On religious bigotry.

While researching some things at work, I stumbled onto a religious forum with an entire 7+ page topic dedicated to figuring out why atheists post on religious forums.

Obviously there was some intelligent, honest discourse between atheists and (in this case) Christians regarding the nature of belief and the value of discussion. Many people talked about how exchanging points of view enhances understanding and the various things that go along with that, which was reassuring.

Not as reassuring was the what seemed to be common belief that people have regarding atheists: that we think too much, that we analyze too much, and deep down we argue with religious people because we want to be dissuaded. That at our core we want to believe and have faith.

What condescension! I have never in my mature, intelligent life as an atheist ever considered that I want to be dissuaded, as if I am incapable of stepping out of the comfort of atheism back into the embracing, dogmatic arms of religion if I so chose.

This is the sort of fallacy, innocent at face value as it may be, that fundamentally and categorically defines religion to me. The characteristic denial of fact and reality, the dismissal of evidence, the empowerment of faith (and faith alone) to the level of omniscience. Think about the implication of that belief: that anybody who doesn't share a religious world-view does so out of ignorance, even if it's self-imposed.

This is not a one-time thing I'm throwing out in order to make my case against religion, because obviously if I were attempting to do that, I'd have a lot more to say than I care to advertise with a myspace bulletin. Rather, this is a common sentiment I have observed across the board in almost any open discussion/debate/argument between atheists and religious people. And as somebody who identifies as an atheist, it is offensive to me.

So what is my point? My point is to ask any of you who hold religious beliefs, be they what they may, not to assume that someone who doesn't share your beliefs is simply a lost sheep trying a strange way to find his/her way back to the flock.

I am more than happy to respect your choices to believe what you will, no matter how much evidence or reason I have not to share them, and at the very least what I would ask is the same in return. Acknowledgment. Not assumption.

[Cross-posted from myspace.]

If you were to die today...

I was approached today in the park by a well-meaning, I'm sure, young girl who had one simple question: If I were to die today, am I 100% sure I would go to heaven?

I knew what she was asking (or reciting) halfway through her question. I responded with a typical, 'I'm not religious, but thanks anyway,' to which she wished me a nice day and moved on to the next unsuspecting person.

Perhaps a more adequate reply would have been another question: What kind of religious organization would send a child to build the lord's flock? Why would they rely on a child's understanding of their evangelical, religious world view to inform and persuade—I dare say recruit—people twice her age?

But she was only a child—too young to understand the adult machine of petty manipulation, much less her own world view and the selective salvation of her mentors'.