Why do Christians appear to be threatened by atheists? Are we such a force, a voice, that our criticism of their beliefs becomes an actual threat or is it that we make them uncomfortable by just raising questions about what they believe?

Many, if not most atheists were not raised in atheist households. That doesn’t equate to being raised in a strict religious home, just that the family believed in Christian dogma. I was never forced to go to church, but did to please my parents (my Father never attended, by the way). Mostly it was during holidays like Christmas a Easter that I was expected to attend.

At some point as a child, I can’t recall exactly when, I started having doubts about this belief. At one point I just accepted that the problem was not with Christianity, but with me. This went on through my teen years well into college. I tried to believe. I wanted to believe. The more I read, the more I listened, I just couldn’t.

The older I became, the less I believed until I realized over time that I didn’t believe any of what I had read or heard. I really didn’t know anything about atheism at the time but I finally realized that my non-belief categorized me as an atheist.

It wasn’t a cause to cheer, nor was I sad. It was just a realization that I could no longer accept a belief in God or the Christian faith. Among my friends and colleagues at the time, I think I was alone. It was months later that I met someone that said they were an atheist.

All that said, I came to learn that atheists were a much despised minority. It was actually several years later that I came out as an atheist.I was afraid for a time that I would be discriminated against due to my non-belief and cn actually understand why some atheists I know, have not announced to the world their atheism.

So how can it be that atheists, a minority of the population in the United States (around 3%) would ever be a threat to those that identify as Christians (around 70% of the population)?

Is it when we converse with believers that we place doubt in their minds? When we show them that their Holy Text is inconsistent and overall makes little to no sense? Do they do what I did and sweep aside those doubts until that folder becomes too large for them to justify their belief and at that point have no other option but to attack the non-believer?

No one likes to admit being wrong. It’s especially difficult when someone questions a religious belief. But are atheists really a threat to Christians? Here’s an article that should make many think.