This is the concluding of Brittany’s guest posts in the Different Perspective series.

Neither side has proof that the other side is incorrect; it comes down to belief. I believe modern science provides a convincing and simple explanation of extraordinary beliefs; this is more convincing to me than assuming there is some higher power, and then attempting to determine which higher power or powers is the correct one.

At first blush, it might seem surprising how much our beliefs are similar, when we look for the similarities.  I think that is the main reason I avoid self-identifying as an atheist except to people I know well.  If I say nothing about my beliefs, other people simply assume that I am similar to them, and look for the similarities.  But the term “atheist” screams “other” and “untrustworthy” and “smug,” and leads people to look for other ways in which I’m a huge jerk.

I don’t deny that there are many untrustworthy and smug atheists (maybe we should introduce them to the untrustworthy and smug Christians and let them have at it while we go get coffee). I know that I am on occasion preachy and impatient and condescending, but these faults make me similar to everyone else.  My faults are not ones that are unique to atheists, but occur in everyone (some more than others).  My aspirations are not unique to atheists either, but are ideals for Christians and non-Christians alike.

I may not be trying to be a good Christian, but I am trying to be a good person, which, in the most important ways, amounts to the same thing. So next time you meet an atheist, try to judge him or her on actions rather than labels, and remember that you likely have more in common than different.

Thanks, Brittany, for sharing your perspective, and thanks to all of you for continuing the discussion.

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This is part of the continuing guest posts by Brittany in the Different Perspective series.

I would argue that religions are desirable, in addition to rather inevitable and predictable. The idea of a divine protector gives comfort to people.  Being optimistic about the future is good.  People who are optimistic are more likely to survive illnesses and live fuller, happier lives.  In addition, religious groups give each other support.  They provide the “village” in which to raise children when families are scattered throughout the country and villages have swelled to cities with populations in the thousands.

Of course, there have been absolute atrocities committed in the name of religion, but religions, particularly the ones I am familiar with, advocate things like fellowship, compassion, kindness, humility, self-restraint, and pro-social behaviors, not intolerance and hatred and violence.  Other justifications have and will be found for war and crimes against humanity.

Why abolish something that can be so valuable, just because it can be used for justifying the evil?  Shall we stop teaching people about honor because people have violently defended it?  Or outlaw families because people might aggressively protect them?

However, people don’t need a religion in order to be good. We’re social creatures.  We live in groups.  In order to facilitate group survival, people need to be helpful, kind, compassionate, and behave in ways that make other people like them and include them in their groups.  Of course there are freeloaders, but we identify and punish freeloaders.  We do.  Similarly, if everyone stopped believing in God, the result would not be anarchy.  And most people are not good people because they are afraid of eternal punishment, but because it feels right to be good.

How many true friends do you have that are unkind, arrogant, selfish, self-centered, greedy jerks?  No one likes people like this.  We know that if we acted like this, people would dislike us, and we all have a fundamental need to be liked.  Sure, there are people that get by acting like this, but they manage to find other means (e.g., intimidation) to get people to include them.

Yes, we need to teach our children how to be good human beings, but we don’t necessarily need religion to do it.  Religion is one good way to do it, but not the only way. Do you have to think to yourself “I better be good, or it’s hellfire and brimstone otherwise”?  Do you tell your kids “be nice or you’ll go to Hell”?  Of course you don’t.  It’s insulting to atheists to be told that we’re bad people, because the threat of damnation doesn’t hang over our heads.  We don’t tell Christians (or at least, if we’re not the obnoxious, smug, anti-religious atheists, we don’t) that they’re actually bad people because it takes divine intervention for them to act like decent human beings.

To put it simply, I am just as put off by jerks as you are. I think murder and rape and robbery and theft and vandalism and envy and arrogance and laziness and all of the other sins and commandments (well, maybe not the idols) are as bad as you do.  I just think that morality and ethicality are not necessarily inextricably linked to belief in the divine.

Next week, Brittany will point out the similarities we share, Catholics and atheists.

This is part of the continuing guest posts by Brittany in the Different Perspective series.

As an atheist, I have kept my beliefs to myself for a long time, because I was afraid what people would think about me. Atheists are one of the most disliked and least trusted groups in America according to public opinion polls.  Because of an obnoxious minority of smug and anti-religious atheists, Christians I don’t even know feel perfectly happy or even justified to question or even berate me for my beliefs, and the Christians who love me berate me and question my beliefs because of concern for my eternal soul.

As for me, I mostly don’t want to talk about it.  I am afraid of the baggage that comes along with the term “atheist.”  I am afraid that to religious people, my atheism is synonymous with the view that they are stupid or, worse, Satanists (a belief held by a not-insubstantial group of people).

I believe what I believe, because, as a social psychologist who studies human behavior, I am aware of and conduct experiments on a variety of judgmental and perceptual biases that are usually great, but lead people astray in certain situations.

This does not make them stupid. I believe that people who believe in the supernatural have many reasons to do so; we’re programmed to see patterns in our worlds; we’re particularly likely to see intentionality where none exists. Look at all the people who act like their pets or even inanimate possessions are people, for example.

We naturally assume that people’s behavior was intentional and reflect underlying traits.  We have a fundamental problem understanding what randomness looks like, we think things are linked more than they are, and we don’t understand covariation. This doesn’t make people stupid; it makes them human.  Of course some people see the caprices of fate and invent a benevolent god who will look out for them and help them when they really need it.  I see nothing wrong or stupid about believing the world is a better place than perhaps it really is.  I just don’t have the same belief myself.  I don’t think of it in terms of who’s right at all, and I certainly am not secretly laughing at people who are religious.

In next week’s post, Brittany will share why she doesn’t think religion is bad.

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