Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
So, do you "hate God"?
We've all seen or heard some version of this: the accusation that, as atheists, we "hate God." It can come from just about any flavor of believer - Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon. Though I suppose the Scientologists are exempt. Make it into a plural "the Gods" and it would probably apply to Hinduism, and most of the older religions that have since passed from favor over the centuries. I can picture one Roman senator accusing another of bringing the empire down because he wasn't sacrificing enough to the Gods, due to a lack of love and honor. And you might be next on the chopping block on the Pyramid of the Moon for ol' Huitzilopochtli if you weren't sufficiently bloodthirsty. But that's OK, you could star in Mel Gibson's movie, either way.
Anyway, the notion that atheists "hate God" has always struck me as being very insightful. No, no, not into our motivations or beliefs. Into the minds of the believers.
Because I don't give God much thought in my day to day existence. And I certainly don't spend any emotional energy on the Big Guy. Because, you know, I don't believe in Him. Or It. Or Them. In fact, the whole notion is about as silly as hating the Loch Ness Monster. It's just absurd.
But this very concept seems to completely escape most believers, even well-educated ones. And it drives some of them right into a tizzy. We can't just ignore the idiocy of believing in the Sky Daddy. We must be "anti-God". Or are lashing out at Him because of some perceived slight, seeking to "get even". It's like these people have the emotional maturity of a two year old. "God didn't give you enough cake and ice cream, so you hate Him".
And here is where we see how the equation is supposed to work: God gives them life, so they are supposed to be grateful. Granted, the particulars of a given life may suck, but still it is the Greatest Gift - praise the All-Father. To point out the fallacies of any given religion threatens the equation, and God will "withdraw His grace" from our nation. It is simple fear, though sublimated into more sophisticated arguments by theologists. Little wonder then that a simple denial of the existence of God can only be understood in terms of another primitive emotion: hate.
Thoughts?
Jim Downey
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Well, for me the comment
Well, for me the comment likening God to Darth Vader was quite correct, except that I don't see Darth Vader as cool, so I have no problem with the analogy.
I feel about God the way I feel about Darth Vader and for much the same reason: the stories people tell about both of them make it plain that they're evil. God has the added unloveable quirk that he wants people to swear he's good and apparently enforces this want with eternal torture. Darth Vader doesn't appear to care much what people say about him, which puts him a step ahead, as far as I'm concerned.
So sure, if they existed, I'd hate them in real life, like anyone who isn't a total doormat would hate any powerful evil being. They don't exist, so the hate is purely within the bounds of the story--the "as long as I'm suspending disbelief" sort.
Side comment
Something pointed out about the lameness of the Star Wars saga was that after killing billions of people, some by his own hand, Vader got into Jedi Heaven in his last minutes of life by "repenting" and saving one man. And even that was a selfish act because Luke was his own son.
Why do you hate Santa?
If I regard the God of the Bible as a fictional character (and I do), I can form judgments about him the way I would about other fictional characters: "Yeah, that guy's a creep." Hate doesn't really seem appropriate, though. It's more like "Wow, that's a nasty piece of work the author came up with." I'm trying to think of an analogy... it wouldn't quite be like hating Darth Vader, because Vader is cool, and you can't say that about Jehovah.
I can say that I've come to hate the mental virus known as religion, but that's not the same as hating God, or the religious, most of whom are just victims. Most people are religious, so one wouldn't get very far in life hating them, eh? Love the sinner and all that.
A "monster under the bed" ists
Sometime I will have to quiz the religious to determine if they still believe in the monster under their beds. If not I will have to determine why they hate it so much and how much of their lives are given over to spitting and fuming about their obsession with its existence.
Always ask, "Which one?"
I've found that it's the most effective way to derail their train of thought and forces them to recognize that my perspective is different from theirs. Until they are willing to accept that atheists viewpoint on the nature of the supernatural is different from theirs, there just isn't any point in continuing the discussion. Over the years, I've gradually lost patience with having any conversation with morons. Only a moron would ask atheists why we hate god.
Good answer
I like that approach; I'll have to try to remember if I ever get the question or even the other one, "Do you love god?"
Frank Moorman, skeptic
"what is the point of giving persons Freedom of Speech... if you then say they must not utilize same? And is not the Power of Speech the greatest Power of all? Then surely it must be exercised to the full." --Salman Rushdie
Don't hate God, but the Church now...
As a child escaping the Mormon Mafia(tm) in a small AZ town -- while I agree with you about not caring at all about God herself, I developed a lot of strong feelings about organized churches.
Remembering all the doors it closed irritates me even today. I make it a personal point of honor to try not to think ill of anyone at all and one of my greatest challenges is to avoid automatically condemning any organized religion. 'Too many churches, not enough truth' is still pretty much intolerable for me.
Atheists must hate god(s)
Another related claim is that we refuse to acknowledge god(s) because we resent having to live by the moral code followed by each god's believers. Supposedly we want to live wild, immoral lives and don't want to have to answer for our sinful ways. Yet when pressed, theists cannot support this notion. They can't show that atheists are any more or less moral on average than theists. They can't explain why, in a country with a majority Christian population like the U.S., there is crime and inhumanity. At least atheists are willing to assume responsibility for their actions, moral and immoral. Theists cop out by blaming or crediting either god or his opposite for their behavior.
Baffling claims
The most baffling claim I've ever run across (from a bona fide, street-corner preaching, "you're-all-going-to-hell" crazy) was that all human beings are instinctively imbued with a recognition of God - and that anyone who claims a disbelief in him is just being obstinate so they can keep sinning.
I was stunned. It had never before occurred to me that anyone could actually think that way - and mistake it for a legitimate argument. "Everyone who disagrees with me is obviously out to get me."
Fortunately, signs show that he wasn't getting through to many people at the university. He was mostly surrounded by theists telling him how wrong his attitude was.