No one is free from criticism. Harmful ideas should be condemned, when they are demonstrably harmful. But theist beliefs are such a vast range and diversity of ideas, some harmful, some useful, some healing, some vivifying, and still others having served as potent drivers of movements for justice; that to lump all theist religious belief into one category and attack the whole of it, only demonstrates your ignorance of theology, and is in fact bigotry.

By saying that religious and superstitious beliefs should be disrespected, or otherwise belittling, or stigmatizing religion and supernatural beliefs as a whole, you have already established the first level on the “Pyramid of Hate”, as well as the first of the “10 Stages of Genocide.”

If your religion is atheism, that’s perfectly valid. If someone is doing something harmful with a religious belief as justification, that specific belief should be challenged. But if you’re crossing the line into bigotry, you’re as bad as the very people you’re condemning.

Antitheism is a form of supremacy in and of itself.

"In other words, it is quite clear from the writings of the “four horsemen” that “new atheism” has little to do with atheism or any serious intellectual examination of the belief in God and everything to do with hatred and power.

Indeed, “new atheism” is the ideological foregrounding of liberal imperialism whose fanatical secularism extends the racist logic of white supremacy. It purports to be areligious, but it is not. It is, in fact, the twin brother of the rabid Christian conservatism which currently feeds the Trump administration’s destructive policies at home and abroad – minus all the biblical references."

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/5/4/the-resurrection-of-new-atheism/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/2/21/can-atheists-make-their-case-without-devolving-into-bigotry/

  • DreamySweet
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    31 year ago

    There is a difference between criticizing a religion, criticizing all religion, and hating or mocking religious people. The first two are okay, the third is not.

      • DreamySweet
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        11 year ago

        Most religious people that you’re actually going to meet don’t want to kill you.

        • @Cypher
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          51 year ago

          Oh so I should be happy that only some of them want to kill me?

            • @Cypher
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              51 year ago

              Prejudice does not apply; my preconceived judgement is reasonable, I understand all the relevant facts and there is nothing irrational about condemning cultists.

                • @Cypher
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                  21 year ago

                  Hatred of Nazis is reasonable, the Catholic church supported the Nazis, therefore hatred of both is reasonable.

                  ISIS were Sunni and supported by Sunni muslims, and its entirely reasonable to hate both.

                  Evangelicals in the US have supported, participated in and perpetuated horrific racism and have been drivers of inequality. It’s entirely reasonable to hate them.

                  There are many and varied circumstances where hate is not only reasonable, it is the only reasonable position to take.

                  • DreamySweet
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                    11 year ago

                    The average person does not support those things. It is not reasonable to judge people for things different people did in the past.