It always surprises me how little religious people actually understand atheism. I believe it has something to do with the fact they can’t possibly imagine why anyone would choose to reject the notion of God. It must be doubly confusing if your entire life is defined by your faith. It’s this fundamental lack of understanding that’s behind the latest claim from Jake the Evangelical, who says atheists can’t possible have any passion since they don’t believe in anything.

His article is the standard fare for most of these undereducated yokels; Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is somehow false, atheists deny everything that exists, and for some reason, every freethinker literally worships the ACLU. If it weren’t so insanely wrong and plain ignorant, I might have actually found these claims to be amusing. But the truth is these guys have a strong influence on their poorly read and grossly uneducated crowd, and they continue to spread falsehoods about what it means to be an atheist.

In my time writing for this site, I’ve always tried to put myself in the shoes of others. I try to understand how deeply religious people might feel about others who threaten their world view. Atheism for guys like Jake is the biggest threat to the authority of their church. It’s why they feel the need to continue to spread falsehoods and outright lies to undermine us.

I’m an atheist, and anyone who has ever heard the podcast or who has read my articles knows I’m a passionate man. I’m especially passionate when redneck morons go around making asinine claims like ‘Darwin was wrong’ or atheists are nihilists who are bent on destroying the fabric of society. It hasn’t occurred to these morons that we are happy, moral people who don’t require a Bronze Age deity to tell us what to do. We have faith in the goodness of others, and in the power of human beings to choose their own destiny. I think you’ll find many of us are passionate about truth far more than Jake the Evangelical is.