Atheists aren't trying to "ruin Christmas" for you by wanting to take down nativity scenes, Jesuses, etc. We're simply trying to protect our rights and defend the constitution. Governments are not supposed to endorse religion or favor religion over non-religion. We're showing that we're not backing down in the face of religion and that we will challenge the pervasive stranglehold that religion has on public policy.
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I'm not sure if I care much anymore about what people think in their own lives, even if it is ridiculous. The problem is that these bad ideas are being spread like viruses and are responsible for so much evil. I hear nothing about Wiccans, Buddhists, or Jains promoting death, divisiveness, and anti-science in public policy. There are no frequent stories about how these ideas are harming others, stopping medical research on stem cells, and fighting against gay marriage. It's the monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) that are causing many of the problems in this world.
A believer in the resurrection of Elvis, for example, would be written off as a fool if he or she had few or no followers. We know that there's nothing to prove that these claims are true. But if the believer gets many more followers and starts spreading the Elvis Gospels, more people will believe and will listen to the head of the Elvis Church.
If a presidential candidate or politician at a debate told you that he/she believes in the resurrection of Elvis and that faith is a good thing to have, he/she would be laughed at and immediately thrown out. No one would vote for him/her.
But if a candidate told you that he believes that Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead and will come out of the sky with a sword and rapture the world, many people would love this and would be more than willing to vote.
If a candidate told you that Jesus was imaginary he/she would probably automatically lose the election even to Sarah Palin.
See the problem here?
The evidence for Jesus and Elvis coming back is nil.
It doesn't matter if ten million people believed that Elvis would come back, this would change none of the facts.
What we need is evidence, not faith.
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If people did not try to influence public policy and infect the world with harm, I really wouldn't have this conversation at such a heightened level. If everyone's religion were like the "good religion," there wouldn't be so much terror, killing, suffering, and harm in the world. Religion must still be responsible for the bad things done specifically because of it. The Pope is not getting off the hook because he just happened to use religion as a justification and reason to tell AIDS-ridden Africans not to use condoms. If it were not for these religious ideas, we'd be educating these people and telling them to use condoms and teaching about safe sex.
Religion is slowly losing its hold on society. 15 to 20% of people on surveys report that they are non-religious...but I've a feeling that many people are afraid to report this and others simply use religion as a cultural identification or birth status.
I was once religious and never really thought about my beliefs until I was challenged...I did the research, found that the reasons for believing were terrible, and finally discovered how much harm religion is doing to this world. I knew that no matter what others think, I have to stand up and fight for human rights, reason, science, and rationality.
Have you ever challenged your beliefs and found good reasons for believing what you believe in?
Dinesh D’Souza had the following to say:
“I don’t believe in unicorns, so I just go about my life as if there are no unicorns. You’ll notice that I haven’t written any books called The End of the Unicorn, Unicorns Are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion, and I don’t spend my time obsessing about unicorns. What I’m getting at is that you have these people out there who don’t believe that God exists, but who are actively attempting to eliminate religion from society, setting up atheist video shows, and having atheist conferences. There has to be more going on here than mere unbelief.”
Dinesh analogizes here arguing that someone who doesn't believe in something does not go out and fight against it and inform the public. Unicorns, though, are far different than gods.
No one is killing other people are condemning millions of people to death in Africa because of unicorns.
People who don't believe in unicorns are not being condemned in public and deemed as immoral, evil, disordered, dejected, untrustworthy, odd, or "god-hating."
Unicorn believers are not trying to force their anti-scientific and anti-intellectual century-old beliefs on the public although it is illegal to do so.
Unicorn believers are not telling women that they can't have abortions.
Unicorn believers are not rearing children in faith schools (no pun intended) to "know" at an early age about supposed metaphysical truths about the universe.
Unicorn believers aren't telling you that belief without evidence is a good thing.
Unicorn believers aren't hijacking planes and flying into buildings or strapping bombs to themselves and killing innocent people.
Unicorn believers have not been fighting for centuries over land that their unicorn god said that they should have in the middle-east. Their deity isn't some real estate broker in the sky that is responsible for the deaths of millions and ongoing global conflict.
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The simple belief that there is an all-powerful being in another dimension is being used by figures of authority to establish a ground for irrational ideas, hatred, divisiveness, limited critical thinking, and a safe-house.
This "safe house" I speak of is an area where leaders and most parishioners can say whatever they want without fear of real reprisal within their communities. Bishops, cardinals, and priests often make very scathing comments about people whose lives are not their own including sinful homosexuals, homosexuality, and whatever else might be the topic of the day. If any other leader or member of any other organization said things like this, they would immediatly be boycotted, fired, or ruined.
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There is something going on here...it's the fight of the intellectual community and non-believers against superstition, human suffering, irrationality, and pseudoscience. I truly care about the world, other human beings, and the future of our species. What future can we have with religion...? It's crippling the world and promoting hate.
It's time for people to stand up. Religion has run out of justifications and there is now no longer time to remain quiet to "respect" beliefs.
It's time for religious individuals to examine their beliefs and question everything...is your comfort and custom really worth the pain and suffering of millions of people in this world?
I can think of no bigger pressing matter that needs to be addressed. This may possibly be the biggest and most important intellectual endeavor possible.