Why Are You So Angry?

[centauri]

I think it boils down to the basic observation that people don't like to be duped and lied to, especially about something that's supposed to be so important.

Nobody likes to buy a product, only to find out that it was sold through false advertising and phony promises.

Christianity, along with other forms of sales based businesses, invents the disease and then sells people the cure.

The goal is to maximize sales, increase influence, and basically control whatever environment they operate in.

It has precious little to do with truth and has a prime directive of gaining power over others.

Because it's done under the halo of "God", it gives new meaning to the term "fleeced".

It's little wonder the victims are called sheep.

[Sybaris]

I'm not angry at it as much as I dislike the sheep that follow it and anxiously await/provoke Armageddon or an Armageddon like confrontation at the expense of the rest of us.

[Vigile]

Also sometimes I think we're angry at ourselves for being such schmucks, and being reminded of it all the time by having to deal with other church schmucks.

 

You hit the nail on the head for me. Living in the Bible Belt means I have religion in my face constantly. I'm angry that I can't speak my mind, but they sure as hell can speak theirs.

 

That's a good one. I'd like to add that to my list of reasons for being 'angry'.

 

I'm pretty sure that's what has a few people upset in Monk's thread right now too.

[Randi]

After much deliberation, I've decided to start seeing my therapist again. I'm so angry all the time, the mere mention of Christ makes me want to shoot blood out of my eyes. Yesterday I had the most ignorant email exchange with someone with whom I used to very close. Knowing that most Christians think I'm going to burn in hell for eternity just makes me angry. She also told me that without Christ, my life holds no purpose. Essentially, every endeavor I undertake, be marriage, raising children, or vacuuming the fucking carpet, it's all an exercise in futility. It's so easy for some people to just say, "those people aren't your friends". True, they're not any longer, but it doesn't make it any easier to push them out of my life. And much of the time, giving them the satisfaction of pushing them out myself jsut proves them right. The whole thing makes me angry. I've never felt so much anger in my life. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to blindly believing. It all just seemed so much easier then.

[freeasabird]

I have another one to add, I am angry that religion uses the word "materialism" as a dirty word, with the clear intention of people confusing it with "materialistic" in order to shame them away from secularism. Maybe it's just because I'm not paying attention, but the use of this seems to be on the rise.

[chosendarkness]

After much deliberation, I've decided to start seeing my therapist again. I'm so angry all the time, the mere mention of Christ makes me want to shoot blood out of my eyes. Yesterday I had the most ignorant email exchange with someone with whom I used to very close. Knowing that most Christians think I'm going to burn in hell for eternity just makes me angry. She also told me that without Christ, my life holds no purpose. Essentially, every endeavor I undertake, be marriage, raising children, or vacuuming the fucking carpet, it's all an exercise in futility. It's so easy for some people to just say, "those people aren't your friends". True, they're not any longer, but it doesn't make it any easier to push them out of my life. And much of the time, giving them the satisfaction of pushing them out myself jsut proves them right. The whole thing makes me angry. I've never felt so much anger in my life. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to blindly believing. It all just seemed so much easier then.

One thing that helps me is realizing those people are completely mind-fucked. All the stuff about you having to no purpose, everything is empty, blah blah is really about them. They're using sick and twisted beliefs to get their fulfillment and it's extremely unhealthy. You're doing good and they're still in bat-shit crazy land, so you shouldn't let it get to you. You're doing a lot better than they are. Even a drug addict seems happy, but inside they're sick as hell.

 

I like to redirect my anger into sarcasm. It releases me from the hold on me they have by me letting them make me angry, at it really pisses them off which is a great thing to see. "Oh sure, I really need Jesus. Oh you're right. You're seem SO happy, boy I wish I was just like you.'

