VICTORY

[Esquilax]

No, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions and get upset over those with different beliefs and opinions.

When atheist do stuff like this and 'un-baptizing highways' with 'un-holy water' it makes them look really, really bad.

Only to those who are so fundamentally lacking in a sense of humor or propriety that a silly little joke constitutes some major offense.

Or even opposing leaving the beams that look like crosses standing in the wreck of the world trade center. Families and friends have died in that wreck and if letting Christians have their cross beams helps them sleep at night then just let them have it :eyeroll:

Yes, families and friends did die in that wreck, and not all of them were christian. That's the point, there; you seem to be unable to pick out the reasons why an atheist group might do some of these things in the same way the christians who'd bitch about them want to simplify it all down to "they're litigious, easily offended bullies," because pretending there isn't a reason is much easier than refuting one.

The point, in the case of the world trade center wreck, is in honoring all of the people that died there, and not unfairly privileging some of them because they believe in the most geographically popular magic man. When you say "oh, it helps them sleep at night," are you even considering all of the other people, who weren't christian, who lost people there? Where do they factor into your little "let the baby have its bottle" scheme?

The larger point to all of these things, of course, is that if you let religions take an inch, they'll take a mile, and then they'll complain and get offended when any other group tries to encroach on their rapidly growing collection of miles. This isn't about coddling the christian's feelings so that we don't look bad, it's about not allowing the christians to run roughshod over the landscape and the culture, and breaking down that assumption that they own everything around them, and are just allowing other people to live there. The reason shit like this makes atheists "look bad" is because of the entrenched christian privilege that makes them think that equal representation and not being able to do absolutely any magic ritual they want at any time and in any place is an attack on them specifically.

We don't repair that damage by allowing them to continue being offended by our very existence.

I'm just really sick of Christians and atheists starting wars with each other and not being capable of articulating a grounded argument without one side (or both) bringing emotions to the surface by getting offended, name calling and even telling people they should die.

I understand that religious people are going to say stuff like 'God bless you' and 'I'm praying for you'. It their right to believe just like it's yours to not conform to their beliefs. But when the atheists come in claiming to be more mature and then act less than so it just proves that one party needs to step up and put on the 'big boy pants' to diffuse all of this tension. I assume (I would hope) that it would be the atheist to take it upon themselves to correct this horrible notion of 'non-believers'. Especially since intellect is such a prized possession amongst them.

I've yet to see it in action and I no longer have my hopes up.

Kind of a non sequitur here, but you're still placing responsibility for other people's hurtful, untrue generalizations onto the victims of them. It's not our job to correct christian misrepresentations of atheists; it's their job to open their fucking eyes and accept reality.

Their lies are not our fault.