Why do atheists hate religion?

Answer 1

Don't think many atheists actually hate religion.

Most would simply find it pointless and misleading.

It'd make more sense to hate what some people do in the name of religion. Religion has been the root cause for several wars and many, many acts of terrorism.

Answer 2

Atheists are people who have become aware of the fact that there is no god. They are not angry at god anymore than adults are angry at the monster under themed when they realize there isn't one. Hating religion is not included in the definition of being an atheist, although some do. As for religion most atheists see it is a self serving enterprise that diverts people's time and money from more useful activities. Furthermore they see that the elite of religious staff and their minions often subvert their power and control to ignoble ends. This makes them no different from dictators, con men, computer frauds who call up to debug your system and shifty used car dealers. Nobody likes people like that or the organizations they work for. Saying you hate them might be a bit overboard.

Answer 3

Not all Atheists hate religion, but for those who do, usually called "Anti-Theists" both by themselves and by their opponents in the Atheist community, do for several reasons. Note that most Anti-Theists hate religion as a set of ideas, but not religious people, seeing them as the victims of indoctrination.

1) Mental Slavery: The primary argument that Anti-Theists make about religion, especially Christopher Hitchens, is that religion is a form of mental enslavement. According to the Anti-Theists, the adherent of a religion sublimates his own personal beliefs and actions to the will of an imaginary god, forsaking his own, far better modern morality and ethics. Hitchens has expressly called Darwin a "Great Emancipator" for giving people a metric for belief in how species diversified outside of religion, allowing people to break their slave bonds. Richard Dawkins argues that the teaching of religion when people are young inculcates them in this form of mental slavery.

2) Uncritical Thinking: According to Anti-Theists, religions promote a kind of dogmatic thinking style and repress the development of critical thinking. In both analytical arguments and in science, critical thinking is necessary to progress society. If religions cannot produce the kind of people necessary for this progress, and actual promote the exact opposite type of person, religion will retard progress and may actually lead to regress.

3) Criminal Actions: Anti-Theists point to criminal activities performed both by the leadership of religious organizations (like the Catholic Pederasty Scandals) and by religious laity (like Jihadist Terrorism) as another reason to hate religion. They argue that the way religious leaders have gone about addressing the criminality in their religious organizations or the interpretations that lead to violence among the laity shows no attempt to seriously improve the situation. On the contrary, the actions by religious leaders have primarily been to either skirt prosecution for these crimes (such as the relocation of Catholic Priests or hiding them in the Vatican to evade law enforcement) or to obfuscate the religion's relationship with those crimes (like the numerous Imams and Muslim Activists who call those who link Jihadism with Islam as racists and Islamophobes instead of contributing helpfully to the conversation).

4) Scientific Policy: Fundamentalist religion often stands in opposition to science or certain aspects of science and tries to prevent the teaching of science or performance of science which conflicts with their religious views. Most notably in this camp currently is the Creationist and Intelligent Design Movements in the United States. However, historically, followers of both Christianity and Islam attacked numerous scientists who promoted ideas about the universe which contravened the Holy Book.

5) Tax Privileges and Political Perks:Anti-Theists are bothered by the benefits that religions are entitled to by law in many countries. In most Non-Western countries, there is an official state religion which is protected by the state and receives public funding to maintain its religious seminaries and houses of worship. In Great Britain, faith schools receive public funding and, in the USA, religious organizations are tax exempt and have an automatic charitable classification. Religious groups are often not required, even in developed countries, to submit clear profit and loss statements or other business documents required of similarly-sized businesses or charities.

6) Religious-Conditioned Prejudice of Atheists and Others:Anti-Theists are bothered that religions often demonize any person outside of their religious group, especially atheists. It sets identity in a group over individual character and reinforces in-group preferences. It creates unnecessary antagonism between people who would otherwise get along relatively well.