[ireckinso]

After much deliberation, I've decided to start seeing my therapist again. I'm so angry all the time, the mere mention of Christ makes me want to shoot blood out of my eyes. Yesterday I had the most ignorant email exchange with someone with whom I used to very close. Knowing that most Christians think I'm going to burn in hell for eternity just makes me angry. She also told me that without Christ, my life holds no purpose. Essentially, every endeavor I undertake, be marriage, raising children, or vacuuming the fucking carpet, it's all an exercise in futility. It's so easy for some people to just say, "those people aren't your friends". True, they're not any longer, but it doesn't make it any easier to push them out of my life. And much of the time, giving them the satisfaction of pushing them out myself jsut proves them right. The whole thing makes me angry. I've never felt so much anger in my life. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to blindly believing. It all just seemed so much easier then.

 

I WANT TO SHOOT BLOOD OUT OF MY EYES!!!! That would be so cool!!

 

I'm not angry at all anymore, I get annoyed and a little urked by xtians from time to time but being angry about it does not make life any better.

[Spectrox]

So I get a lot of questions from my former church-friends asking me why I'm so hostile toward Christianity and Christians. I'm not necessarily angry at Christians, but I'm definitely angry toward Christianity. Most of it has to do with being taught some really harful horseshit about my sex, my own body, and my own genetic disorder I was born with. They're all intertwined. Obviously, that's super fucking personal and I'm not going to rattle off to some churchy guy or gal about it, so I have a bit of trouble answering the question. I'm angry for a whole host of reasons, but I have a hard time articulating them. I'm currently in the process of writing a blog post about my anger, so I'm curious... what makes you angry about Christianity?

 

I felt the same way after I had deconned. Anger is the next step up from powerlessness and depression. Interestingly, I've heard from psychologist mates that people are more vulnerable to suicide when they're angry compared to when they are depressed because they realise they have some power over their lives! Anger is an empowering and healthy emotion but I didn't find it helpful to stay there for too long. It can eat away at a person and give the Christianity even more negative impact on someone's life. It is worth having rants now and again though to blow off steam if you are surrounded by Christian sheeite on a daily basis. And political use of religion whereby it insidiously creeps into state legislature is deeply concerning and should be challenged strongly. It's not so bad in the UK where I'm from but I'm certainly keeping my eyes open. We seem to have copied the US in everything else so far!

[hereticzero]

I hate self-serving sanctimonious dicks! 'Is your name in the book of life?' Then they quote scripture or cut and paste, depending on where they are, 'be not equally yoked to someone who does not believe,' blah, blah, blah. I can't stand the pompous preaching. I especially hate the crap they spew that is an alternative reality when it comes to history.

[Chikirin]

When I was Christian, I would always take a nonChristian's irritation with me as evidence of anger and bitterness toward God. I believed that there were no atheists, only God haters and Christian haters. It seems to be a common thing, how Christians view nonChristian's emotions as somehow unsanctified.

[hereticzero]

When I was Christian, I would always take a nonChristian's irritation with me as evidence of anger and bitterness toward God. I believed that there were no atheists, only God haters and Christian haters. It seems to be a common thing, how Christians view nonChristian's emotions as somehow unsanctified.

Yeah, when I was a fundy, every angry nonbeliever was proof we christians were persecuted for our beliefs, which meant god loved us more, the more we suffered. It's hard to break that cult doctrine (of suffering) unless one is moving towards deconversion.

[hereticzero]

I hate christians who lie about their divine experiences in order to 'encourage' nonbelievers to accept the christian faith, or they lie in order to move up a rung on their personal ladder of christian success in the eyes of their peers. One such famous liar was Brother Andrew who smuggled bibles into Europe and Communist countries. He had taught that he used a prayer to blind border agents so they could not see his bibles in his bag in plain sight: It went something like 'Lord as you made the blind see, let seeing eyes be blind,..' or some kind of smarminess like that. A couple of years after Brother Andrew died, some of his own followers admitted the story of the prayer was not true but it added to god's glory so they used it anyway. Somebody say 'amen!'

[Randi]

Well, I went to meet with my therapist today. Yes, on Sunday! She's the best! Her basic advice to me was to look at them with pity and understand that they're the one's with a problem. I feel so much better after talking to her. I'm going to see her again in one month.

[Spectrox]

I think it boils down to the basic observation that people don't like to be duped and lied to, especially about something that's supposed to be so important.

Nobody likes to buy a product, only to find out that it was sold through false advertising and phony promises.

