#(Anti-theist for abrahamic religions)

[shroobles]

Christmas is a stolen pagan holiday anyways.

[oceanicmarxist]

"Why Communism and Religion are incompatible"

Religion is the opium of the people,' said Karl Marx. It is the task of the Communist Party to make this truth comprehensible to the widest possible circles of the labouring masses. It is the task of the party to impress firmly upon the minds of the workers, even upon the most backward, that religion has been in the past and still is today one of the most powerful means at the disposal of the oppressors for the maintenance of inequality, exploitation, and slavish obedience on the part of the toilers.

Many weak-kneed communists reason as follows: 'Religion does not prevent my being a communist. I believe both in God and in communism. My faith in God does not hinder me from fighting for the cause of the proletarian revolution.'

This train of thought is radically false. Religion and communism are incompatible, both theoretically and practically.

Every communist must regard social phenomena (the relationships between human beings, revolutions, wars, etc.) as processes which occur in accordance with definite laws. The laws of social development have been fully established by scientific communism on the basis of the theory of historical materialism which we owe to our great teachers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This theory explains that social development is not brought about by any kind of supernatural forces. Nay more. The same theory has demonstrated that the very idea of God and of supernatural powers arises at a definite stage in human history, and at another definite stage begins to disappear as a childish notion which finds no confirmation in practical life and in the struggle between man and nature. But it is profitable to the predatory class to maintain the ignorance of the people and to maintain the people's childish belief in miracles (the key to the riddle really lies in the exploiters' pockets), and this is why religious prejudices are so tenacious, and why they confuse the minds even of persons who are in other respects able.

The general happenings throughout nature are, moreover, in no wise dependent upon supernatural causes. Man has been extremely successful in the struggle with nature. He influences nature in his own interests, and controls natural forces, achieving these conquests, not thanks to his faith in God and in divine assistance, but in spite of this faith. He achieves his conquests thanks to the fact that in practical life and in all serious matters he invariably conducts himself as an atheist. Scientific communism, in its judgements concerning natural phenomena, is guided by the data of the natural sciences, which are in irreconcilable conflict with all religious imaginings.

In practice, no less than in theory, communism is incompatible with religious faith. The tactic of the Communist Party prescribes for the members of the party definite lines of conduct. The moral code of every religion in like manner prescribes for the faithful some definite line of conduct. For example, the Christian code runs: 'Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.' In most cases there is an irreconcilable conflict between the principles of communist tactics and the commandments of religion. A communist who rejects the commandments of religion and acts in accordance with the directions of the party, ceases to be one of the faithful. On the other hand, one who, while calling himself a communist, continues to cling to his religious faith, one who in the name of religious commandments infringes the prescriptions of the party, ceases thereby to be a communist.

The struggle with religion has two sides, and every communist must distinguish clearly between them. On the one hand we have the struggle with the church, as a special organization existing for religious propaganda, materially interested in the maintenance of popular ignorance and religious enslavement. On the other hand we have the struggle with the widely diffused and deeply ingrained prejudices of the majority of the working population.

N. Bukharin & E. Preobrazhenky, ABC of Communism, Chapter 11: Communism and Religion

[rabbitprayer]

Idk why for a while people got mad about the term "abrahamic religions." Was it because anti-theists and new agers were lazily using it to mostly just mean christianity? Anyway, I really like that islam calls them "heavenly religions." Like yes we all share Abraham but also how wonderful that we all share God in heaven.

[craecm]

genuine question, promise im not trying to start anything

when you say you're religion critical and that theistic people should bear that in mind before following, do you mean you're critical of/oppositional to religion on the whole, or just christianity? no shade either way, but i tend to steer clear of people on the blanket anti-theistic end and have no issue with people critical of christianity. or like any other religion really unless they're being a dick, i just don't tend to see anti-theist (blanket) types that arent going to find some excuse to be a dick about me being pagan or jewish almost ever lol

i do tend to be christian-critical mostly, due to my own experience with religion. most of the time however, i simply do this by breaking down the bible a lot, and discussing certain myths of organised belief. due to focus on the bible, most abrahamic beliefs do get discussed to some minor degree, but i mostly try to cover topics without being outwardly rude. i only provide insight into some opinions that could discredit certain bible related theistic ideas. i do very much make my posts thinking on christianity, it’s just this may cause some overlap. i will never outwardly state someone should or should not believe in anything, that’s your choice <3 and above everything i am critical of religion as a construction; as a conolising power. faith and belief however, are much different.

