Do atheists take religion too seriously?

[flapdoodle64]

I am certain that I take religion too seriously. 

Why should I care about genital mutliation of newborn babies? It was done to me, I got over it.  (Sort of.)

Why should I care that my gay nephew has to grow up in a household that supports an organization that designates him a 2nd class citizen?  Lots of gays have had to deal with discrimination...he'll probably get over it. 

Why should I care that all of my nieces and nephews are programmed to believe that there is a an invisible omnipresent being that can read all of their innermost thoughts and desires and who will condemn them to eternal torture until they repent every last unsanctioned thought?  I grew up that way, and I survived...

Maybe atheistst take this sh!t too seriously... I don't think religious people gives this stuff a second thought.  If you don't think about it, it doesn't matter, right?

[Benny]

Atheists are the "radicals" in this society.  So, until we can become the majority, we HAVE to take things too seriously, or else we're not taken seriously at all.  As atheists, we CAN win the creationists' own game.  We all need to get together and deconvert one person at a time.  Until then, we have to make our points known, I think.  Besides, most Christians take religion too seriously, I think.

Of course, you don't HAVE to participate in debate and truth-spreading.  But then, what are you doing here, exactly?

[One Above All]

How else are you supposed to take something that, at best, discriminates against everyone who doesn't follow it? Just ignore it? Maybe you're right. All that "moral" nonsense doesn't really mean anything, does it? Empathy? Fuck it! Let the majority discriminate against and/or exterminate the minorities one by one!

[kitar77]

I hear that often from my family and friends.

I am told that I am too serious and negative on the topic.

All I usually do is ask simple questions.....

Happy to have this great forum so I can vent a little.

[wright]

Atheists are the "radicals" in this society.  So, until we can become the majority, we HAVE to take things too seriously, or else we're not taken seriously at all. 

You nailed it, Benny. And as the radicals, we are going to catch flack for just daring to exist, much less actually speak out, much less still demand the majority reexamine their own assumed privilege. Until the believers are educated or accepting enough to recognize that we have power, they are going to continue to denigrate, marginalize and trivialize us.

No one gives you power; you have to take it.
-- Richard Dysart

[Iamrational]

For some reason when I read "deconvert," just know I thought of that scene on the Matrix when they unplug Neo from the womb he was encased in by the machines. It feels like that is what we need to do. 1000's of years of brainwashing has be-spelled these christians and we have to unplug them one by one until the machines (religion) can't survive anymore. Game on!

[sun_king]

Maybe atheistst take this sh!t too seriously... I don't think religious people gives this stuff a second thought.  If you don't think about it, it doesn't matter, right?

Religious people take this stuff a lot more thought than you want to believe. Ask Salman Rushdie or the Danish Cartoonists.

Its a bit improved now, a few hundred years ago if I had answered that the earth revolves around the sun, I may have been executed. It is because someone's been taking this **** serious in those dark days, I have a better understanding of this world. I feel a moral obligation to those brave souls who risked their limbs and lives to resist the oppression enforced by religion. It is time we took it more seriously. My neices and nephews deserve better.

[pingnak]

Watch 'Jesus Camp'
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/jesus-camp/

Then follow it up with 'God's Next Army'
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/gods-next-army/

Then 'relax'.  Chill!  Mellow out.

[Hatter23]

Maybe atheistst take this sh!t too seriously... I don't think religious people gives this stuff a second thought.  If you don't think about it, it doesn't matter, right?

Religious people take this stuff a lot more thought than you want to believe. Ask Salman Rushdie or the Danish Cartoonists.

Its a bit improved now, a few hundred years ago if I had answered that the earth revolves around the sun, I may have been executed. It is because someone's been taking this **** serious in those dark days, I have a better understanding of this world. I feel a moral obligation to those brave souls who risked their limbs and lives to resist the oppression enforced by religion. It is time we took it more seriously. My neices and nephews deserve better.

I think the majority don't give it much thought, they just follow. You are talking about the radicals, who oft end up being the leaders.

[Hatter23]

I am certain that I take religion too seriously. 

Yes, I consider there a completely insufficient amount of mocking and comedic ridicule of religion.

[Boots]

I cannot speak for athiests as a group as we are all indivduals, but I believe I give religion the correct amount of seriousness, and mocking.

I am furious that our (USA) legal precedent is rife with allowing superstition special privelige under the law.  Obliterating this embarrassment is something that would be on my top 5 lists of "what would you wish for?"

And I believe that anyoen who lives their lives based on superstition of any kind deserves to be mocked, if they choose to hodl those superstitions after honest scrutiny (I don't think indoctrinated children necessarily deserve to be mocked, for example), or if htey choose not to undergo honest scrutiny.