Why are Atheists afraid to insult Islam and Jews?

[*Deidre*]

Not "exaggerating" anything. Jews and Muslims and Christians cant get along. Their respective governments circle the wagons and protect their respective tribes. Those governments have weapons. And are willing to die over old books. That to me is insanity. And you should consider what is more important, an "insult" or a nuclear war because this is also the same rock you live on.
Now you'd advocate for the sake of political correctness they don't get picked on when they are holding our planet hostage? You must not watch the news that much.
Make all three of them a deal, when they stop fighting then I'll stop picking on them.

I was indoctrinated as a kid into Christianity. I carried it with me into adulthood. Over the past five years, and I was still a theist when I met most of these people, I became friends with more atheists than theists. I've dated more atheists than theists, as well, even when I was a theist. Having said that, not a one ever insulted me. They didn't respect religion in a general sense, and believed that Christianity was the folly of fools. (did this make me a fool? perhaps) But, they educated me. And I educated myself. I began to look at Christianity without subjective rose colored glasses and started to examine it for what it truly is...at best hearsay, at worst...lies. Maybe a combination of both. It became a natural conclusion for me to position myself with atheism. But, even then, last year I felt myself missing the lies! The comfort of the lies. And I was insulted by a few people who I thought were my friends, but since returning to my rightful position of atheism, those people have since apologized. But, I understand why they insulted me. And they understood why I missed faith. Deconversion is not easy for people who have lived a life of faith. I can see clearly now how silly religion is, but back then...I didn't. 

If you ever come across a theist, befriend one. Take one under your wing, and teach him/her...educate him/her. Not in an attacking or forceful way but in a way that seems inviting. That is how religion will die out, if it ever does. You can't insult away an ideology. If it were that easy, religion would have been eradicated a long time ago. 
That's all I'm trying to say, Brian. 

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@Brian

Bill Maher is quite funny (coming from a non-native English speaker) but he is also anti-vaccination - As I said before, no one is free from delusions

Religious people kill over their beliefs? So what? People kill over politics, ideology, money, pieces of land, sex and love - Why do atheists give special treatment to religion? Do you believe that killing for religion is worse than killing for ideology? Your assertion is (much like many intellectually weak atheist arguments) overly narrow minded and only displays a very specific viewpoint on religion

The point of Deidre is that in social circles atheism is sometimes associated with insulting and hating religion when there is no absolute commandment for that - Some atheists like Alain de Botton think religion can teach atheists something and we should just steal those positive aspects from it. New Atheism in particular is characterized for a fierce criticism of religion. Seeing the world trough one group's perspective is harmful to oneself and prevents self-examination and self-critique. If you spend your life listening to lectures by Richard Dawkins you will most likely grow up thinking religion is a force of evil to be eradicated or that it is a disease/virus that spreads trough the mind and corrupts people. Not everyone shares the view that atheists need to be hostile towards religion and not everyone spends their live writing books like The God Delusion. 

Wake up - Atheists can be as delusional as other people. Not believing in god doesn't make you a special snowflake or give you intellectual superiority like Dawkins indirectly advocates - It just means you are rationalizing well on the field of theology. It doesn't mean anything else. The fact atheism is just a lack of belief in god is not important as much as what atheists do with their lives and how they organize themselves, and we are prone to the same dogmas, groupthinking and narrow views as everyone else. Atheists don't have different brain patterns or chemical properties. We function the same way. There's no reason to promote groupthinking mentalities of atheists V theists specially considering much stronger divisions in the world like social class.

Not "exaggerating" anything. Jews and Muslims and Christians cant get along. Their respective governments circle the wagons and protect their respective tribes. Those governments have weapons. And are willing to die over old books. That to me is insanity. And you should consider what is more important, an "insult" or a nuclear war because this is also the same rock you live on.

I always wonder if you ever considered why tribalism is wrong... I think tribalism, even if it sounds outdated, is a natural instinct and there's nothing in it to be afraid of. I prefer my own group to others. I prefer my family (tribe) to the rest of society. That is a valuable concept for the future of our societies that will probably drastically change in the next 50 years (And I will be alive to see it). Jews, Muslims and Christians have got along during history in certain time periods. What exactly do you think religion is causing? Under what evidence? Do you think that Obama is attacking ISIS because of Christianity? 

Now you'd advocate for the sake of political correctness they don't get picked on when they are holding our planet hostage? You must not watch the news that much.

Make all three of them a deal, when they stop fighting then I'll stop picking on them.

You sound exactly like a preacher saying "i'm right because I said so". Did you notice that? Do you have any proof for your claims? What planet is hostage? Only if you consider humans the captors

The ugly truth is religion teaches humans to die over old books and Sam Harris is right, and so is Ayaan and Bill, far too many well intended liberals on the left use arguments like in this thread to shut down a conversation.

Hmm not all religions have books (if we consider them all) and if we exclude the problematics in Islam I think there's many justifications to kill or not and you can find them theologically or ideologically. Killing each other is part of the natural state of affairs as well. Sam Harris shows a narrow view on religion like the rest of New Atheism (seriously - atheism can't have dogma right? Why do they all sound the same then?) - You should try to read on someone who shows a different view.


As for your argument about leaving superstition - It's not that easy. You see, I'm educated, middle class and privileged - Because I know something about science, I have time to develop my intellect and I don't need religion I can understand how our universe works (the basics) and justify my non-belief in god. You don't get to mock someone for believing in god or even creationism if they don't have an education, are extremely poor and no one helped them get out of ignorance. If you are intelligent you shouldn't mock people who have lower IQ's and have trouble understanding easier concepts and letting theist beliefs go. Some people go trough desperate life situations and believing in something higher helps them cope. I never lost a relative in a terrible situation like some of my friends did - My brain isn't a copy of other people's brains, and therefore I can't judge people for being religious or believing on the basis of my perspective and life experience when no one shares it (only me).

The vision that destroying religion will create a better world is a narrow minded reductionist naive one and reminds me vaguely of the final goal of converting everyone to the same faith. If we consider social circumstances, nurturing and biological aspects that lead to religion, I think it is impossible a world without religious people unless you want to become a soviet Union. Even if you provided a perfect society, considering there's about 7-10% of elite scientists who are religious, I think we can only conclude it's in some people's nature. To believe otherwise is going against human psychology, sociology and our history - It's a delusion like any other. Human beings are not known for being rational. Atheists are rational towards the god question, but we can be irrational for everything else.


Don't get me wrong - You can criticize religion everyday all you want, but if you want to be freethinker try to avoid narrow minded perspectives and actually search for the truth

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Well-intended liberals remember what has happened when bigotry is not checked. There is a difference between being polite to the point of seeking political correctness and attacking someone's beliefs merely to attack their beliefs.

I agree that every group needs to be checked. Organized atheism is not an exception. Thinking one group is magically different and right is naive and leads to disasters. No one thought the national-socialist party of Germany would get anywhere. Believing something will not happen is the reason why it happens. Atheists are not free from dogmas and they usually replace religious dogmas with other dogmas even if they don't realize it themselves (we all do it subconsciously).