Atheism And Anger

[FaustianSlip]

I think it's normal, when you leave a religion or religious belief behind, to maybe feel a little angry. I had a pretty normal, mainline Christian upbringing, and I still went through a period where I was pretty angry about Christianity and very cynical about Christians. I still am, just a little bit, but not like then. So I think of that feeling and expand it to apply to religion in general, and I can see where you would get atheists who may come off as angry or frustrated or whatever. That doesn't mean I don't find the proselytizing atheist schtick as obnoxious as the proselytizing Christian one, but I do get it, to some extent. As has been pointed out, my unpleasant run-ins with atheists have been way, way fewer than my run-ins with fundie and fundie light folks trying to "save" me, but there are way more fundie Christians than atheists, at least in the US, so no shocker there.

I really don't get why deist types are so bothered by atheism/atheists in general. Thinking that Richard Dawkins or Bill Mahr is a douche? Sure, I can see that, but treating someone who randomly tells you they don't believe in God like the boogeyman or a personal challenge? What is that, anyway? Is your faith so fragile that just meeting someone who doesn't buy into it makes everything fall apart? It just seems really stupid to me. Ditto this whole, "Oooh, I would never vote for an atheist!" thing. Personally, I'd vote for a nice, sensible atheist a hell of a long way before I'd vote for some whackadoodle fundie like Santorum or Bachman.