Allow me to explain this to you, even though someone has already explained it to you.
If you have a "beef" with God, you are not an Atheist, you are probably a misotheist or maltheist. In order to have a "beef" with a god, you have to have a belief in a god.
If you are an atheist, you do not have a belief in any gods, and so you have no "beefs" with any gods. You might say that a particular god of a particular religion seems evil in the context of the stories the god is a character in, just like people say Voldemort is evil.
Some people might claim to be atheist, while expressing some sort of belief in a god. Those people don't know what atheism means.
Got it?
You weren't talking to me, but I am very glad you pointed out the correct descriptive words as to what type of person that was being described. I will memorize them for the future.
TvTropes taught me those words, and then I googled them to make sure they were right. 4laugh
Yay for learning!
In case of the movie, it might be an apologetic. In practice, not many Christians make sweeping assumptions like that. At least I hope not. It's not something I've seen too often in my church.
I know not all are like that and that it's a vocal minority. That's why I said "certain Christians". I've heard that as an apologetic given about why don't atheist believe in God in some of the Christian Guilds here on Gaia.
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Misotheism/atheism will have to be sorted out within its own grouping though. I've honestly never met an atheist that didn't admit prior belief (and later disbelief) because of God spiting or ignoring them. The closest I've heard to atheism actually came from a self deacribed agnostic. It's kinda weird.
Not everyone who identifies themselves as a Christian actually is one (when it comes to belief, world view, lifestyle, etc) because in some ways it is in part its own form of culture. Within the culture exist just as many assholes as there are outside of it as well, so it's something that is always a constant source of frustration whenever you're doing anything in leadership especially.
So what's the hard official line?
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And yeah, science classes are where they teach you science. But it shouldn't be as dogmatically presented as it is
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Problem; science isn't a democracy.
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I have no idea what your background in science is, but mine is basically concentrated in biological anthropology and I have a pretty good background in sociology and cultural anthropology. So I see religion's place as an important cultural element, a personal truth, and as separate from the model of evolution. I'm not perturbed by science and evolution somehow "disproving" my God, because I know that it can't. It's science, not metaphysics.
Sorry guys, I'd quote you all in detail but that would be too much and there are similar ideas between the posts anyway.
In my first post I already admitted knowledge of the fact that the people who self-identify as atheists aren't strictly atheists philosophically. Meaning, they could be a variety of different things; misotheism is one of them. Culturally, they're grouped under the same tree as atheism either through self identification or labeling from others. That association has absolutely nothing to do with how accurate they are as representations of atheism.
So I'm honestly not surprised that the producers of the movie didn't make that distinction. As a character, the professor was the stand-in for basically everyone actively against Christianity (excluding other prominent theist groups) and they didn't want him to remain the "villain" in the movie. To give the character some sense of redemption, they made the audience pity him because apparently "his wife died from cancer." (I didn't see the movie, so I have no idea how it ended) Either way, they didn't want him to be categorized as anything other than atheist in the end (because that's what he was standing in for) -- they just wanted to try to redeem the guy by giving him a motive that would resonate compassionately with the audience. Does that make him a misotheist, technically? Perhaps. But that wasn't the writers' intentions.
As for how people categorize themselves as atheists when they're not.... Yeah. It sucks for you guys. Just as much as it sucks for me to go to a church and see people who self-identify as Christians but actually aren't. They are grouped into the category of Christianity though, and we've learned to deal with it. In normal movies, where Christians are mentioned, they're similarly represented by our loudest (most frustratingly inaccurate) groups as well. Call it even, albeit unpleasant.
Couple of things:
1] If the writer(s) wanted to do a good job and present a certain type of person well, they should have researched it. There are plenty of atheist websites and writing websites that have communities willing to help. Every good writer does their research, whoever wrote this movie, did not.
2] From my own research into the movie, I know how it ends, and it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. There is more than one atheist in the movie, and they are all assholes. Though, I don't want to spoil it for those who are wanting to see it, so I'll put it in a spoiler for those who might want to know:
The student uses a bunch of arguments in the debate that every atheist has heard before at some point. The professor responds weakly with a few quotes. They touch on everything except philosophy in their debate and after a certain point the professor goes off whining to other people about the kid. At the end of the debate, the entire class stands up and declares "god is not dead" making the student the winner. The professor then accepts god and gets hit by a car and dies. stare No, I am not making that up.
