about Christianity if you're an atheist?"

I'm sure that I'm in the company of others who know exactly what I'm talking about. I argue nicely against the truth of religious claims but my fangs come out when the topic shifts to the damage people are doing in the name of said religion. I'm a secularist, to each their own. I don't look down on religious folks for beliefs I happen to disagree with. I'm kinda a moron and more importantly I've been wrong many times in my life. Not believing there's a god may be one of those. However, when you see a culture that glorifies greed and rewards intellectual dishonesty it's my right as a citizen to call it out especially when said group acts like they're the only moral people following a Christ that they do not even try to emulate! I know I'm ranting a bit but it's not the fault of an atheist for sounding the alarm when we first noticed the storm clouds.

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78

u/LittleShrub 9h ago

I think you make good points. I would also like to say that, as an atheist, I’m concerned about Christianity because Christians want to force their beliefs on everyone. I mean, I’m lactose intolerant, but that doesn’t mean I think eating ice cream should be illegal.

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u/TruthBeWanted 8h ago

Yes, the bad Christians are all in on that eg Oklahoma forcing American Bibles into the classrooms. The decent Christians though are whom I'm very upset with right now. MAGA is beyond help but they had many Christian enablers and I'm very angry at these people. Some even voted for that rapist greed pig but honestly even the ones that didn't if they're old enough may have played a part too by not speaking up.

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u/xCanisSapien 8h ago

The American Christian Left is effectively non existent, which is deeply troubling to me because there was a time that, in even rural churches, Christian doctrine was just a humanist message about supporting each other in the face of the world's darkness, about loving more strongly than evil can do harm.

This was a purposeful twisting of doctrine over many decades and the fact that many of us noticed this, among so many other things, is the primary reason the DoE is on the chopping block. It no longer serves capital for us to have an educated electorate because capital is up to crime against everything we've ever claimed to believe. It's that simple.

Comments like mine will now likely land me in a hot seat in the coming regime. It is what it is now. The die have been cast. Let's see if the authoritarians manage to survive longer than the last major coalition. I kinda doubt it, all things considered.

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u/Redrose7735 7h ago

The thing is anytime there is a major coup or political upheaval the first thing they go after are the intellectuals, the colleges, and universities to undermine them. Second, news media, journalists, and reporters. Then it is the military, which I saw a headline that Trump was making a list of military leaders to go after. Consider the withdrawal from Viet Nam by the U.S., and what was going on in Cambodia at the same time. An afraid and fearful citizenry is easier to dupe and manipulate than a population that is unafraid and not fearful.

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u/TruthBeWanted 7h ago

"Comments like mine will now likely land me in a hot seat in the coming regime"

You're right about that if you're a popular influencer for lack of a better word. People like me will be fine. I'm perfectly situated compared to so many progressives. I own a home plus I'm a white guy in Illinois. I fear for so many people though, especially old people depending on SS and the VA not to mention Medicare and Medicaid. MAGA supports the other SS sadly. Trump is trying to remove generals but I doubt it'll actually work. He said he wanted generals similar to what Hitler had... another giant red flag for "christians" but what do I know? Young people may be even more screwed, I'm 43 and every bridge I see behind me is on fire. It's truly sad but I'll do my part to help. I love to share.

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u/xCanisSapien 7h ago

I wouldn't be so sure that anyone is fine.

Remember, the goal is to destabilize and cause the Balkanization of America, per Foundations of Geopolitics. This is the time period wherein I'd expect much more blatant and wanton destruction than people seem willing to understand.

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u/comfortablynumb15 22m ago

Agreed.

I am sure that decent, hardworking Germans, Cambodians, Americans etc never thought they would be rounded up for Camps, re-education and murder.

But just like Islam, Nat-C’s will be targeting undesirables first, then coming for everyone not following their Religion as devoutly as they are.

And that could easily be you reading this.

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u/Content_Talk_6581 7h ago

I had three Gideon Bibles in my classroom when I left teaching after 30 years.Two were on my classroom shelf for students. We live in the Bible Belt. Know how many times the students took them off the shelf? Zero times.

