Euronion wrote:I do not hate atheists, I disagree with them sure, but the only cause I've been given to hate on certain atheists is when a certain group of atheists (I'm referring to the Anti-Theist crowd) decide to hate on religion, to call it's proponents stupid, to claim that it is a disease, to claim it is a cancer on the Earth, that it must be fought with a Secular Crusade (oxymoron?) and completely annihilated or in the case of the some big wigs in the U.K. merely most public displays of religion should be annihilated. I have no problem with the atheists that say "I do not believe in God because I find there is no proof of God". I do however harbor a passionate dislike for someone who says, for example, that by funding my local catholic church, helping in St. Vincent de Paul, ect. that I'm stupid, ignorant, blind, and diseased, that if I do not forsake my religious beliefs that I should be put to death or ostracized from society.
This scares me to be quite honest. While I am very aware that the past several thousand years have not been Religious Tolerance Bonanza, I feel very comfortable with the current US position of Religion, and it scares me when I hear people, an increasing minority say such things. It's not that I feel hurt by their words, it's that I fear what may happen when this group becomes such a large hate group that they begin backing up their philosophy with violent action. I have no fear of Secularism, I have a fear of extreme Secularism which is currently going on in Great Britain where Christians are being told they cannot wear the cross on the job and are told they must remove it or face punishment. NSG hasn't exactly assuaged my fears either. I have heard some Atheists cry that since they have been oppressed for the past several thousand years that it is only fair that they get their turn to persecute others and to take revenge on religion. As I said, I am not claiming that they are wrong about being persecuted, but it makes me fear for the safety of my 90 year old self, and my grandchildren and their children if they continue to remain Christian in a time when a hate against Christianity is rising in the world, both from radical Islam and from radical Anti-Theism. I fear what physical harm might befall them from a band of stupid radical teenagers.
By now I am sure you are wondering what the purpose of this thread is. My question to you is have you seen this coming tide? do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing? why or why not?
Ignorant people are ironically the stupid ones in both religious groups and atheistic groups. Simply putting forth the ideas you mentioned above would be in fact ignorant and truly stupid indeed. Dumb and ignorant people plague this world more then any religion has. Im completely non religious so I couldn't care one bit more for atheists or theists.
Basically to put both on fair ground--Both sides have done damage to the world, greater or for lesser an amount. Christianity and many of its followers murder/killed Muslims of the Islamic faith for a piece of land (which can be shared equally and is thanks to Israel) and numerous other reasons. Holy Wars are just the start to what religion has brought negatively to the world, from Christians invading the Middle East and forcing former Vikings to convert, to Muslims invading Spain, to even the former Roman and Greek style of waging war for their god's. Religion has to be honest put a pretty bad stain on human history, technology for one instance was halted from advancing because of Christianity's iron fist corruption (which I'll mention later too) for hundreds of years. Even so, Religion is a faith that brings people together for mostly good deeds and brings morals to people. Faith is not wrong--it can only be corrupted. If you choose to have faith in one of the many religions in the world then good for you.
Now a percentage of both Atheistic and Theist people are pushy and especially ignorant to others. Some Christians only spread hate about going to hell for not believing while some Theists make faith out to be idiocy. Atheists in general are not like this (same goes for other religious people), most in the Atheist community are rational people who simply put science and rationalism before faith. Nothing wrong about this at all. Though the next time you see an ignorant Atheist you can simply tell him that Atheism is a faith as well, only difference is that different atheists believe in separate things; such as the basic "No God" principle, some believe in an after life without a god, reincarnation, and other sorts of beliefs. So calling them a religion can be justified if explained right--They are after all called the "Church of Atheism" in most senses. Anyways. There are those few ignorant bunch that like to spread hate in the atheistic community, simply because science proves them right on most facts and almost everything (not everything yet) can be explained by fact or reason. This is still no excuse for those of that belief to go around being ignorant to others faiths, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and that should never be inhibited ever. Basically in a short tense, ignorant idiocy exists on both sides from Christian kings killing Muslims in the Crusades, to the ignorant trash that some people say. Understanding each others belief system is better then fighting over such things, I for one know a few Muslims, plenty of Christians, even a few Buddhists, and I as a non-religious person accept them as people even if our beliefs are differed. Plus there is nothing wrong in getting to know other religions cultures if your comfortable, I alone have learned many things from Buddhists in a recent wedding ceremony, and hold the good morals of Christianity/similar beliefs to be good for society in some cases.
