Soooo, I wasn't really sure whether this belongs in the Religion forum or the Atheism forum, but I guess the admins/mods can move it if it's horribly out of place. 

I have very many religious friends. Mainly Hindus and Christians, but a few Muslims and Jews thrown in there too. Two of these in particular, a Muslim and a Christian, are among my very best friends, and we frequently debate about religion, god, politics, and loads of other controversial topics. We're all very strong minded, and rarely, if ever, do such discussions result in any one of us actually changing any of our stances. But there's one thing in particular that aggravates me: their blatant dislike and disrespect of my country. They both vehemently hate it, and never fail to say so. However, their opinions, right, they're entitled to them. Right? However annoyed, disrespected, or hurt I may feel when they regularly and often tell me they'd rather die than belong to my country, I accept it. 
And then one day.... I did something unimaginable. Unthinkable. I disrespected religion. Not Christianity, not Islam, just religion in general. The idea of a sky daddy. They know I'm atheists, but I told them I celebrate Christmas because it's fun and merry, and they got mad. Said that's a horrible thing to do. Said my country was the one that commercialized Christmas. Said it's about Jesus. So I told them Jesus could go kiss my ass if he wanted me to believe in him. And well, all hell broke loose...   They said I could never do that again. Apparently, however much we disagree and argue, one topic was off limits to disrespect: religion. God. Sky daddy. 

So, my point is, this, I've decided, is the one single thing I dislike the most about theists. That just because religion is above all for them, they expect it to be above everything for us. What if my country is like god to me? Shouldn't they respect it, if they want me to respect their religion. They kept on telling me "Countries aren't the same as god!!" Well, I get it Susan, only one of them ACTUALLY EXISTS. 
And this isn't just about country. It could be my family, my parents, my hometown. All these things could be god to me. So if theists don't want us to be blasphemous, they should learn when to zip it themselves. 

Thoughts?

TL,DR: Theists think religion is above all and blasphemy is a crime, but disrespecting someone else's country, opinions, family (which could be like god to that person) etc is ok because that's not the same as religion. And I think that's hypocritical and dumb. 

PS: This has probably been said countless times before on AF but I didn't wanna necro post. 

PPS: I don't usually disrespect religion in public, this is more of a 'what if'.

I agree, and we see similar kinds of reactions from many theists here. They take criticism or mockery of ideas as an attack on them as a person. In contrast, I wouldn't take personally the mockery of any idea I held to be true or important. I also wouldn't care, especially when the mockery held no merit.

The prevailing theory I have seen is that "gods" are an idealized projection of the self; so a criticism of god is automatically internalized. It's easy to see that this is the case, and it also destroys the idea of a single god pretty easily: god agrees with every theist (about morality and its desires), while they disagree with each other.

Think you need to fix "TL,DR: Atheists think religion is....". Think you meant theists. 

I have christians all around me like that and have told them not to bring up religion if they don't want to hear what I have to say.

As to countries, none are perfect, same as people. Is their hate actually jealousy turned sideways?

(July 21, 2018 at 12:37 pm)robvalue Wrote:  In contrast, I wouldn't take personally the mockery of any idea I held to be true or important. I also wouldn't care, especially when the mockery held no merit.

Same here. People criticize both US and India, the two countries close to my heart, all the time, but I see no point in sweating it. I do, however, tend to use that argument when they get all hot and bothered at my opinions on religion. 

(July 21, 2018 at 12:38 pm)mh.brewer Wrote: Think you need to fix "TL,DR: Atheists think religion is....". Think you meant theists. 

As to countries, none are perfect, same as people. Is their hate actually jealousy turned sideways?

Yikes, fixed it. Thanks for spotting it. 

Well, I think a majority of the people hating on USA aka the country I mentioned in the original post, are actually a little jealous of the power the US has on a global scale, and they're not ready to admit that even to themselves. But I do also think there are several good reasons because of which people dislike it, it's not a perfect country by any measure, but in my very biased opinion it's one of the best, and deserves a better rep. But as long as they're not directly harming Americans physically or mentally, I couldn't care less. 

I don't mind to trash and sometimes verbally abuse theists. I give a fucking rat ass if they are offended by it. They deserve to be ridiculed. I have been questioned about my ethics and my morals by fanatics. Which is quite strange when I have been working around the world with Emergency Management and I've seen what the theists ethics and morals create. I'm carry an anger and some might call it a hatred toward theists for what they have done and what they are doing still.

I regularly slag off my own country when it merits it, also.

(July 21, 2018 at 1:35 pm)robvalue Wrote: I regularly slag off my own country when it merits it, also.

So do I, and it seems to merit it more and more lately. 

(July 21, 2018 at 1:35 pm)robvalue Wrote: I regularly slag off my own country when it merits it, also.

I slag off myself. I'm a fat middle aged man.

-delete-

Dodo, it was one reason why I rarely write anything about religion without throwing in an expletive... or three.  The biggest problem with these sanctimonious cunts is that they still think it is the 12th century where their idiotic superstitions are too be treated with "respect."  Fuck them.  It's 2018 and they can blow jesus ( or allah ) out their asses.  They desperately need to learn that being childish simpletons does not garner respect.