[trans-wojak]

I lean more left but it's starting to get extremely annoying that I'm told by my supposed own side that I shouldn't criticize muslim countries since I don't live there and aren't affected by sharia law (never mind that muslims move to the west and want to spread that) but now everyone has to care about palestinians even though zionism also doesn't affect us... Also that guy who made that response meme has very few post on his blog, one saying white genocide isn't a thing but that it should be, so he's asking people to feel bad about something that he wants to happen to others.

Yeah, I mean I ain’t gonna say muslims want to spread their beliefs cause I’ve never seen any evidence of that but I am more than just atheist, I’m anti theist. All Abrahamic religions follow similar bullshit and criticism isn’t being discriminatory by default.

My main thing is why should I care about the Palestine vs Israel war? What difference does it make if I feel this emotion or not? It won’t make any difference so I don’t care. Maybe I’m a bit too autistic here and other people who don’t care don’t actually say it like that lol but seriously I don’t understand why people act like random people should care? Majority of us can’t change a thing and don’t have the funds to donate to charities. Plus, why should I donate money to a group of people who would thank me then throw me off a building lmao.

[fennec-archives]

So here’s the thing about the way lily criticizes Christianity: Christianity is not the only Abrahamic religion.

In her hazbin hotel video, she used the Hebrew names for Gd while making comments about the unfairness of heaven. I don’t personally care if people criticize religion in popular culture and Christian hegemony. However, her mockery of the Christian Gd is not somehow divorced from the Jewish Gd. (I cannot speak for Muslims as I have little knowledge on their religion) you cannot use Hebrew words that are seldom spoken as a way to show the separation Gd and humanity as some kind of gotcha to Christians. They do not care if you speak Gd’s name.

It’s very apparent to me that her knowledge of Christianity and religion as a whole is extremely limited. Not all of Christianity is white evangelicals, and many voodoo practitioners are Christian themselves, including Marie laveau. Something she would probably know if she did more than just a quick look at the wiki.

There’s a lot of nuance to the conversation of Christianity and how it has the potential to actually help people. Churches often provide child care and community support. We need places like that, whether you or I like it. And if you don’t, get off your computer and create your own space. Yes, I’m aware of what Christianity has done, before you accuse me of being a butt-hurt Christian: I grew up in a Christian cult, I’m a survivor of corrective sexual assault and conversion therapy. I have more of a right than you do to hate every Christian I meet. And you know what? I don’t let my personal traumas affect my opinions of an entire group of people, because I understand the good it brings many people. I have several friends that are Christian, many of whom are not white. If you’re going to criticize an extremist group, criticize the group that’s actively causing problems and legislating people out of existence. Because I guarantee somebody’s abuela at church bingo night isn’t hurting anyone. Not all Christians believe the same things, and a lot of marginalized communities have relied on Christianity to survive.

It’s like you grew from an anti-theist stance without actually growing from an anti-theist stance. Embarrassing.

[menlove]

hi there, i don’t see many people studying religious studies so i’m intrigued. what drew you towards it? what’s your favorite thing about it? id also love to hear your opinion regarding the discourse of one religion being inherently better than the other. also, do you have a favorite religion to learn about?

thank you for the ask!!

honestly a lot of things haha. it was always a special interest growing up. in college I initially went for early childhood education (& that's what my associates is in) but I took a world religions class as an elective and the special interest just Peaked. but I never thought of majoring in it bc I didn't see a plan with it. embarrassingly the next phase of my Special Interest came with good omens in 2018 when I did a bunch of research for a role reversal au.

and I also was dicking around at the bookstore one day a few years ago and picked up a book called "a history of god" by karen armstrong (a good starting place if ur curious- terrible as far as an actual source goes). super super interesting book that sparked a lot of Thinking

skip ahead a few years and I had transferred to a 4 year university and worked the worst childcare job ever and realized I did Not want to be an early childhood teacher. and I said fuck it why not do something I'm passionate about?

