Religion: “An institution to express belief in a divine power”

Atheism: Just another modern religion. Who ever said a religion has to involve a positive belief in some sort of deity?

Kirk M’s last blog post..Crocus Among Us

While it is true that some atheists are complete and utter beasts, I disagree that it’s a problem in most atheists. People’s general hatred of us has more to do with their own prejudices than our behavior (and, probably, the fact that for every uppity atheist they know, there are probably two reasonable ones they don’t know about because the discussion has never come up). The Flying Spaghetti Monster is probably close to the worst possible example of atheism getting out of line; it was created directly in response to the people of Kansas’ attempts to take science out of science classes.

I’ve had a few Christians try to argue their religion to me (funnily, they come to me to discuss this topic, yet always act like I’m somehow imposing on them by having the discussion THEY approached ME to have…) One of them asked me why I didn’t just keep my belief to myself, and I told him that I’d stop talking about religion with him if he would promise never to vote again. I can understand the people who don’t want every discussion (or even every religious discussion) to turn into me telling them that I don’t believe in theirs or any other, but at the end of the day I remember that a number of atrocities are justified by religion on a regular basis (even if they aren’t caused by it). This is also the answer to the World of Warcraft analogy by the way. Any fantasy is ok as long as you don’t actually believe it. I don’t remember the last time I voted on an elected official because he professed a sincere believe that warlocks are overpowered and Horde pwns Alliance; maybe I’m living in the wrong congressional district.

“Even the Quiet Intellectual Atheist comes across as if he’s only denying belief to be aversive.” To be honest I have no idea what this even means. V declares herself an atheist, even if she didn’t use that particular word, so apparently there’s a “right” way to not believe in God, but damned if I know what it is from this post.

One final thought: many atheists, including, apparently, V herself seem to harbor the belief that while atheism is fine for “smart people like us,” the rabble still need it to keep themselves happy and in line. I’m the one who believes that people can handle the truth if only they would try, that most people are inherently good, and that while people are right to feel threatened by anger and condescending behavior, we should never be afraid to tell the truth to whomever will listen. Somehow, I get called the snob here.