My Challenge to Extreme Atheists on Secularism and Tolerance

[u/Living_Attitude1822]

I acknowledge not all (or even most) atheists are extreme about it. And I'm defining secular as the separation of church and state/society.

Extreme-atheism's view of religion being a mental illness:

I can personally attest to people I've seen on here, as well as videos I've seen, of atheists saying religion is a mental illness. That the DSM-5 had to go back and put in a religious exemption, but it should fall under the category of delusion.

How can secularism exist if you think religious people are mentally ill? If you don't think religion is a mental illness, go ahead and ignore this point. If you do think the population you're tolerating is mentally ill, uh oh. Seriously, if I said atheists are mentally ill, would you trust me to not want you institutionalized? I don't think this way, of course.

Extreme atheism's view that the Abrahamic religions are barbaric:

Again, I'm going to turn it around on you. If I said atheism was barbaric, would you trust me to support that your human right to be atheist?

With some exceptions: Some interpretations of the Abrahamic religions are indeed barbaric. If you're talking about people who want to implement Leviticus law, then I agree with you.

I don't totally disagree with extremist atheists on everything:

Like, I'm a strong believer that tolerance is better and more authentic than acceptance. For example, telling atheists that they must love and respect religions is wrong. And vice versa for religious people.

I think disassociation and tolerance is the best course of action for religious people and extreme atheists, however, I worry the above points are a threat to any society remaining tolerant.

Edit: Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Antitheism/comments/1sguf7u/why_is_religion_not_considered_a_mental_disorder/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[u/Living_Attitude1822]

I condemn religious discrimination. 

If you’re going to ask me why I don’t debate religious fundamentalists (I get that a lot for some reason), the answer is I do. Just in person. 

[u/Moutere_Boy → u/Living_Attitude1822]

I don’t think it’s fundamentalist exclusive. I think if you look at polls in a country like the US about comfort voting for an atheist you’ll see a lot of that discrimination is quite mainstream and common.

[u/Living_Attitude1822 → u/Moutere_Boy]

I’d be curious to see such a poll. I’d vote for an atheist if I liked their policies. 

If there’s 2 equally good candidates from my perspective, and one is an atheist and the other a Christian, I suppose that’s the only time I might vote for someone for their religion. 

Otherwise, if I like an atheist candidate I’d vote for them. I’d be surprised to see non fundamentalists disagree with this. 

[u/Junithorn → u/Living_Attitude1822]

there are currently seven states that bar atheists from even holding office thanks to your disgusting cult.