my favorite thing about it is just....... getting to Discover things. I love unearthing new (to me) facts and making sense of religious and human history and piecing it all together to make sense of the fucked up and beautiful world we live in. I love looking at various cultures and religions and seeing all the ways humans like to make our lives meaningful (and on a personal spiritual belief level, the ways in which various people and cultures have interacted w the divine, whatever they may call it). I'm getting my minor in history so in general I just really love the history of religion it's very fascinating and illuminating

the discourse on any one religion being better than the others is wild to me. especially when you know the history of especially christianity bc im always like. discovering new ways in which it's entirely constructed. but in general I think every religion has its positives and its negatives and its good and bad people and no one is any better than the other. now some are certainly Worse in the historical sense esp w their impact (im looking at u christianity), but that is the fault of the people upholding those structures and not the religion itself. And Also back to the og point I think basing ur judgement of ppl on religious belief or lack thereof is wild (and that includes anti-theists)

and lastly!!! yes I love love love learning abt judaism and especially ancient israelite religion it's immensely interesting to me and I'm doing my capstone on the connection between the ugaritic texts and the tanakh. but if I'm going Outside abrahamic religions (sorry ik it's a hotly debated term it's just still used academically and I haven't seen a good replacement but anyone else lmk if u have one) I really enjoyed learning abt religious history in china.

sorry this got long but I love to infodump so thank u for asking!! 💖

[littleapocalypsekitten]

Okay, I just felt myself getting irrationally angry at something (or perhaps rationally, well within my rights, but it just hit me like a wave). I was watching something called "Apologetics Roadshow" on Youtube. I'd seen a couple of episodes of the guy. Rather wary of him, but I'd liked something I saw in counter of the "hurp-de-durp, theists r dumb!" arguments that so many ill-informed, self-important anti-theists (mostly anti-Christians, actually, since most don't research other religions at all, or even most forms of Christianity much). He seemed somewhat progressive (although I avoided his videos regarding Islam entirely), or at least not-fundie. Just a guy talking about Christianity in a rational manner and I could take or leave what I wanted. I still identify as a Progressive Christian, although I veer into unconventional spiritual territory and am not entirely sure what I am anymore. This stuff is still an interest of mine, though. Anyway, I got interested in a video he posted about the loss of his son. Specifically, he addressed horrible comments he got about it. His son was disabled with a genetic muscle disorder and while he got a lot of support, he apparently got a few comments going "Your son is dirt now!" and being angry at him for bringing a disabled child into the world or not letting him die at birth, I guess. (It's not like he and his wife knew, the kid surprised them). Predictably, the Youtuber brought up Real Things That The Nazis Did to humble people who make such horrible, abelist comments. He also did a sermon about the Abraham sacrificing Isaac story and the Angel of the Lord coming to the rescue and concluded it to be basically God, himself, reversing the old Pagan system of sacrificing to Gods into God sacrificing for us. (His take). However, he then went onto going on about how when society rejects God in Christ / this idea, people revert into child-sacrifice. He gave some example of sex trafficking that went on in England and then... ugh... he said the thing that made me click away from the video: "And here in America, parents are putting their children on operating tables subjecting them to Mengele-like mutilation..." I immediately recognised that as an anti-trans red flag and was "Um, buddy, DOESN'T HAPPEN!" If he'd done a modicum of research, he'd know that... top and bottom surgeries do not happen on underage kids? At least I do not think so? Like, at all? I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 16 for a top surgery (correct me if I'm wrong) and it has to have parental consent as well as be desired by the patient (and this is a thing done with cisgendered people as well, as breast reduction surgery is a thing and cancer is a thing). And I'm fairly certain that bottom means you have to be fully-adult, joinin' the Army age at least and well-vetted by psych docs. Like, the most even a teenager can do with gender-stuff is some hormone therapy (which, again, applies to cigendered people with medical conditions, too). And the way he said it, that "parents are subjecting their kids" - um, no they ain't! I don't think there's even such a thing as parents who are forcing their kids to change genders! (Exception being the intersex community? As babies)? And here I thought the lament against modern "child sacrifice" was going to be the old saw of abortion-politics. Um... congratulations transgender persons? You've officially supplanted abortion as the society boogeyman? I guess? I don't even have a dog in this fight, really. I'm a cisgendered old bat who used to be conservative and is repentant of that time in my life and I don't have anyone in my family who is openly trans, so it's more like.... "dammit, I hate it when people don't do the research and get the facts wrong!" And when they say obvious wrong things! He said it like he thinks it's some kind of fad for parents to force their kids to get gender reassignment surgeries against their will and that annoys me.