Christianity, along with other forms of sales based businesses, invents the disease and then sells people the cure.

The goal is to maximize sales, increase influence, and basically control whatever environment they operate in.

It has precious little to do with truth and has a prime directive of gaining power over others.

Because it's done under the halo of "God", it gives new meaning to the term "fleeced".

It's little wonder the victims are called sheep.

 

An excellent little post. I agree with your sentiments 100%.

[Spectrox]

After much deliberation, I've decided to start seeing my therapist again. I'm so angry all the time, the mere mention of Christ makes me want to shoot blood out of my eyes. Yesterday I had the most ignorant email exchange with someone with whom I used to very close. Knowing that most Christians think I'm going to burn in hell for eternity just makes me angry. She also told me that without Christ, my life holds no purpose. Essentially, every endeavor I undertake, be marriage, raising children, or vacuuming the fucking carpet, it's all an exercise in futility. It's so easy for some people to just say, "those people aren't your friends". True, they're not any longer, but it doesn't make it any easier to push them out of my life. And much of the time, giving them the satisfaction of pushing them out myself jsut proves them right. The whole thing makes me angry. I've never felt so much anger in my life. Sometimes I wish I could just go back to blindly believing. It all just seemed so much easier then.

 

There was one thing good about being Jesus, though - knowing that your Mum and Dad never had sex!

[Spectrox]

Well, I went to meet with my therapist today. Yes, on Sunday! She's the best! Her basic advice to me was to look at them with pity and understand that they're the one's with a problem. I feel so much better after talking to her. I'm going to see her again in one month.

 

Good for you! I'm genuinely pleased you're making progress.

[Spectrox]

Well, I went to meet with my therapist today. Yes, on Sunday! She's the best! Her basic advice to me was to look at them with pity and understand that they're the one's with a problem. I feel so much better after talking to her. I'm going to see her again in one month.

 

Things that helped me through my convalescence during deconversion was remembering the ridiculous things in the Bible - real comedy gems.

 

Such as the talking donkey in Numbers 22 - try reading that story without thinking of Eddy Murphy!

The more ludicrous miracles such as :

the sticking back of the ear

the Shaun of the Dead Zombie attack in Matthew's Gospel after Jesus dies on the cross

and my personal favourite - Jesus withering a fig tree for being out of season - the only story in which I felt sorry for a tree. It wasn't the trees' fault!

 

Vintage twaddle!

 

Take care

 

Spectrox

[Randi]

LOL, I learned the tree one yesterday! I had never realized that the tree was out of season. It just made me LOL. Thanks for the encouragement!

[notazombie]

I am angry because I believed a lie for 36 years. When I finally did some investigation, the whole thing fell apart like a house of cards. I felt like I had looked behind the curtain and saw that the wizard of oz was just a dude.

 

Silly me, I thought I should share this information with those closest to me. They've known me all of my life and would surely listen to my discovery!

 

You know what happened next. I became an evil god-hater. I kept trying to pull back the curtain to show them but they would turn their heads away and refuse to look.

 

So I am angry. I am angry that the people I've trusted all of my life don't trust me. They dismiss everything I say because I'm satan's pawn. I honestly believe that if any of these people had come to me with this same information sooner I would have listened.

 

I was literally never exposed to the opposite viewpoint. I discovered atheism online...and almost immediately realized I was one.

[espresso]

What a brilliant question!

 

I am angry because my whole life I was never allowed to be angry, and now whenever I think of Christianity I can't feel anything else. Almost everything about it seems so repugnant to me I want to retch. I am normally a cheerful and accepting person, too.

 

I am angry because Christianity is the only thing that matters to most of the people I love most and who should be there for me, especially my immediate family. They try to still love me and support me but they can't and they admit it--I'm not even officially "out" and still they think that my life is worthless because of ONE change in belief. My life is so much more beautiful and worthwhile now, it just burns me up.

 

I am angry because of the stranglehold Christianity has on our culture in the States. Whether on facebook or in the President's speeches, no one is acceptable without lip-service to Christianity. I have to hide who I am while they get to indoctrinate a whole new generation? Fuck that.

