Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-226878-20150710200046/@comment-24891101-20150729201635

The reason we mostly see atheism in the West taking issue with Christianity and occasionally Islam is that those are the most familiar, and the most powerful. It is historically Christian and Muslim societies in which the atheists we are familiar with exist. They also have historically had the most influential theocrats, and their shortcomings are more obvious. Modern Western atheism largely defined itself in contrast to Christianity, because it was in Christian societies in which it arose, and it continues to exist in largely-Christian societies, where many atheists are deconverts from some manner of such, and are thus most preoccupied with it. Similarly, Islam has had a long history with the West, and the increasing geopolitical relevance and awareness of predominantly-Muslim regions shapes the discourse in the West. Contrariwise, large religions like Hinduism are less familiar, and have haad less of an influence on atheism in the West. Presumably, if one were to peruse writings by Indian atheists in their own languages, one would find more focus on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and less on Christianity. And remember what I said about not particularly caring about religion in general? That's clearly an extension of the general human trait of not giving fucks about things distant and not affecting one. More minor religions like Shintoism aren't causing trouble for atheists, or making noise about theocracy in the West, and so are relatively harmless.

As to your last point, a Stephen Roberts quote is useful: ''I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. ''This is an imperfect quote, and I don't really want to get mired in the details of it, but the central point is informative. To atheists, all gods have basically the same level of legitimacy, since they're unproven (I speak in general terms here, and there may be people who disagree). The term God, while often used to refer to the Christian god, is a relative term, not exclusive to that particular deity. Allah literally means the god in Arabic, for instance. It's just that to us, that term is so closely linked to Christianity, that saying one disbelieves in God might allows one to have a different religion. But as you've realized, an atheist's disbelief in God also means disbelief in gods in general, merely emphasising the first on account of the above.