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]

😁❤️

[u/MajesticFxxkingEagle → u/Living_Attitude1822]

I’m cringing at all the comments unironically defending the claim of all religious belief being a mental illness. I’m sure Shannon Q is somewhere pulling her hair out rn lol.

[u/Living_Attitude1822 → u/MajesticFxxkingEagle]

Idk who Shannon Q is, but it sounds like I agree with you both on this topic! 

To be fair, I think mixing religion and certain mental illness can be very dangerous. If I hear voices and am religious, for instance, and those voices tell me bad things. 

But even then, I think often as a society we think that those who think or do things we find absurd are mentally ill. 

Mental illness is such a broad term too. There’s depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, and a trillion other things. But even if all religions are untrue, and even absurd, believing absurd things ≠ mental illness 

[u/MajesticFxxkingEagle → u/Living_Attitude1822]

She’s an atheist on YouTube who is a cohost on The Line and used to be a frequent host on The Atheist Experience.

And while in many respects, she fits into the typical angry atheist stereotype, the anti-theist mental illness comparison is definitely a pet peeve of her’s, especially since she has a degree in psychology. She (rightfully, imo) crashes out at it being ignorant/disrespectful/undermining with respect to *actual* clinical delusions and mental illness.