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Originally Posted by jonathan lall
This is meant a general statement (a rant really) and it's not a pointing of a finger... but why am I consistently seeing atheists being discriminated against over the years I've been active on the forums? I personally think atheists are more than respectful to theistic religions, comparitively.
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Some atheists are more respectful than other atheists.
When I was an atheist (became one while my parents were still dragging me to church every week), I was annoyed by the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. But I didn't go around loudly demanding a court decision to remove those words, because I knew most people believe in some kind of God and I believed they had a right to their beliefs. And I think any atheist who also believes in the rightness of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights would have a similar viewpoint. My solution was to not say those words.
But some atheists seem to think that anyone who mentions anything about God or religious beliefs or scriptures in their presence is violating their rights. One result of this kind of attitude is that these days, most public school curricula completely exclude God or religious viewpoints, thereby favoring atheism over any form of deism. And in some classrooms, if the teacher allows free reading time, students may read any book whatsoever, EXCEPT their own Bibles.
Which is worse? Being sent to the principal's office for refusing to say "Under God?" Or for reading your favorite book? I think that, through the perspective of the First Amendment, either case constitutes a violation of religious freedom (call it freedom of belief if you prefer).
The problem, of course, is that the rights of at least two different groups are in conflict. This is an inevitable result of having rights in the first place. Attitudes such as Gracious Professionalism (or just plain graciousness) are the only way people on the polar opposite ends of belief can get along. And I'm afraid there will always be some people in any belief system who go about making life harder for others by being insensitive, mean-spirited, or worse.