[mithliya]

So I've seen a lot of radfems criticizing religion, and I agree patriarchal (esp Abrahamic) religions cannot be recovered. But I don't think most pagan religions are a problem?

If someone is atheist, they're just non-religious. Don't believe in any higher power, but no strong thoughts on people who do.

Anti-theists are against religion - so I'd say I think a lot of radfems are anti-theists not atheists because they're totally against religion.

Then within "pagan" beliefs (cause pagan really just means not a major world religion), there things like animism (overly simplified: reverence for nature), ancestral worship (more accurately, reverence for one's ancestors), pantheism ("we are all the universe experiencing itself"). And then obviously deity worship (Hellenistic, Kemetic, etc paganism)

Basically I'm just curious how much of radfem are atheist, against all religions, against worshipping deities, or are just against organized religion.

i used to think this about polytheism (that it’s not patriarchal) but then i looked into how some polytheistic religions like hinduism perceive women and it was still quite misogynistic 😭but we can try it out since u also defined the terms up there

[screamingfromuz]

I've had many honest conversations with many women who hold a variety of different beliefs. But I don't feel as strongly as you do about misandry. Women's beliefs about sex-based oppression and gender socialization do not come from a place of hatred.

The anecdotes you gave match the point you were making in your other post. Those anecdotes show women saying "as a woman" to justify nonsense. I'm sorry you've run into women like that. I've personally never come across a woman who says anything like that so maybe it's rare. Or maybe I'm just lucky. I hope you never have to deal with women that justify nonsense again. I hope when you hear a woman say "as a woman," you don't think of rare women with shallow intentions.

As for anti-theist feminists, even if you disagree with them, that doesn't mean they're using identity politics against you. The patriarchal backbone of Abrahamic religion has successfully subjugated more women than any other cultural movement on Earth. So women are going to talk about this. Ideally, they should talk about religion with respect because otherwise the religious women they're concerned for won't listen to them. But I also know anti-theist women who lack tact when talking about religion. And every single one of them has severe religious trauma. Exorcisms, home schooling, arranged marriages, the works. There will always be people for whom the glass of religion is half empty. And they are not wrong. And if the glass is half full for you, you're not wrong either.

First of all- give me some of your luck because I know sooo many women who use their womanhood as shield to justify horrible behaviors. But even if they are a minority, they should not get a free pass.

As to why I am so intense about misandry, it is a core belief of mine that as long we allow one to exist, the other will prevail. Misandry and misogyny feed into each other, not to mention that it often fuels transphobia and strengthen gender binary system.

and about anti-theism, I have no problem with talking about it, the problem is using ones own religious trauma to attack religious joy of other women.

[elby-and-a-blog]

...A lot of your criticisms actually apply to just Christianity, and, like, the American Protestant version? "He's (Jesus) a fictional character, a combination of several guys. I've heard of this hypothesis. However, I think that Josephus and Tacitus have enough to say that I trust that Jesus exists as a person. "Early man explained away the fears of the other people huddled in caves. Then it progressed into the 3 Abrahamic Monotheist Religions. Each designed to control via fear or reward systems. He's like a Santa Claus for adults that need to blame the bad decisions that acted badly on the ultimate scapegoat, the devil, or beg the Sky Daddy Deity for things like help after you totally screwed yourself by once again bad decisions thinking you'd get different results. I'm pretty sure all 3 religions DO blame the human for his wrongdoing. Just stare at the writing of any Medieval saint and you'll realize how Christianity, in this case, does not put sole blame on the devil. However, they do pray to God, as an expression of faith, though in a perfect world admit that some things are a result of THEIR sin. In some systems, the human actually has to do stuff before God forgives them, or to prove their repentance. I can't say much about Judaism and Islam, however. " For the life of me I can't conceive why people of color worship their former owners religion that forced on them often by being whipped or bludgeoned into submission. Just sharing my thoughts on reality not fantasy.

