(May 2, 2015 at 10:40 am)mbk734 Wrote: I grew up exposed to several religions and also found Charles Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Sam Harris (End of Faith). There are many atheists that don't speak up around their religious friends so they don't offend them. After all, there is freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion in the USA. I am somewhat torn because some of the nicest people I know are Christians that volunteer, help the homeless, etc. However, most of the smartest people I know are atheists. I think it is the radical people in any religion or political group that are harmful. Ultra conservative Republicans, ultra liberal democrats, radical Islam, etc. But I wonder if militant atheists are bad or religion is worse. It seems as though young people are more secular than previous generations and atheists are on the rise. It will be interesting to see how things progress with the Vatican, Radical Islam, and Israel in this century.
Are you a quiet, respectful atheist, or a militant atheist out to show people how wrong and harmful religion is?
I don't think it is a fair comparison, even though the language may make it seem so, to equate militant atheists with militant theists. I am not aware of militant atheists beheading believers or atheists who do not agree with them, are you? And since atheism, per se, does not have any rules, it is hard to come up with any examples of militant atheists trying to make their rules into law, unlike militant theists, who want to turn the U.S. into a theocracy. So I don't see militant atheists as a problem. They may be as rude as militant theists, but rudeness is nothing compared with beheadings and putting one's religious beliefs into law.
Also, in the U.S., many religious people are constantly talking about their religion, so it seems a bit ridiculous (and hypocritical) to expect atheists to keep quiet about their views in such an environment. If someone does not want a subject discussed publicly, they ought not bring up the subject publicly themselves.
Oh, and welcome to the forum!
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
