I offended a friend who's an atheist?

[Fridgemagnetman]

GLUTERGORK IS REAL! ACCEPT GLUTERGORK OR BE MUTE AND DEAF!

Thought this was the name of the mark above certain letters in German.

But I was brought up as a Gork.
The gluters were my mortal enemy.

They probably smell or are against condoms or something.
I'm scared too ask in case people suspect I'm not a true Gork.

It's also harder to talk about the split between our religion after that pop singer Gary Glutergork got caught doing all sorts.

 

[Ginseng]

Wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the friends, family, and social skills forum but it's sort of religious in nature so I'm putting it here. Me and a group of people were posting spiritual and religious quotes online. It is open to all people of all faiths though many of the posts mentioned God. One person, who is an atheist I corresponded with regularly about various things seemed to hint we are offending atheists. He then said he will no longer post in a thread devoted to God. I responded:

Sorry if I scared you off, I have nothing against atheists. And I did like your Rumi quotes. I then gave him a link to a place to post general inspirational quotes saying I thought he might like that better.

He then private messages me this morning with the subject line "I am not SCARED of God" with a message saying

I am offended, and when I tried to tell you so, you rubbed it in. You are just empty air, and I have unfriended you and put you on IGNORE~!

Did I do something wrong? I didn't mean to suggest he should be afraid of God. But just because he doesn't believe in God doesn't mean I'm not allowed to. I seem to be losing friends left and right lately and I don't understand it.

I don’t see anything wrong with what you said. People seem to hate God more and hate those who love God. Jesus said this would happen and that they hated him too. They killed him.

 

[10PurpleHippopotamuses]

It depends on the type of religious posts. Some are just annoying, while others can be offensive.

No matter what, I wouldn't let it get to you. If you did post something offensive, then that's how you believe, and nobody but you can change that. If you didn't post anything offensive, then he's either just mad that he doesn't live in an echo chamber, or he could be upset because he has a past with religion.

No side is perfect.

Unfortunately, I don't know everything that happened in this situation, so I can't give you a solid answer as to whomever was in the wrong.

It's best to get over it. Don't dwell, if you can.

 

[OkRad]

It is hard. Sometimes people have strong feelings about religion.

Mature atheists and mature believers are the only ones who seem to realize we are all on a journey and our beliefs grow and mature themselves.

 

[Butterfly88]

Thanks everyone.

 

[All-Rounder]

Butterfly, my friend. <3
Im an atheist myself, but I do occasionally hold convos with religious people, Im mostly interested in how blindly or not they're following, and what exactly they are following. If they dont have modern equality between sexes I wont feel good about that even though the bible sometimes preaches that in the old testament.
The only religious person l know that has respected the bible is grandma who doesn't do all that modern stuff about idols and church which is actually what the book says. I think that's special about her. Shes fed up with fake priests doing bad things and hurting and using people.

I think he might have felt you pushed him away since you directed him to another place instead of making it friendly for him, maybe reassuring him or even apologizing if you offended him, as well as welcomming him to post atheist stuff. I think your reaction was the only other good option as well sinced that place was not gonna be friendly with his beliefs but i think he needed you to talk to him sugary and show you care deeper, maybe more in depth communication.

But honestly I wouldnt friend such a person knowing this about him. I had a couple religious friends do that to me, but their excuse was religion and sin and not accepting others to talk about their religion or lack while they personally actually talked about it to these ppl.

I wonder what his excuse is and what his real reason for being an atheist is. I think true atheists are full of love and open minded, it's hard not to be because that's basically what you will believe in. Helping each other. But some like myself get fed up p f seeing religion occupy ppls time, ruin their families as it does specify 'love me before your family' or something like that, which basically makes people be obsessed and lose touch with reality. Plus the control ppl use on ppl using religion which by atheist theory is what it was created for. But despite all this, I dont think hes aware of many things about the world, which makes me wonder even more how he reached the level of education and courage to leave religion behind and actually become an atheist. It was a long hard process for me. Unless he was born in an atheist family and they had no time to talk to him about it

 

[Butterfly88]

Butterfly, my friend. <3
Im an atheist myself, but I do occasionally hold convos with religious people, Im mostly interested in how blindly or not they're following, and what exactly they are following. If they dont have modern equality between sexes I wont feel good about that even though the bible sometimes preaches that in the old testament.
The only religious person l know that has respected the bible is grandma who doesn't do all that modern stuff about idols and church which is actually what the book says. I think that's special about her. Shes fed up with fake priests doing bad things and hurting and using people.

