So? What does your miniscule personal experience in Michigan somewhere have to do with anything?
You seem to have missed my point completely. I said there aren't atheists who speak openly about their lack of religiosity that are mainstream beloved household names. Bill Maher is on HBO and occupies his niche and is polarizing and mostly disliked. The only reason I mentioned it is because you said people are mad at atheists because of atheists on TV, as if there is some kind of large, vocal atheist presence on mainstream television and all you could come up with is one with one polarizing guy who hosts a niche political show on a channel that you have to pay to even see.
Nobody said they did. It's not about whether or not anybody "attacks" atheists. Atheists are probably only about 10% of the population (probably more but many are closeted) and most people do not come in contact with a lot of vocal atheists regularly, so what the fukk reason would they have to attack them? The point is atheists are excluded, ostracized, and looked upon as less moral or flawed by many people in this country. This is like saying black people are not excluded or ostracized or deemed deficient in some way ever because it's not common to see people openly calling them ******s in the public sphere. In other words, it's patently absurd.
Every time there are empirical facts presented in front of you that like don't want to believe, you just say you don't want to believe them. Evolution, the causes of homosexuality, the animus towards atheists.
Why even debate or discuss anything if you're just going to choose to be an ignoramus and put up an impermeable membrane between your brain and the facts? There are several studies that show atheists are the most disliked group in America.
University of Minnesota Study on American Attitudes Towards Atheists & Atheism
Some Americans Reluctant to Vote for Mormon, 72-Year-Old Presidential Candidates
The study results not conforming to what you would like to believe doesn't mean they're flawed, it's means your critical thinking skills are.
When as recently as 20 years ago, the sitting President of the United States felt comfortable enough to say atheists shouldn't be considered patriots or even citizens, what does that tell you? Nobody even cared. What do you think the reaction to that would've been if George Bush said blacks shouldn't be considered citizens? I'll wait...
lol...and you know this based on what? A water cooler discussion you had with two white co-workers?
Again, it's not about whether or not people say "I hate atheists." Very few people will openly admit to hating anybody. Do you think the average white racist walks around saying he hates ******s and spics? Do you think the average homophobe walks about saying they hate fakkits?
And once again it's not about people actively hating or attacking atheists. Even if they don't actively hate atheists, a lot of people generally have a sense of antipathy, distrust, and condescension toward atheists, and research has proven that. shyt, even when I was still religious, I didn't hate atheists, but I looked down on them in the sense that I thought they were morally deficient and going to Hell because I didn't know any better. So do you, as it is very apparent in your posts, but you won't admit because it would undercut the argument you're trying to make.
You claimed that atheists are free to openly speak as much as they want without any negative consequence which I pointed out is complete bullshyt. You have to look no further than sohh/the coli to hear stories of posters here (not me) who still haven't told their own families they're atheists/agnostics because they don't want to upset them.
Yeah, people trolling and dissing religion on online forums is equivalent to the negative perceptions the vast majority of people have toward atheists that affect their lives, relationships, and families in day-to-day life.
There is always going to be an angry or demonstrative reaction from any minority group excluded from the mainstream whether ideologically, racially, culturally, or religious against the dominant force in society. If you want to diss that fine, but pretending it exists in the vacuum and is only due to atheists being inherently angry a$$holes is the height of ignorance. You sound like a socially conservative white man bytching about how blacks are so angry, pumping up Sharpton/Jackson/Obama/New Black Panther Party/ACORN boogeymen and turning reality on its head, into an alternate one where the powerless minority is really the oppressive tyrant.
Jackson, Sharpton=Maher, Dawkins...more boogeyman bullshyt. It's been proven that atheists are looked upon more negatively than blacks, jews, gays, Muslims, hispanics, asians, and Mormons multiple time from multiple sources. But you can tell yourself whatever you want.
You need to stop being stubborn and actually try to think in a manner consistent with logic and facts instead of telling yourself what you want to believe with zero evidence then responding with "its cuz of the internet!" when you're refuted with factual evidence.
I refuted every single one of your false assertions and responded by just repeating them almost verbatim. Amazing.
