Quote:
Originally Posted by onetwo_threefour
I agree with you about being reasonable in how you deal with others who don't believe (or not believe) as you do, but one of the issues here is that you yourself keep calling people A******S as a generalization because they want to put their particular ideology out there.
As some have said before in other places, the true believer probably feels he's doing non-believers an injustice if he doesn't tell them thay're at risk of going to hell because of their lack of faith. The true believer doesn't put up a sign saying "Islaam is of the Devil" to piss off Islamists, but as what they feel to be an honest concern for their fellow man that they're misguided and at risk.
The atheist side of the equation isn't quite so immediate, and partly it's a reaction to being constantly told by true believers that you are misguided every time you drive past a church with a sign on the lawn. But it's also partly that those atheists who proselytize feel that they owe a duty to mankind to push us away fromirrational or magical thinking because they see that as a source of misery and conflict throughout history and in present day conflicts.
You call both of these groups of people A******S, but both have justifications for their attitudes towards putting their beliefs on display for eveyone else.
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I'm not saying people are jerks or A******* because of what they believe, I'm saying they are because of the way they treat other people.
Yes, both athiests and religous folks may feel they are justified in trying to spread their message to others, and that is fine by me. They have that right, and in the case athiests in particular who are trying to spread reason (eg making sure creationism isn't taught in school) I think it is very important that they do it. However believing you're justified in passing along a message, or pushing an agenda isn't a license to be a jerk about it, and it doesn't mean I'll give you a pass for being intollerant of others. There are ways to pass along any message in a respectful and constructive manner.
Both sides certainly have respectful members who try to pass along their message in a reasonable way that I have no problem with. However it's the religous folks with their "God Hate's Fags" signs, and the athiests who feel the need to belittle people who believe in "Fairytales" that I take issue with, because not only are they being jerks, they are ultimately only serving to further divide the sides instead of actually finding ANY common ground on which to move forward.
Think of it like a political debate. I love debating with Liberals who think Stephen Harper has flawed policies, because I enjoy a reasonable well thought out debate from time to time. On the other hand I have no time for someone who simply starts calling him Hitler because they disagree with him.