WASHINGTON, December 7, 2011—One proclivity of the deeply religious is to find virtue in the hatred of human imperfection. They would rather cheer on the destruction of the world than look for practical ways to improve it.
Harold Camping, the Family Radio doomsday prophet, recently said, “I apologize that the world didn’t end.”
Do Americans really not see how morbidly perverse public religious expression has become, and at the same time how incredibly pervasive? The
Please understand, most atheists don’t care that you believe in God. It is how you translate that belief into action, subjugating and running rough-shod over others, that we care about. We fully and whole heartedly accept that not all religious people in
The problem, though, is that there are just not enough religious people willing to stand up for equality for the least popular groups in the country anymore, and that is embarrassing.
Those of us who do not believe in the Christian God deserve respect as fellow Americans and human beings. We deserve compassion, we deserve equality, and we demand some compromise for a change! Is it too much to ask that Americans keep their sacred beliefs in the private sphere, just as they keep their sexual behavior private?
We do not demand, nor do we even ask, that you not share your beliefs with those who want it, but you should respect the rights of others not to believe. No one deserves to be ideologically abused just because others want to share their self-proclaimed happiness with everyone, no matter how realistic or delusional it may be.
We need a pragmatic solution to balance liberty and equality with the freedom to believe and not to be subject to others’ beliefs. The hardest thing about that is we have to convince the majority share holders in America, more than 80 percent of whom are Christian, to break the circle of mutual back-patting.
Please,
Indifference in the face of adversity is a position of ignorance. Can we get you to stand up for what is just, please? We don’t want to pick a fight, we want peace. Please help make that a possibility.
The separation of Church and state is of more importance than you think it is, and it is not an atheistic agenda. The separation of church and state is the equalizing factor for all religions. If we afford one religion privilege, it is not fair not to do so for all others, and how do we afford all other religions privilege without going to absurd lengths? The only viable answer is separation.
Hopefully we can all understand and agree with that.
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