Through out the movie there are several subplots about that go nowhere. And the closest thing to a "miracle" that happens is that some guy can't get his car to start and someone else says "just have faith" and push the car and it starts.
There is a cameo from the duck dynasty guy, where he's being interviewed by the atheist reporter, and that's it. The movie is also one big promo for the band that you hear in the trailer.
There is a muslim in the movie who wants to get to know jesus (I guess thinking about converting or something) and her father beats her and throws her out of the house. I'm not sure if that is supposed to be a remark of "look! muslims are jerks!" or not.
On the whole, the movie looks like it was made for the hallmark channel, but was released in theaters for reasons unknown to me.
3] As someone else pointed out, over 75% of the country is Christian. This movie plays up the "Christians are the victims" card, when they really aren't. The majority can't be oppressed by the minority.
4] Your first post did not point out that there were different types of atheism. You made a claim:
K-r-e-v-y-e-t-k-a
The students were the people "on the fence" and the professor was representative of atheism. I'm pretty sure that if Nietzsche was a thematic element, they likely made the professor into the character of the Overman. Someone who handles life himself and can control the less significant people because he wants and he can. It's a good parallel between the subtle feeling of "heroism" in the narrative of Darwinian evolution, the current "self made" individualistic culture, and a lot of people's answer to why they don't believe in God. They think that they don't need him.
The bold is what I first responded to, my intention being to correct you. Again, lack of belief, is simply lack of belief. If one thought they didn't need god, they would first need to believe the god in question exists. The rest of your post was talking about how you felt you were treated, which is just anecdotal evidence that I have nothing to say about. In a reply you then said:
K-r-e-v-y-e-t-k-a
Not everyone has beef with God, but those that do are still atheists.
and
K-r-e-v-y-e-t-k-a
Even if it doesn't philosophically jive with atheism, people who are angry with God and actively avoid worshiping him / claiming his existence still associate themselves with atheism. So we talk about them using their self given title.
Myself and others have since corrected you on this as well. Also, something I hadn't noticed before, but "philosophically jive with atheism" isn't quite right. It doesn't, by definition, "jive" with atheism, as that is simply not what an atheist is.
5] There being different types of atheism is also a bit confusing as the only thing that makes one an atheist is a lack of a belief in a god or gods. Though there are different atheist groups, perhaps that is what you meant?
6] Misotheism and maltheism are not atheism. People can throw whatever they like under a certain blanket, that doesn't mean they are using those terms correctly.
7] A villain is still a villain even if they are sympathetic. It doesn't make them less of a villain and it doesn't give them "redemption" to have a sympathetic background.
8] You claim that Christians are portrayed as "frustratingly inaccurate" in other movies. Care to point out a specific example? Bet I can point out one of the thousands of Christian groups that are similar to whatever it is. Please leave out historical fiction though since we are talking about how they are portrayed in current times.
9] What exactly is a "normal" movie in your mind? To me movies are movies, no matter the length, budget, acting, storyline, or who is working on it.
And just for clarification, I think I should point out that I'm more of an agnostic who cherry picks from different stories and events to come up with my own personal code of conduct, among other things. I also, admittedly, have a thing against many branches of Christianity even though I've known some rather nice Christians throughout the years. Its a bit off topic though, so I'll just leave it at that.
TvTropes taught me those words, and then I googled them to make sure they were right. 4laugh
Yay for learning!
You can navigate that site? I always have trouble emotion_8c
And agreed, "Yay for learning" emotion_awesome I like trying to learn something every day. So, thank you 3nodding
I think God is real, because he has answered my prayers and I will continue to do his will. God will guide me through all the troubles I go through, I shall not fear.
I think God is real, because he has answered my prayers and I will continue to do his will. God will guide me through all the troubles I go through, I shall not fear.
If your god answers your prayers, then it's obvious you did not pray for world peace, the end of world hunger, the end of poverty, end of child abuse, end of rape, cures for all diseases, and the healing of amputees.
On a secular university campus, it really does sometimes seem like you're alone, and in every science course (even the social sciences) God is unwelcome.
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