Are you kidding me?
Atheists are constantly attacked by christians, muslims, jews, insert any religion here.........

I guess all the religions and my god is better than yours businesses can agree on attacking this group...

I am so sick of hearing from "insert religion here" that they are so victimized or so superior blah blah blah.....

Try being an atheist.....

It is IMPOSSIBLE IN THE USA and the Middle East and other poor nations to be an atheist.......All the religions are telling us we are at fault (though there was never an elected official in HISTORY whom was an atheist).....

How #### ####..........

While I do agree that most religions do make it uncomfortable, even downright unpleasant for one to be atheist, I guess because I don't subscribe to the stereotypical cookie cutter Christian, nor do those I fellowship with, I don't see the attacks on atheist in particular.  I think there are two problems in discussing hot button topics such as politics, relgion and race.  The first is the lingo.  When one group pushes their "morals, beliefs, etc", it tends to make those who may have just as high a moral code, if not at times higher (as I have witnessed from talking to many of the professed atheists here), feel that they are being attacked due to the other groups wording and inserting their particular diety(sorry, it's early) to justify why they are moral and the others are not.  The other problem, in my opinion only, is that when one of these topics is discussed, everyone armors up.  Defenses are automatically brought up and counter attack statements are preplanned instead of logical replies.  For instance, as a black man, if I discuss race with a white person, instantly most, not all, whites feel the either the need to sound apologetic or take a defensive stance to justify their race.  And the same with myself and other blacks.  So, I do agree that many of the mainstream evangelist do seem to like to point the finger at atheist and non belivers for the ills of this world, I would ask you to please not instantly assume that is the case with all persons of faith. 

 

Mr CAS, you have shown a lot of class on these boards. You are an exception around here for sure! There are others too, but they typically shine like white light. SMILEY!

The presumed goal for Christians seems to be to act like Jesus, unfortunately that is so open to interpretation. Most of what I see is individuals trying to prove how Jesus acts like them.

This come through loudly in the methods of attempted "witnessing" that goes on here. I can only imagine that a holly man if that is what Jesus truly was would better be able to relate to the non Christian's on the board. I guess when individuals keep telling themselves that they are imperfect the expectations are very much lowered in the self critic area.

Please...I am an atheist, and I feel absolutely no pressure here in the USA. (Unless you think any disagreement with your position as a form of pressure).

I would go as far as to say that a substantial majority of Americans are cryptoatheists. "Crypto" not because they fear some kind of ostracism, but rather because they are afraid of the consequences that open and widespread atheism might have. After all, the atheist political regimes, from the French Jacobines to the Soviets, happened to be incomparably more brutal than even the most extreme religious fanatics. (The counter-argument is that Marat, Hitler, Lenin and Pol Pot all promoted quasi-religious uncritical faith in certain ideas, but it doesn't quite resolve the issue).

As Dostoyevsky said, "If there no God, anything is permitted" (I never understood that, by the way: to the contrary, if there is God, anything goes, as long as it has His approval).

I happen to believe (aha, again!) that rational libertarian morality of self-ownership and non-coercion can work better than any religious codex of taboos. But do I have a proof? And do I see many people subscribing to such philosophy?

In other words, may religion be a lie worth perpetrating, for the sake of our survival? My own, personal answer is no, but let us not pretend that the question is meaningless.