Post by ArArArchStanton on Apr 11, 2017 15:12:26 GMT
"Can theists and atheists live together in any sort of mutual respect? That is far more than an academic debating point. Throughout history, theocrats have punished dissidents who reject the state religion. In the 20th century, atheist regimes subjected religion to bloody repression, and a few, like North Korea, still do. And in recent years, especially in the Islamic world, thee has been a resurgence in the persecution of those who reject the prevailing form of religion, or all religion.
The rise in religious oppression is one of the factors that galvanized "new atheists" like the late Christopher Hitchens, who thought "religion poisons everything" .... but there is another form of cerebral atheism. John Gray ... is a strong advocate of the view that theism and atheism can coexist in freedom and a sort of amity."
This is what I'm talking about. You see, this is the problem. Theists expect to be given automatic respect, when for any other idea, respect has to be earned. And the only reason theists think they get a pass, is because they've controlled the world for much of it's history and aren't used to being questioned. They ask for respect, not because they can justify their beliefs, but because they don't want to. They just want to have them. If you believed anything else on that basis, you'd be laughed at, and rightfully so, and I see no reason that the rules should be different for religion so much so that it be given respect it clearly hasn't earned.