I think he might have felt you pushed him away since you directed him to another place instead of making it friendly for him, maybe reassuring him or even apologizing if you offended him, as well as welcomming him to post atheist stuff. I think your reaction was the only other good option as well sinced that place was not gonna be friendly with his beliefs but i think he needed you to talk to him sugary and show you care deeper, maybe more in depth communication.

But honestly I wouldnt friend such a person knowing this about him. I had a couple religious friends do that to me, but their excuse was religion and sin and not accepting others to talk about their religion or lack while they personally actually talked about it to these ppl.

I wonder what his excuse is and what his real reason for being an atheist is. I think true atheists are full of love and open minded, it's hard not to be because that's basically what you will believe in. Helping each other. But some like myself get fed up p f seeing religion occupy ppls time, ruin their families as it does specify 'love me before your family' or something like that, which basically makes people be obsessed and lose touch with reality. Plus the control ppl use on ppl using religion which by atheist theory is what it was created for. But despite all this, I dont think hes aware of many things about the world, which makes me wonder even more how he reached the level of education and courage to leave religion behind and actually become an atheist. It was a long hard process for me. Unless he was born in an atheist family and they had no time to talk to him about it

I knew a bad priest myself.

I hadn't thought of it like that, maybe he did feel pushed away. I did apologize but he says my apology is not sincere. I tried to be sincere, perhaps as an aspie I'm not the best at apologies. If he wants to post atheist stuff I'm open to that.

I don't know why he's an atheist and I don't think it's really my business to ask. If he ever wanted to share I would listen.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Probably just immature and doesn't know what he was talking about, just like @Fridgemagnetman was saying.

He is just stuck in his own, ignorant world.

Just let him stay there and don't talk to him anymore. You and your sanity is most likely better off without the two of you talking to each other.

 

[Autistamatic]

Interesting discussion this. It appears that an individual overreacted to an innocuous and philosophically correct comment, but the fact that they do not believe in a deity has become the subject under discussion more than their unpleasant and puzzling behaviour.
For the record, the epithet "God has no religion" is just a logical statement. Religion is by definition based on faith, a belief in something intangible which cannot be proven. If a God exists they would be self aware and therefore cannot have faith in their own intangible existence since they have evidence in themselves. Ergo a monotheistic "supreme being" cannot have a religion. There's nothing there that anyone with or without faith can take offence at without being shot down in flames in a couple of sentences.

 

[Fino]

It looks like the discussion sort of had ended already, but people are commenting again and what I have to say seems to be different from what anyone has said!

Some people use religion as a weapon. Perhaps he's bad a negative experience like that, similar to the thread about the person afraid of hands. It doesn't make hands or religion bad, it's just that they were hurt so much by them.

I was raised by Christian Scientists, and therefore not allowed to see doctors. I believe this should be considered neglect to anyone, but considering my plethora of medical issues, this was abuse. Subsequently, I despised religion for many years. I debated angrily all the time, responded negatively to strangers trying to talk to me about it, and identified as Athiest.

But, in truth, unbeknownst to me, none of that actually had anything to do with religion. It had to do with my parents. I no longer hate religion or my parents, and I'm not Athiest.

You never know when an underlying issue of that nature is involved.

P.S. The thing that helped me most was an amazing, loving, awesome person who listened and understood and loved, and he's devoutly Christian. Even when an Athiest or anyone responds in this way, the general response of insults is probably not the best way to go. Maybe that's only how it is because he's not around, but even then, that behavior doesn't seem aligned with any religion I've encountered.

 

[Autistamatic]

Like over half of my countrymen, I was raised without any religion and frankly I've never been bothered by anyone that does or doesn't have faith. Whatever floats your boat It's not important to me either way as long as you're happy with it.
These debates I see on foreign TV and on YouTube where atheists and religious apologists tear chunks out of each other are frankly hilarious! It's like watching philosophical WWF. Chill out and go back to your corners guys. Nobody needs to get hurt and you're never going to convert one another. Why do you even CARE?
Judge people by their actions, by their kindness and tolerance, their willingness to put themselves at a disadvantage for another's benefit, not by what they do or don't do on a Sunday morning.*
The guy that claimed to take offence in the OP story was overreacting and being needlessly unpleasant. End of. No belief systems or lack of are relevant to his aberrant behaviour.

*or five times a day, or on the solstices, or on a Saturday...