If you’re so bored by it, you don’t have to participate. Since you still are, I will remind you that the world does not operate on your personal standard of who has a right to complain.
You have argued that atheists are far too ‘in your face’ to theists, and I will presume you mean that to be in the US. History shows us that while in our country, people were executed because of expectations of beliefs and practices which went counter to the theism of the day. While those cases were thankfully limited (not that the Salem witch trials should be dismissed), I believe that it takes atheists who, sometimes loudly, stand up for their rights to keep us from ever returning to those times.
I believe firmly that if ever those whose beliefs are different from those who are the loudest are forced into silence, they are at risk of being marginalized, ostracized, and persecuted. This is even more so the case when the decent majority silently refuses to oppose the fundamentalists who commit the oppression.
The reason we have it so good here as compared to there, xtisme, is because we have, for a couple hundred years, had those of us who were considered loud, obnoxious and in-your-face to fight for us. You can call me obnoxious all you want.
Really? Wow…I didn’t know. Here I thought that the world DID operate on such a standard.
You are right about one thing though…I don’t have to participate in this anymore. Have at it…maybe form a circle and sing and sing songs of oppression.
Who would have thunk it? Here I thought we had our freedoms because of a bunch of aristocratic white people 200 odd years ago, and the folks willing to fight for it from that time to this. I just never realized it was the oppressed atheists, yearning to be free and whining all that time that gave us our freedom! Well…now I can be proud of my own atheistic leanings, knowing that my personal philosophy, much oppressed as it is, has paved the way for our freedom! Thanks muchly!
Excellent! It seems that my work here is done then. Ado.
My challenge is that religion has prevented me from being happily married to a woman I love. (She has herself admitted that her religion is the only reason she won’t marry me; she’ll only marry a believer.) Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Oh, wait, you’ve set the goalpost as being prison time and deportation; a merely constant and significant reduction in quality of life doesn’t count at all. Uh-huh. This is nothing new; this is the old canard and nothing but. (The canard being: I’m fine with the way things are, so anybody who has it worse and doesn’l like it can just shut up.)
Was just getting ready to unsubscribe to the thread but wanted to say…that is certainly a valid challenge begbert2. It has been put up my pipe and I’ve duly smoked it as per instructions.
I had something similar happen to me because of race, not religion. My current wife struggled with the religious implications of marrying me (she is highly Catholic). But I know how painful it can be and I’m sorry if I made light of your challenge by trying to portray that as a population atheists in the US really don’t face many great challenges. As in all things however INDIVIDUALS face great and painful challenges…and I am really sorry if what I wrote made things more painful for you.
At any rate, ado…and best wishes that she someday comes around.
I agree, it does suck. I saw this happen to a friend of mine who was in begbert2’s shoes, and I felt really bad for him. I think this is the best example I’ve read in this thread that I would consider a real, genuine, life challenge that came from being atheist.
Color me unimpressed. In East Timor, you might be forced to participate in this thread, whereas in The Great South West, you can stop pissing on it any time you please. Don’t come whining to me when it starts smelling like ammonia.
Huh. Do you realize that if we were in some alternate universe where the theists had not crashed the thread, many of the same “On the scale of all things, your ‘challenges’ seem to be small beans and largely self-inflicted.” type commentary would have simply come from the less strident atheists?
I’d say my challenge as an atheist is having to deal with the negative associations attached to atheism by some of the more obnoxious and vocal minorities… but I figure there are some theists out there tired of apologizing for creationists and wahhabi… so it’s not exactly a uniquely atheist challenge.
Our Constitution is set up with rules that keep the majority from doing whatever they like to a minority- the founders of our country were quite worried about the tyranny of the majority, and put safeguards in the Constitution for that purpose.
Making atheism illegal might be quite popular in some parts of the US- fortunately, we have rules that say we can’t do that, no matter how popular it would be.
I do the same thing on Christmas. After 14 years of private catholic school, I announced to my family this year that I am Atheist, but I’m
still going to church on Christmas. To further prove an Atheist is NOT evil, I put family ahead of any belief. Why break a family tradition?
