olddude, Calm down!! I'm not sure what it is that I wrote that got you so riled up, but I really didn't mean to insult anyone.

Things I don't do:
-Proselytize, except sometimes about traditional folk music.
-Get any more bothered by a Christian at the door than I do by any other salesperson.
-Knowingly insult anyone.
-Get my conclusions about whether or not there's a god from some outside source.
-Think that laws against theft and violence are based on Christianity.
-And, as I said, I don't spend much time thinking about it.

And, can I just say, here it is again: you say that atheism is a belief structure. I'm pretty tired of encountering that statement every time there's a discussion on Mudcat about religion. The statement is logically and semantically specious. Saying that a lack of belief is belief is doublespeak at its best. As I made clear earlier, I don't believe in God because I've never been given any reason to do so. I've also never been given any reason to think the sky is bright red. "Belief" simply doesn't enter the equation.

You go farther to say that I fail to have belief because some "great athiest non god came down and told you exactly what life was all about and how it all worked". This is another tactic I'm sick of in Mudcat discussions. It is dismissive: since I'm obviously too stupid to make up my own mind about something, I must be getting my ideas from some outside source, and therefore I don't need to be taken seriously. This is really, really bad discussion/debate/conversation technique, and makes you largely useless as a conversation partner. I wish you'd talk to individuals instead of to a perceived wide-spread agenda.

As for prejudice against non-religious people and laws that are based on religious beliefs, I'm not going to start making a list for you. I'm sure there are many websites run by the atheist proselytizers, who I also find distasteful. I can just say that as an outsider looking in, the laws and attitudes are widespread. I can also say, thankfully, that I'm not much personally affected by any of it, since I live in Seattle and not Kansas or Texas. I know I once failed to get a job because I didn't profess my faith at the verbal opening in the interview that was created for that purpose. That's one example of prejudice that was directed at me.

I'd enjoy continuing to talk about this, but really don't want to have an argument.

John