Why do certain people hate atheists?

[JHB]

13. Because to those ones, you have actively rejected All That Is Good And Right...

...In The World. Particularly ones for whom the "all grace comes from God" bit isn't metaphorical; they can't see even abstractly how you could be a good person and not believe in God. You, my friend, are in the wrong damn pigeonhole.

They then ascribe all sorts of vile behaviors to their mental picture of "atheist" and really can't process it when it doesn't match reality. That's why the "angry atheist/hates God" meme is so strong with these sorts. They may rail when Bill Mahr or Richard Dawkins says something, but it fits in with their overall view of atheist as miscreant.

The one-time epicenter for this was Madelyn Murray O'Hare. However I might regard here in terms of rights cases, when I first saw her on television (on a talk show: Donahue or the like), holy Croesus! She was the most obnoxious person I'd ever seen. And as much as the people you're talking about hated her, she was their very template for what an 'atheist' was. Someone who was, in their view, a social vandal.


And they go to a weekly echo chamber that reinforces this sort of view, undeterred by that "good Samaritan" story by the guy they worship as deity.