Why have atheists left extremely hateful hateful comments on the Pope's Twitter account?

[roundguitar189]

Because atheists are often extremely hateful.

It's not rocket science.

Anger (and thus hate) is secondary. It stems from one of two places: fear or hurt. That's Psychology 101. When someone acts so hatefully, you can be sure that they have been hurt or are afraid.

Now, I'm sure it's true that some atheists have been shunned by family, have been harmed by people who were religious, and thus have some anger that they direct at the Pope that stems from this hurt. However, it's far more likely that those who are so angry at what they consider to be a real-world representation of God are motivated more out of fear that their choice in belief is wrong. They don't want to believe in God, but this makes them afraid and conflicted, and they can't admit that to themselves, because such an admission is an admission that God exists. Their fear comes out as anger, and they direct their anger into hate at the Pope, at Christians, at churches, and other such places.

Atheism is quite unhealthy, mentally.

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It's worth noting that I'm not Catholic. I have no need to defend the Pope. I don't think there's a need for a Pope, and I think that scripture tells us that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and have equal access to him through Jesus. The Pope and I could agree on who Jesus was, but very little else. In fact, if they made me Pope, I'd dismantle the Catholic church almost immediately.

The difference however, is that I'm not fearful of what the Pope represents, and so I don't need to spew hate his way. My disagreement isn't justifiable as hate, whereas for the atheists, it is. See how it works?