http://www.iamanatheist.com/blog/2009/11/27/tract-57-should-atheists-disrespect-religion/ Discussions of religion and ethics from an atheist perspective Thu, 23 May 2013 10:44:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://www.iamanatheist.com/blog/2009/11/27/tract-57-should-atheists-disrespect-religion/comment-page-1/#comment-1015 Dan Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:31:15 +0000 http://www.iamanatheist.com/blog/?p=1406#comment-1015 There are many reasons one could list for not respecting religion. Indeed no belief, be it religious, political, or philosophical in nature should receive automatic respect or be free from criticism or attack. If one is a Deontologist, then that viewpoint is just as open to criticism and attack as the belief that invisible goblins are responsible for tripping people, or that a crucified martyr zombie wants you to eat his flesh and drink his blood (though some ideas are more ridiculous than others, and thus easier to criticize). Criticism and active demonstrations against religion or *any* idea, even though it may cause disrespect or offense, can be an effective influence–contrary to what this ‘tract’ seems inclined to persuade us to think (“People may remember the atheist’s behavior as rudeness or condescension…”, “…they may simply think the atheist is a jerk.” et cetera. Sorry, but I disagree. A lot of other people do as well, and there are plenty of blog posts/books/websites/etc. one can read that expound on the points I won’t make here about the benefits of not respecting religion. To be fair, even though I disagree with this ‘tract,’ I really appreciate what you guys are doing here. I Stumbled (StumbleUpon) onto the website homepage, which is very amusing (I wonder how many religious people you’ve pissed off with that). Keep it up guys!

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