Celebrate Diversity of Views of Sacrifice by Jesus and 7th cent. Imam

[WIP]

I agree that some activists are doing things that just seem petty. I really really wish that atheists would stop suing city halls to have Christmas mangers taken off city property, for example.

Yes, the Freedom From Religion foundation in particular, spends way too much time, energy and money on things that are of little or no consequence. And I suspect that a lot of the wealthiest and most powerful religious leaders view that as a benefit, because it's a convenient whipping boy to get their troops to rally against. If FFRF was spending more time investigating church sex and tax scandals, they would be doing something far more productive with their time.

However, I do not buy into the premise that we must be kind to religion because it's important to people. No institution, whether it be government or religion or anything else, can be exempt from criticism, mockery, or other exercise of free speech.

-k

Careful how you use that word "WE." My central point is that a lot of atheists...especially the ones who are motivated to join atheist and humanist clubs, are just as inclined to make the common assumption that 'all minds think alike,' which all of the purveyors of various sects and self help cures are prone to do. You do not need religion, and I don't need religion, but it's a mistake to assume that the progress of modern civilization is going to continue on its present track and make the need for religion obsolete.

And religion is quite a large grab bag of different things for people to reach for. A few...especially converts, may be joining a religion for doctrinal reasons; but a lot of people, even in the most fundamentalist churches, don't seem to pay a whole lot of attention to the actual messages being preached....I guess that's why so many evangelical preachers feel the need to shout...they may have started going to that evangelical fundamentalist church in spite of the lectures on creationism and why sex is bad...most of the time...they may be there because they were part of a targeted demographic like 30 something parents of young children, and joined. Of course, many of those people end up leaving after their children have grown.

I'll grant that fundamentalism is a problem, especially when they start fighting with each other. But, the big change in secular humanism over the last 10 years has been the move away from alliances with religious progressives, towards castigating reform-minded religious folk as being equally delusional and mere enablers of the fundamentalists. I don't see anything of value in this approach, and it will likely end up making little atheist/humanist clubs as the non-religious equivalent to fundamentalist churches...with little capacity to engage or influence others outside the group.

[WIP]

You'll have to ask WIP.

For all of your condemnation of atheism, I can't help to notice that you are in close alliance with atheists who share your American exceptionalism and animosity towards Muslims. Is this something you learned from Christian teaching?

[kimmy]

I guess I don't care enough. This whole thing gets a 'meh' from me.

If I was walking down the street and saw some guy blading an infant's scalp, I'd call the cops. Religion or not, that's just wrong.

Likewise the fundamentalist kooks who let their kids die because their religion forbids any medicine except splints and prayer.

-k