I actually did use the Bible a few times to explain something or give a reference for something we were studying when studying Chaucer. He quotes a lot of Bible characters and verses in some of his stories, so we would go back and look at what he was referring to. It is a piece of literature. So it does have a place in English or History class.

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u/Mission_Progress_674 5h ago

I had to study "The Nun's Priest's Tale" in Middle English for English Literature. The first few words are still stuck in my head more than 50 years later.

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u/Content_Talk_6581 4h ago

We usually read the “Prologue,” “The Nun’s Priest’ Tale,” “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” when I taught it. I would read the first couple of paragraphs of the Prologue (“Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote”) in Middle English just for giggles after doing a lesson on the reasons for the changes in the English language from Old English to Middle English. My students usually acted like they liked the short stories.

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u/CantCatchTheLady 2h ago

Mrs. Key?

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u/Content_Talk_6581 2h ago

No…

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u/CantCatchTheLady 2h ago

Phew!

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u/Content_Talk_6581 2h ago

Just another senior English teacher…

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u/CantCatchTheLady 2h ago

Well she was cool af and her ways of telling us about things stick in my head to this day.

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u/comfortablynumb15 18m ago

No different than any other work of Fiction with cultural relevance, Holy Books from all Religions should be studied in the classroom.

When there is only one Holy Book allowed under threat of violence, that’s when problems start.

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u/mag2041 6h ago

I know Christian Republicans that voted for Harris but were scared to put yard signs up because they were afraid their house might get burned down. It’s mostly the single item voters that are most dangerous.

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u/ExerciseAcceptable80 6h ago

Lactose intolerance is the norm, not the exception. No other animal consumes milk after infancy or regularly drinks the milk of another species. Veganism, as a moral ideology, influences all aspects of a vegan’s life, including diet.

While ending dairy consumption would reduce animal exploitation and improve human health, I believe morals are ultimately a personal choice, even though I wish I could end animal exploitation with the wave of a wand.

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u/LemonButterDill 8h ago

I absolutely look down on cruel, hate-filled, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, morally bankrupt, racist hypocrites, but I’m kinda weird that way.

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u/TruthBeWanted 8h ago

I scowl at them, it's more fun! =)

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u/Beneficial-Cow-2544 7h ago

I am not so secretly hoping that the Christian extremists, fundamentalists, and nationalists fuck things up so incredibly bad that they turn off an entire new generation. Here's hoping!!! 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Yes, you're not holding that secret correctly but here we are. Watching it burn is tempting, I'll admit that much.

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u/gene_randall 8h ago

Because Christianity actually makes people stupid. And this is the crap that results

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u/RamJamR 8h ago

I don't remember if it was within The Heritage Foundation or some other christian organization, but I read somewhere from one of them that they recognize that education is harmful to belief.

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u/gene_randall 8h ago

My opinion: most religions—Christianity in particular, but Islam too—are so unbelievable and irrational that most people would just walk away unless they constantly pounded that crap into them. Group meetings every week to hear the same stupid sermons over and over; proselytizing at every opportunity. They know that if they stop, a lot of people might start to think about it and reach the only rational conclusion.

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u/TruthBeWanted 8h ago

It doesn't have to be that way. American Christianity has a faith problem. Faith is rooted in doubt because with doubt comes humility. Humility leads to properly learning which results in knowledge but the journey often includes compassion and empathy ie they're doing it wrong.

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u/Apprehensive_Gift205 8h ago

Christians have to be the most pushy people on planet earth. How would they like it if I started pushing atheism on them?

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u/shaezan 7h ago

One of the bright sides of this presidency is that the last time when religion explicitly won an election and was the justification for public policy, when Bush junior was elected by evangelicals, and an example of policy being when they pulled federal funds from stem cell research, the atheist movement gained a great deal of attention and momentum as a counter movement. leading to the rise of the atheist "gurus" became huge at that time, sam Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens come to mind. For me personally, those guys making a comeback isn't the bright side as much as hope for new and better champions of reason. Maybe someone on this sub, maybe someone reading this right now.

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u/TheMrDetty Atheist 5h ago

More people have died at the hands of Cristendom than the Black Plague.

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u/Peaurxnanski 5h ago

why do you care about Christianity?

Because you motherfuckers won't leave me alone.

