It gets a LOL every time -

I sometimes read comments by  Christians who are unable to think clearly (here is one), about how Atheists "must really hate god." It gets a LOL out of me each time. Atheists believe there is no credible evidence for the existence of any god and so it is simply not possible to "hate" a ghost which does not exist.

Atheism itself has no inherant hatred of anything but there are some things we strongly but non-violently oppose:

1. We oppose the propagation, by religion, of delusional & contradictory anti-scientific stories & concepts, based on ancient fictitious characters; and written by illiterate primitives - yet falsely promoted as the "word of god."

2. We oppose the indoctrination of children's minds by parents and priests; and the use of schools (and other public institutions) as fertile ground for religious proselytisers.

3. We object to the sexual and physical abuse perpetrated on children by priests, nuns and other "trusted" church officials; the tolerance & cover up of these heinous crimes by church managers such as archbishops and popes; and the reluctance of local congregations to act on it.

4. We draw attention to the fact that religions oppose any questioning of their beliefs; deny facts which contradict pre-conceived beliefs; and clamp down on free thought when it threatens entrenched dogma.

5. We oppose the promotion of theology and "young Earth" creationism as serious subjects.

6. We oppose the active pursuit of gullible and vulnerable people, by religions offering false promises but eager to take their money.

7. We reject the piously professed - but patently false - claims by every religion, that religion maintains sole ownership of morality.

8. We oppose the use of politics as a tool to impose christianity on non-christians, rather than to serve the public. A politician might swear on the bible to uphold the Constitution but does not swear on the Constitution to uphold the bible.

9. We oppose the seeking (or dispensing) of a 'free ride' for religion, such as tax exemptions and lax regulations.

10. We abhor wars and other forms of violence in the name of religion, observable on a daily basis; and the belief by many religious people that the use of violence to promote their religious cause is justified.

11. We reject religious intolerance of other religions, atheism, homosexuals, women's rights, children's rights

12. We reject "faith" as grounds for belief; and we are bemused at the refusal of religious people to apply the "Outsider Test of Faith." to their own "faith" -  i.e. to assess the criteria which they used to reject other religions and apply it to the one religion they believe to be true.

13. We reject the astonishing belief that man was made in God's image. Gee whiz!! he looks just like us! What a coincidence!

14. We are alarmed at the disproportionately high number of religious rapists, paedophies, fraudsters and other criminals, compared to the number of those outside religion. For example, a survey showed the US Atheist population is about 15% but the prison population has only 0.2% atheists. Are Atheists good at evading detection or do they just commit less crime? Are religious people bad at evading detection or do they just commit more crime?

15. We utterly repudiate assertions made by delusional people who do not know us that we are "sinners" who must "confess" and "repent".