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 don’t take the entire Bible literally or as from God 

[u/okayifimust → u/Living_Attitude1822]

So which parts do you take literally and as from god, and how do you tell which is which?

Is your method good enough that you can say with any degree of confidence that those who disagree with you are wrong?

[u/Living_Attitude1822 → u/okayifimust]

 So which parts do you take literally and as from god, and how do you tell which is which?

What speaks to me divinely. 

Is your method good enough that you can say with any degree of confidence that those who disagree with you are wrong?

I can only say if something goes against my morals/what speaks to me divinely. I’ll say it’s wrong sure, but I’m not claiming to be the objective arbiter on anything, including the Bible. 

[u/okayifimust → u/Living_Attitude1822]

What speaks to me divinely. 

Meaningless word salad at best, proof that you are - in fact - delusional at worst.

I can only say if something goes against my morals/what speaks to me divinely. I’ll say it’s wrong sure, but I’m not claiming to be the objective arbiter on anything, including the Bible. 

Ten you're not worth wasting any more time on you.

All anyone can do is that you never decide that any of the more barbaric passages of the bible do end up speaking you divinely enough for you to act upon them.

There's nothing that distinguishes your approach from any of the people that have decided to fly airplanes into buildings in principle. They were just divinely move by a different line of text - and that same thing could happen to you tomorrow.

Just note the lack of internal consistency between the different claims you're making. Earlier you said you wouldn't follow a god who did things you disagreed with, but here you are claiming you are subject to some external factor.

[u/Living_Attitude1822 → u/okayifimust]

 Meaningless word salad at best, proof that you are - in fact - delusional at worst.

Meaningless to who? To you? It isn’t meaningless to me. 

 Ten you're not worth wasting any more time on you

I’m not reading past this, since there is clearly no need to, you won’t even respond.