Becoming an angry atheist

[Mudhammam]

So as time passes I find myself becoming less tolerant of religious BS and of religion in general. When I first came out I was around religious moderates and reasonable people. I told them I disagreed with them, but if they got something out of it whatever. It just wasn't for me. And they were all very understanding. And in my university, well it's a university. Such things are widely accepted there (even in oklahoma).

However recently some folks have been blathering on Facebook about the damn "war on Xmas" and how this should be a godly nation. And I try not to comment. Whatever. It's their page, they can believe what they want. But the oh-so-subtle attacks are starting to get to me.

I'm getting sick of hearing subtle jibes against me. I'm getting sick of people I care about thoughtlessly reposting and sharing such sentiments. And I'm nearly at the point of calling out some people publicly on it.

And I'm generally not an angry atheist. I love christmas. I like Easter. If you privately want a religious celebration on your personal property, or on church property, great! Go for it! I'm just sick of public officials subtly implying that to be a proper american I have to follow their beliefs.

It's entirely understandable. But I think that atheists ought to remain cautious about allowing anger to become emotional to a point that it detracts from the necessity of promoting open, rational discourse.