The thing is that “atheism” seems to moreso mean that kind of militant atheist, the ones that treat atheism as a religion by itself (failing to see the irony) and push it onto others. Forcing atheism onto another is the same as forcing christianity or judaism onto another, and making fun of religious nutjobs is not something exclusive to atheism. The term has gotten some bad connotations because of that. Personally when I see the term “atheist” my first thought is “neo-theist loser with a grudge against psychological/spiritual comforts,” and I’m not of faith myself.
I’m not talking about like… brigading or conversion stuff. To use an example from my own life, I (ironically) teach at a Catholic university and, on occasion, a student who is questioning their faith will bring it up to me because it tends to come up that I’m atheist. At that point, it’s not a matter of forcing anything on people, it’s a matter of giving support to someone who is going to have a really hard time dealing with their family, friends, and school. Online communities are great for that.
The thing is that “atheism” seems to moreso mean that kind of militant atheist, the ones that treat atheism as a religion by itself (failing to see the irony) and push it onto others. Forcing atheism onto another is the same as forcing christianity or judaism onto another, and making fun of religious nutjobs is not something exclusive to atheism. The term has gotten some bad connotations because of that. Personally when I see the term “atheist” my first thought is “neo-theist loser with a grudge against psychological/spiritual comforts,” and I’m not of faith myself.
I’m not talking about like… brigading or conversion stuff. To use an example from my own life, I (ironically) teach at a Catholic university and, on occasion, a student who is questioning their faith will bring it up to me because it tends to come up that I’m atheist. At that point, it’s not a matter of forcing anything on people, it’s a matter of giving support to someone who is going to have a really hard time dealing with their family, friends, and school. Online communities are great for that.