I must admit this is a reasonable question. On the surface, it does seem that many of the atheists views you read on the Internet are pretty confrontational and seem perhaps to be openly disrespectful of christains. Well, there is a perfectly good reason for this. If you had bothered to take the time to research it this fact would be blindingly obvious. The reason is that those atheists brave enough to speak out at all are pretty damn angry. We are angry of the hypocrisy and intolerance of the rest of the world and especially of you christians.
Please do not speak of intolerance when atheists are (by you) today the single most disrespected and least-tolerated group on the planet after terrorists and dictators. Our problem is that the vast majority of atheists do not speak out. You do not hear their voice for fear of persecution. We are marginalised, therefore the only voice you hear and the majority of opinions you find in the open public domain are of those atheists that have just had enough. We are well pissed off.
Please observe your christian reaction when you read the following headlines:
- State-funded atheist school opens in Kansas
- US Atheist Presidential candidate ‘outed’;
- Atheism makes it onto the British National Curriculum
For a US member of state or a British prime Ministerial candidate to confess to atheism would be pure heresy and political suicide (we still await a politician in both the US and the UK honest enough and brave enough to ‘come out’ – Parliament and Congress are absolutely bursting with closet atheists). Other groups that have fought the battle of intolerance, prejudice and bigotry (I’m thinking of the Blacks, the Gays and Women) have succeeded in making us all think twice about our prejudices and have ultimately secured a much better life for themselves, and we now support their cause whole-heartedly. Each one of these campaigns has suffered violence and aggression on both sides. I have yet to hear news of an atheist activist setting fire to himself, sabotaging a Royal event by jumping in the path of a racing thoroughbred, or hijacking a commercial airliner.
Our anger is justified because we continue to be ignored, ostracised and disrespected. You do not even bother to afford us the same false respect you give to other groups. In order to conform to the current vogue of political correctness, you must respect other religious communities. Of cause you claim to respect the religious beliefs of others, but you do not. You think them deluded. Your god is the real god, right? You tolerate, encourage and fund (with my money) religious community groups, schools, clinics and support groups. I was unable to find an atheist school for my son (you think it’s ridiculous that I could even think of such a thing, right? Would you be happy to pay for one with your taxes?). We were automatically turned away from schools when we checked the ‘No’ box for the ‘Are you Catholic’ question.
The most ridiculous part of it all is you get further in almost any social or political situation if you claim to be a follower of a religion. Any religion: please subscribe to one of the popular faiths – but not atheism (that’s not a faith). Atheism isn’t supported, respected, or tolerated. So, enough of the hypocrisy. I am an angry opponent of your belief system. But rest assured, you are very lucky because in spite of my anger I will never cause you any physical harm, I won’t shoot you, bomb you or strap dynamite to my body and walk into your home.
I do not respect your beliefs so I do not expect you to respect mine. But I am the safest enemy you have. At least respect that.
