On Anger. And Atheism. And Angry Atheists.

It seems that lately, people are accusing atheists of being angry. Really, most of us aren't. At least not all the time. I'm usually not angry, per se. I'm a bit cynical and a lot sarcastic, but not necessarily angry. I do get upset when people do things like tell me I'm not really an atheist, that either I'm just saying that or it's a phase. If it's a phase, it's one that's lasted almost fifteen years, and that's more than half my life. And as far as "just saying that" goes, I'm grown. I'm quite beyond saying things just for shock value, and if I decided to it'd be a lot better than "I'm an atheist!"

Sometimes we atheists are asked "What happened to you to make you an atheist?" It's usually by theists who just don't understand what atheism is. Many of them think we're angry at God. For those people, here's something to remember: It's hard to be angry at someone you don't think exists. Unless, of course, you're one of those crazy, way too invested in a TV show types. So why am I an atheist? What happened to make me turn away from religion? I studied science. That's it. Really. Contrary to what some have suggested, I wasn't abused, nor did I have a bad experience with religion. My church experiences were pretty good- vacation bible school in the summer, nice preachers, boring music. I was even in the elementary-age girls youth group. We were called the Rosebuds. No fire and brimstone, just your basic Baptist (American, not Southern) stuff. Then when I was in about seventh grade, my parents stopped going to church. I don't really remember why, I think they were just too busy or something, and nobody seemed to miss it. Then in eighth grade science we learned about evolution, and it just made sense to me. It was one of those "Oh" moments when reality reaches out and slaps you in the face- not in a Springer, my boyfriend's cheating on me and wants a sex change way. More like a clouds parting, sun shining on a highly symbolic object kinda thing. It took a little while (not that long, I was only 13 and not heavily churched,) but all the religious stuff fell away. And it felt good. It still feels good to not have to do things like justify mythology when it doesn't jibe with established scientific fact. And I can take credit for doing good things and blame for doing bad things, not blame them on God and Satan.

I've always been a fairly "out" atheist, except to older family members and when it just doesn't come up, and I've not been shunned or discriminated against (that I know of, anyway,) not even in my small Bible Belt town. And not in high school, either. Of course, I was already the brainy, weird girl, so maybe that was seen as just a part of my weirdness. I still am the brainy, weird girl, so I guess it still applies.

And that's it. My whole deconversion story. Science. Learning biology, paleontology, geology, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, history, comparative religion, philisophy, whatever. They all lead me to the same conclusion: that religion is made up. And that it's often destructive to the people who follow it. And yeah, thinking about all that wasted potential makes me angry. So do racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, sizeism, classism, colonialism, and whatever other social injustices you can throw out there. Anything that serves to control people by not letting them live up to their full potential as thinking beings makes me a little mad. I generally like people; I want them to be happy, not burdened by a belief in some Santa Claus in the sky who sees you when you're sleeping and knows if you've been bad or good or masturbating to International Male catalogs and keeps a log of all that stuff, and who thinks eternal torture is appropriate and fun.

Why do I (and many other atheists) make fun of religion? Well, first of all, it's funny. I mean seriously, think about some of the things religious people believe. They're hilarious if you don't believe in them yourself. And why do I (or we, atheists in America) make fun of Christianity in particular? It's a defense mechanism, like when black comedians make jokes about white people- a tool of those on a lower societal rung to get out their frustrations on those on higher rungs without starting a class war. Although I think we're due for a bloodless class war, or at least a revolution, soon. Since I live in the U.S., Christianity is all around me, so that's what I take my frustrations out on. I don't have to drive by Hindu billboards telling me that Krishna's the way to go. I don't get emails about how great Thor and Odin are, and to pass them along if I'm not ashamed- although that might be cool. And I especially don't have Zunis masquerading as scientists trying to get their creation myth taught in public schools.

So really, it's not so much that most of us are angry, although there are a few truly angry atheists, it's mostly just frustration. So give us a fucking break already, assholes. See? Frustrated, not angry.