"Theophobia", or the irrational fear and/or hatred of God, does not exist; at least, not in any meaningful sense.

First of all, it's both insulting and laughably ludicrous to say that atheism is theophobic, or to say it is 'denial'. Atheists do not believe in gods. You can hardly fear or hate something which you do not believe exists. I suppose it could be claimed that some atheists fear or hate the *idea* of God, but that is not at all the same thing.

Conversely, if a theist fears or hates God, it's hard to see how such feelings are irrational. After all, if you believe that there's an infinite, omnipotent, omniscient etc. being out there, it's pretty rational to fear it, since it could destroy you with a thought. Moreover, if this being is responsible for everything that's ever happened, it follows that it must be responsible for every evil ever perpetrated. If we can reasonably hate Hitler for killing millions in concentration camps and causing millions more deaths on the battlefield, certainly it is reasonable to hate the being ultimately responsible for all death and destruction.


I should probably note that this was originally (at least in part) intended as a response to an earlier writeup that said things like "atheists deny God because they fear Him" and other such... things. In all honesty, I can't remember anything more specific than that.