(December 20, 2011 at 1:21 am)aleialoura Wrote: Personally, I joke a lot, but really only do it here, because I feel like this is a safe haven. People are going to hate atheists whether we're the most respectful people on the earth, or we eat babies. (See my sig) They've hated us for a long time now, and no amount of respect we could give the religious society in this world would redeem us in their eyes. I see where you're coming from, Perhaps. I know that there are good religious people. I never bitch about Hindus, because Hindus never bitch about me, or tell me that I had better worship their gods or I'll be punished for eternity. At least in Hinduism, you have a chance to redeem yourself in another life, and they don't have a long history of slaughtering people for not believing what they believe. I am nice, and respectful to people of all faiths, as long as when they ask me what church I attend, and I reply with the absolute truth, they don't look immediately offended and start treating me differently.
A lot of times, I think, what if I were a brown skinned person? would they even ask if I looked arab, and smelled of incense?. You know they wouldn't, but because I am white, they want to make sure I'm a Christian, and that pisses me off. Their entire nature is disrespectful to the future of human life, and a lot of us are atheists for that reason, among others. This is why we don't sit around and discuss ways in which we could be more respectful toward them, rather than speaking our minds. We've tried both ways, and it turns out, they would still laugh when one of us dies at the thought of us burning in hell. Not all of them, you're right, but no atheist in the world would ever do that to anyone. Yet we're the one's who are the most hated.
We have to get this shit out.
Just when I began to wonder if myself and like-minded people who share my worldview are just bitter and mean spirited toward their "lesser" counterparts, you summed it up beautifully, aleialoura, great post.
We need to get this shit out with like minded individuals to keep from going insane when dealt with the everyday crap you have to deal with to be a non-believer. I tend to be very negative in thoughts and attitude toward the faithful, but I'm very anti-confrontation when dealt with real-life insanity and more than willing to humor anyone who wants to get into a religious conversation, usually trying to get a handle on why they think the way they do.
