I definitely was an anti-theist when I first became an atheist. I was angry at the harm religion caused me and I was even angrier once I became aware of all the harm religion was causing everyone else. However, I eventually learned that religion is not some simplistic monolithic belief system and its interaction with society is rather complex.

Here are five reasons why I no longer consider myself an anti-theist despite continuing to be a strident atheist.

1) Religion is complex

Ignorant memes about religion like the one below are unfortunately too common among atheist circles. These anti-theist atheists tend to make a caricature out of people’s beliefs and ignore how religion is a part of someone’s identity and embedded in their culture. These kinds of unsophisticated insults are rather juvenile, but I am happy to admit that not all anti-theists are this ignorant.

2) Religion does a lot of good things

Yes, religion can certainly cause harm, but it also provides meaning and comfort to billions of people on this planet. Additionally, religious belief provides many psychological costs or benefits that depend on a variety of factors. Furthermore, believers have a strong social network that allows them to give more to charities and religion can increase pro-social behavior. Because religion does not always cause harm and can do many good things, being completely against all facets of religion (i.e. anti-theism) seems illogical to me.

3) Anti-theists are more vulnerable to bias

Motivated reasoning and confirmation bias are some of the most understood properties of human behavior. Essentially, when you are determined to view something in a certain way, you will look for ways to confirm your belief system in order to reduce cognitive dissonance. I’m neither pro or anti-religion so this allows me to view religion through a more objective lens. Anti-theism creates unnecessary bias, which make people spread the ignorant memes above, be more dogmatic in their views, believe that religion is a mental illness, believe that the link between terrorism and religion is stronger than it really is, or try to find some small thing wrong with this post that allows you to ignore my main points.

4) Being cruel to religious people alienates potential allies

There is a time and place for religious disagreement, but being a jerk to someone because you have different beliefs is not okay. There is *so* much wrong with this world and alienating the majority of the population with cruelty seems a like a really silly way to engage in activism. Furthermore, if you go around calling religious believers “stupid religitards” do you really think that’s going to change anyone’s negative perceptions of atheists?

5) Being diplomatic is more effective for social change (for me)

There is research suggesting that being kind to others whom you disagree with is quite effective for allowing them to see your perspective. However, I concede that aggressive approaches can also be rather necessary. Additionally, my more balanced and calm approach works better for my personality, but it may not be better for other people. The important thing to remember is there are multiple effective approaches to activism and we should embrace the one that works best for us. While I think there are some flaws with anti-theism, I still appreciate much of the work my anti-theist colleagues accomplish in the secular movement.

UPDATE: My views on anti-theism have evolved rapidly from new information. I will address this further in subsequent posts, but I admit that my characterization of anti-theism here is misguided. The reasons above mostly pertain to a subgroup of atheists who are poor skeptics and use personal attacks.

[Featured image from QuickMeme]