Is everybody equal in atheism?

[TaraJo]

Are atheists inherently against religion? I think this is the question that is really being asked. As others have mentioned, there is a continuum. Some atheists see religion as able to peacefully coexist in society. Others would argue that religion is a form of control and should thereby be demolished and undermined. It's about one's personal beliefs and experiences.
It has been my personal experience that there are instances and even individuals whose experience and memories of 'reality' are quite different from what I perceive. For me, this is exemplified in my strained relationship with my parents. I recently took a statistics class, and got an A. When I told my mother she was shocked and said, "I'm surprised, you were never very good at math." Which is simply not true. I was always in honors math at school. In fact, I took the ACT exam when I was 12, after scoring in the 99th percentile on a standardized test in, you guessed it, math. Her perception of reality is very different from the actuality of what happened. The why of this incongruence is debatable and a fascinating psychological topic. The fact remains, that 'X' could have definitively happened, but some would say it never did, and still be able to pass any form of lie detector, because they truly believe their view of reality. Reality, even if it's the question of whether or not it's raining, is a subjective experience.

Yeah, I think there are good people in history who have been driven by their religious beliefs. Martin Luther King is a prime example. Ghandi is another good one. Mother Theresa was a fuckin' nun but she did tremendous good works with her life.

And I've also seen people on their death beds, with nothing to take comfort in except the idea that they're going to be reunited with loved ones who died long ago. As much as I don't believe that's going to happen, I don't think it's wrong to cling to whatever comfort you can find when you know your time is short (and I do think it would be a dick move for me to crush those dreams).

And, yes, obviously, religion has been used to hurt a lot of people over the years. Religion is just a tool men created and like any other man made tool, it can be used for good or bad. The religion isn't to blame as much as the person who wields it.

Yeah, so you beleive something then. Dosen't matter what it is or how you put it, its still a beleif.

I hate this argument, I really do. Whether or not being an atheist is a belief is just arguing the details. I suppose, if you wanted to get down to the nitty gritty, you could get into an argument over the statements "I believe there is no god" and "I don't believe in any god." I can easily see how one of those statements can be interpreted as a belief; however, I still stand by what I've said elsewhere: unity will serve us a lot better than infighting, especially when it's infighting over details.