As a Chinese person, I suppose I could answer: Generally the religions that people adopted became a part of cultural identity. They intermingled with the original culture to the point where to be that culture is to be that religion. For example, Catholic culture is very prevalent in the Philippines. It has indigenised, and folk traditions like the Black Nazarene proliferate among the people. Also, not all POC cultures have had Christianity bludgeoned onto them, although Christians do get unfairly beneficial treatment in colonies. By the way, do you support people worshipping in their culture's folk religion, or are you anti-theist in general? Because in your first sentence it seems that you really dislike all religions, but then go on a tangent about the Abrahamics, of whom only Christianity and Islam have had histories of imposing religion on people via colonization?

[automatismoateo]

Why does it seem like Abrahamic religions are so much more depraved than others? via /r/atheism

Why does it seem like Abrahamic religions are so much more depraved than others? As an Anti-Theist I believe all religions are shit. But it seems like Abrahamic faiths are the worst. They are rife with rape, murder, pedophilia, slavery, torture, forced conversion, etc etc. Why do you think this is? Maybe there was something about the Middle Eastern culture at that time in history which caused this? For example, history tells us that gay people used to be accepted in the Middle East, which changed after the rise of Islam & Christianity. So was it some societal reason? Were Abrahamic faiths just birthed during a fucked up time in history? Submitted February 10, 2024 at 12:42AM by tomatofactoryworker9 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/vQywhAX)

[puppyluver256]

It's that time of year again, when everyone and their brother has Opinions (both justified and ridiculous) on the holiday season, specifically what is considered the Dominant Holiday in most countries that have a large share of the demographic of Tumblr users. So I have a few things on my mind that I want to say and I am going to say them.

To my fellow non-christians, whether you're of some other religion or an atheist like myself:

"Christian Atheist" is a specific label for an atheist who follows the non-magical parts of philosophy supposedly spread by someone named Yeshua/Jesus. They take on this label willingly, believing that the teachings associated with this individual had good merit without believing him to be the literal son of a god or that he literally turned water to wine or healed people with god-magic. The venn diagram between them and atheists who happen to come from a christian background is NOT a single circle.

"Cultural christianity" is a valid label for groups, whether small as a friend circle or large as a whole country, where one is implicitly or explicitly expected to be or at least follow along with christian practices. It is NOT something that can be applied to individuals willy-nilly. If someone does not want to be referred to as "culturally christian", you need to respect that regardless of their upbringing.

Yes, many atheists come from christian backgrounds. This does not mean they are still somehow christian forever. They are atheists, and unless they specify anything else that is all that they are. Do not apply a religious label to someone who is not part of that religion, as you have no idea whether or not that label may bring up old trauma and make them feel they can never escape from something they may have left, especially when that thing they left is constantly around them as just a normalized part of the surrounding locale.

Sidenote, not all atheists were raised in a christian setting. Some were originally from the other abrahamic faiths, some were from non-abrahamic faiths, and some were not raised in a religious setting at all. Some are completely anti-theist, some appreciate the positive affect other people may get from their religion(s). Don't assume that every atheist is the same cookie-cutter "reddit atheist" (whatever the association with reddit is supposed to mean) mold that seems to get applied to all atheists indiscriminately.

Another sidenote, atheism itself is not a religion. It is a lack of religion, outside of religions that are specifically atheistic (ie. without gods). Yes, it is protected in the idea of freedom of religion, as that includes freedom FROM religion.

