Even if 'religiously unaffiliated' does not equate to atheism, it doesn't matter.
Even if they believe in a god of some sort, the 'religiously unaffiliated' are not very likely to: to prevent homosexuals from marrying, try to get pseudoscience taught in public schools, fly planes into buildings at 400 kph, perform 'honor killings', pray for their dying child instead of getting medical help, etc.
It's the bad dogma associated with the religious beliefs that usually go along with a god belief that are harmful.
I don't see any pantheist vs deist wars going on. I don't see too many Unitarian-Universalists blowing themselves up in public places. I've never once been threatened by a deist because I didn't believe in a god of first cause.
Even if they believe in a god of some sort, the 'religiously unaffiliated' are not very likely to: to prevent homosexuals from marrying, try to get pseudoscience taught in public schools, fly planes into buildings at 400 kph, perform 'honor killings', pray for their dying child instead of getting medical help, etc.
It's the bad dogma associated with the religious beliefs that usually go along with a god belief that are harmful.
I don't see any pantheist vs deist wars going on. I don't see too many Unitarian-Universalists blowing themselves up in public places. I've never once been threatened by a deist because I didn't believe in a god of first cause.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