 

I am angry for how it takes advantage of children and how it stands in the way of progress and tolerance, as some here have said.

 

I am angry because there are a few things in the world so hideous and destructive that you should be angry about them.

 

I know that ultimately the healthiest thing for me will be to peacefully coexist with Christianity and stay serene. That's definitely my goal. Right now, though, I don't even want to do that. I think I need to metaphorically throw myself against a wall shouting "I'm RIGHT! I'm RIGHT! I'm RIGHT!" in utter futility many more times before I will be able to shrug and walk away.

 

Thanks for the brilliant OP. Good luck with everything.

 

PS Margee--I want to print out your Psalm edit and use it as a bookmark! I don't personally feel a personal betrayal like it describes (there was never anyone there, so who would I be angry with?), but it so powerfully encapsulates one of the emotions of deconversion.

[OnceConvinced]

Anger is a phase you're going to have to go through when you deconvert. It's just the natural order of things. When I went through that stage I asked myself who I was angry at. I asked my self am I angry at God? No, of course not because the God I worshipped doesn't exist. Am I angry at my parents for indoctronating me? No, they were only doing what they thought God wanted. Am I angry at myself for believing Christian BS? No, because I was indoctronated. Society? For allowing children to be brainwashed by deluded parents? Maybe.

 

The thing is it's ok to be angry. Those people who ask why you are angry are simply ignorant.

[Vigile]

I hate christians who lie about their divine experiences in order to 'encourage' nonbelievers to accept the christian faith, or they lie in order to move up a rung on their personal ladder of christian success in the eyes of their peers. One such famous liar was Brother Andrew who smuggled bibles into Europe and Communist countries. He had taught that he used a prayer to blind border agents so they could not see his bibles in his bag in plain sight: It went something like 'Lord as you made the blind see, let seeing eyes be blind,..' or some kind of smarminess like that. A couple of years after Brother Andrew died, some of his own followers admitted the story of the prayer was not true but it added to god's glory so they used it anyway. Somebody say 'amen!'

 

I read that book. I hadn't heard the later part where he was debunked though. Interesting to know.

 

After having lived in Russia now, I seriously doubt they were so vigilant about bibles at the border. No doubt the border was scary back then, but bibles were probably not their main focus. Andrew made it sound like he was sneaking in shit as powerful as heroin.

 

I also doubt the Russians were so hungry for bibles. If you tried telling a Russian the gospel, 99.99 times out of a 100 they'll probably smile or laugh, tell you to chill and have a drink.

[JadedAtheist]

I haven't got a constant anger towards Christians and/or Christianity but there are certain things that flare up the rage within:

 

I wouldn't say that I wasn't a hypocrite when it comes to Christianity (or anything for that matter) as none of us are perfect but I would say that I certainly tried to live as closely as possible to the gospel as I could. I didn't steal, I didn't outright lie (gotta love the half-truths), I didn't swear, I supported the church, I went regularly and I tried to be there for anyone in need because I saw it as an opportunity for Christ to shine through me. What causes me intense amount of anger is the hypocrisy of those that I looked up to and considered spiritual giants. These men were horrible hypocrites, stealing, lying and committing adultery. They did not miss a beat when the opportunity came to stab me in the back. So, when I see these men leading the flock, I'm filled with disgust and I feel like screaming "ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED!? ARE YOU REALLY NOT ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!?!?"

 

I hate how Christianity traps people in ignorance. I remember being in a men's meeting with a gay friend of mine when the topic of homosexuality came up. In response to the gay marriage thing going on in California(?) at the time, one man said "We should just throw them all on an island and let 'em have at it". To say it was awkward would be an understatement. This is actually a tame example, there were other times where homosexuals were completely villanized. I just wondered to myself how they expected a gay person to feel comfortable enough to come to church and repent of their sins in this kind of environment. Now, it just makes me angry that they have any say in the matter.

 

I hate how Christianity teaches people to trust God. I have friends who have lost everything because trusting God was more important than getting a loan to go to college, or cutting down on the tithes so they can pay their mortgage, or leaving home so they'd stop getting bashed for believing in Jesus and so on.

 

That's it for now I guess..