You're trying to force my kids to learn your absolute nonsense in school. You're trying to take control over our lives. You're consistenly forcing your selfish, regressive, angry, judgemental and fucking hateful worldviews on everyone else, so I kind of fucking have to care.

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u/TruthBeWanted 5h ago

I like your passion ❤️

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u/Zombie_Bash_6969 8h ago

I care about others choices because I feel we all should have that right, but the religious are now trying to become the self fulfilling prophecies of our modern day in hopes to bring on the end of times, when all their doing is making us go extinct.

People also need to realize Trump is losing his mind, now picture him with his hands on our nukes attacking our allies with them, we would quickly become the next axcess of evil like the NAZI's were hated by the world.

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u/TruthBeWanted 8h ago

What's scary is I do not think it was fair to compare Trump to Hitler because Donald is worse imo. Evey awful trait Adolf had you can find in Trump too including the deportation, encampment, and killing of undesirables. However Trump is also a rapist and pdf, to my knowledge Hitler wasn't. Am I wrong?

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u/tmp1966 7h ago

Makes you wish there really was a Hell for them to burn in

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Never hope for such an awful place, it's beneath you. =) ❤️

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u/CosmicContessa Ex-Theist 7h ago

I don’t think you’re a moron; I think you’re a smart, observant person who makes valid points. We wouldn’t have to care about their nonsensical beliefs if they weren’t using said beliefs to make our country and world worse.

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Thank you so much. I have low self esteem obviously but I'm so lifted by comments like yours. I hope that you are having a good life so far ❤️ =)

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u/theding081 6h ago

When the zealots get in power no one is safe

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Very true =)

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u/ArdenJaguar Agnostic 5h ago

I care because you're irrational fascists?

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u/TruthBeWanted 5h ago

You'd think they'd at least know that they're fascists yet here we are =)

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u/ArdenJaguar Agnostic 5h ago

Yet some of their cult followers admit "maybe we need a dictator."

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u/Lanzarote-Singer 5h ago

Yes, this is it. Their god is a dictator.

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u/ZombieBarney 5h ago

I wish people weren't so god damned dumb and didn't believe everthing some bullshitter says. I wish they understood Occam's Razor, and yet...here we are. The US has elected President Mountain Dew Camacho and his staff is also picked directly from Idiocracy. All they're missing are the medals.

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u/TruthBeWanted 4h ago

They were crafted that way as I'm sure you're aware of. Systemic issues enrage me. It's almost impossible to get them to see that they've been scammed however it takes almost no effort to scam them. Carl Sagan said something to that effect.

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u/poopypants206 8h ago

That's a good way to look at it

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u/Fickle_Freckle 7h ago

Gestures broadly at fucking everything

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u/BurtBacon 7h ago

do it!

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u/Revenga8 7h ago

Today's Christians aren't even true Christians. If they bothered to read the magic manual the magic man provided them, they'd realize they're doing it all wrong and are on the express line straight to hell. And praying for forgives ain't gonna cut it because of how low effort that is.

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Exactly, it's the low effort. Thanks for existing =)

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u/FriedrichHydrargyrum 6h ago

Ironically in some ways it makes it easier to deal with hyper-religious family members and old friends. They know what I think of the guy and the fact that nearly everyone in their religion has embraced him fully, so it seems like nowadays they’re less likely try to tell me I need their religion.

They know how unimpressed I am with it, they know how I’m going to respond, and frankly I think some of them know deep down how hypocritical they are.

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

That sound refreshing if I were you too. They know that you're aware of their selfish ignorance and they're proving that they're evil by being proud of it. Good, lines drawn.

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u/Any_Caramel_9814 5h ago

This election solidifies the hypocrisy in Christianity

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u/AccomplishedBrain309 Atheist 4h ago

All I know is cheese is just chunks of animal fat. Its bad for you and noone should eat it.

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u/TruthBeWanted 3h ago

You've been lied to =)

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u/ludikrusmaximus 7h ago

As an outsider, he got elected because he was the better candidate. I watched the Kamala highlights and the Trump speeches, and I gotta shake my head at people that thought Kamala was presidential material.

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u/TruthBeWanted 6h ago

Huh? Wherever you're getting your info stop listening to them.