New Member, and a strong Atheist.

[everythingafter]

I respect you option to not work for equality, but I also expect your recognize my right to be a political Atheist pushing for the Atheist’s rightful position in society.

I think you might be wrongly using the word "political" to describe some sort of secular society of which you may favor, for atheism doesn't even approach the realm of politics and is just a denial in the existence of a deity. If it's a secular society you're after, I would suggest moving to Europe. You won't get it anytime in the near or even distant future here in the good USA (and especially not in this dimly lit Bible belt). We can be quite open about our non-belief, but you talk as if atheists are a downtrodden and oppressed people, like blacks during the Reconstruction or, perhaps, gays in modern times. That seems to me to be an absurd claim, for whether the mass of believers in the U.S. or elsewhere recognize it or not, atheists and free thinkers hold the most tenable position. It's similar to politics (though I would certainly not go any further in the analogy) in that most people don't know the issues or don't know what is best for the country, they just vote mostly on preconceived notions or whoever says the "keywords" enough times (God, freedom, tax cuts, etc.). The same with religion. The mass of believers haven't bothered to seriously question whether what they believe is based on logic and science. They simply believe because of certain characteristics of religion that may seem favorable to them. Quite a self-centered approach, but such as it is.

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Oops...just saw the "let's not crowd the welcome thread" post. My bad. lol