The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #150071 Message #3500260
Posted By: Stringsinger
07-Apr-13 - 09:00 PM
Thread Name: BS: Militant atheism has become a religion
Subject: RE: BS: Militant atheism has become a religion
There have always been many different atheists without monolithic views. There will always be pushy Christians (called evangelists), Muslims, Jews, Buddhists etc. Militant atheism just means that instead of hiding their convictions, they are expressing them and offending all who are not atheists. Some are obnoxious as are some Christians, Muslims, Jews etc.
There are varying degrees of so-called militancy. Not all are obnoxious but adamant in their view that atheists should not be attacked because they don't believe. No atheist can hold a public office in the US today. That is an attack on civil liberties. Kids in high schools are vilified and cornered by their high school principals.
Going after atheists for their views is great sport among certain pushy religious people who use the "militant atheist" epithet to silence opposing views to their own.
If atheism is a religion then why not offer the same tolerance toward it as toward any other religion (of course I don't think it is a religion).
There is a good point to be made that many new "born again" atheists are still clinging to the religion that they once held but this is not true of every non-believer.
Dogmatism on any level is abhorrent, religious or not. Still, "militant atheism" is a term that is used like "anti-Semitism" today, to silence rather than open a discussion. "Islamophobia" is another one. "Terrorist"....another. It used to be "communist".