Yes, Christmas is primarily a religious holiday, and yes, it DOES have a secular component despite what some people will insist (on both sides of the aisle). Don't assume that because someone wants to have fun with a tree and decorations and food and presents that they want the weird magic baby worship nonsense. Some people just want an excuse to celebrate after a long year regardless of whether or not they even have a religion, and we only have one widely-known holiday (sorry, Newtonmas) at the end of the year that can mostly be considered truly secular AND EVEN THEN there are cultures that ascribe religious aspects to it so we take what we can get. Excuse us if what we can get is what's most prominent in our area or what our loved ones already know. You wouldn't say an atheist that celebrates the big holidays of Judaism or Islam or any other religion is doing something religious just because they wanted to spend time with their friends and family doing something fun as part of a special occasion, so stop saying everyone who willingly participates in Christmas is willingly participating in christianity.

To the christians, specifically the ones who are more obnoxious about it:

Don't get on people's case if they don't care for or even legitimately hate Christmas. I'm sure there's something that "everyone else is doing" that YOU don't care for, so let them be frustrated in peace. At the very least, lend a shoulder and let them vent, but don't pressure them into doing the Christmas thing if they don't want to and would instead prefer either celebrating something else or nothing at all.

There is no "war on Christmas". Secular people have never attacked Christmas to the degree that the right-wing nutjobs pushing this rhetoric have insisted. In fact, the only times that anyone has proposed or even enforced a ban on Christmas, it was another sect of christianity. Someone saying "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas" is not going to kill you, and no one's trying to "take the christ out of Christmas" by merely celebrating a holiday without the religious trappings. Get over yourselves and take your persecution complex to the garbage where it belongs.

Remember there are other holidays in December and that some people have better things to do than be pestered and bothered by the constant reminders of your holiday. Let people live their lives without trying to wedge your religion into it.

[these-detestable-hands]

Contrary to popular belief, Christian symbols don't actually hurt vampires. That is a myth that came to be when vampires first started openly living in human society. Some vampires were anti-theists and wrote long papers against Christianity, especially the organized religion aspects. In reality, lots of vampires (especially women) love the modest clothing and veiling that come with Abrahamic religions because it allows them to hide from the sun without outing themselves as a vampire.

[diegamerdie]

No, religion is only an element of culture not the culture itself.

Judaism is an ethnoreligion but the religion is not essential to jewish identity ( like historically it is, but people don't stop being jewish because they deconverted) jewish people used to be pagan before they became abrahamic, was the spread of Judaism within the jewish nation an act of cultural genocide?

Religions don't define cultures they contribute to them there's no shared Muslim culture, islam is a shared element of diffrent cultures a big one but an element none the less.

It was cultural genocide when European colonisers went on expeditions to convert africans to christianity.

But the same doesn't go for Ethiopia which converted willingly centuries prior.

Was the turkic change from Arabic to latin script also genocide?

Using your definition of cultural genocide every historical spread of every religion in history was an act of cultural genocide.

Sharing negative religious experiences or religious trauma is a war crime.

Same goes for encouraging friends and family to convert/deconvert.

Oh and language courses! Those are the cultural equivalent of atomic bombs.

I'm sorry for my lack of divinity i didn't know that failure to be all knowing was 'embarrassing' but since you have accumulated all knowledge there is to know please direct me to the wealth of scholarly work written about how anti theism has one current which can only be anti semitic instead of referring to some conversation i somehow was supposed to know the ins and outs of without having been present.

See i tried to find it myself but I couldn't, maybe someone like you, who has extensive knowledge of every discussion ever made in every language ever spoken whether by tongue or in internet forums, would spare the oh so ignorant me some of your time to grant me a glimpse of your everlasting intellect or a drop of your overflowing knowledge.

Now, maybe you should have touched up on what genocide actually is and the power dynamics needed to achieve it.

Or what culture even is.

Instead of trying to shame me for not being in on a presumably 'essential' conversation.

Maybe, just maybe I live in a diffrent part of the world, maybe the anti theists i interacted with come from diffrent backgrounds and rarely discuss Judaism.

And even then you're not really touching my argument because in the end it's the culture in question that has the final say and as long as the anti theists you mentioned aren't jewish what they say is irrelevant and had it been my culture i would refuse to debate them all together.

Once again begging anti-theists to realize that to get to a world without religion you’d have to commit cultural genocide. So maybe you shouldn’t push for that

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Imagine if there had been Eleven Commandments. Or Twelve. Or four (or three) of them hadn’t been entirely about the purported author’s narcissism.