No one is free from criticism. Harmful ideas should be condemned, when they are demonstrably harmful. But theist beliefs are such a vast range and diversity of ideas, some harmful, some useful, some healing, some vivifying, and still others having served as potent drivers of movements for justice; that to lump all theist religious belief into one category and attack the whole of it, only demonstrates your ignorance of theology, and is in fact bigotry.

By saying that religious and superstitious beliefs should be disrespected, or otherwise belittling, or stigmatizing religion and supernatural beliefs as a whole, you have already established the first level on the “Pyramid of Hate”, as well as the first of the “10 Stages of Genocide.”

If your religion is atheism, that’s perfectly valid. If someone is doing something harmful with a religious belief as justification, that specific belief should be challenged. But if you’re crossing the line into bigotry, you’re as bad as the very people you’re condemning.

Antitheism is a form of supremacy in and of itself.

"In other words, it is quite clear from the writings of the “four horsemen” that “new atheism” has little to do with atheism or any serious intellectual examination of the belief in God and everything to do with hatred and power.

Indeed, “new atheism” is the ideological foregrounding of liberal imperialism whose fanatical secularism extends the racist logic of white supremacy. It purports to be areligious, but it is not. It is, in fact, the twin brother of the rabid Christian conservatism which currently feeds the Trump administration’s destructive policies at home and abroad – minus all the biblical references."

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/5/4/the-resurrection-of-new-atheism/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/2/21/can-atheists-make-their-case-without-devolving-into-bigotry/

  • TwentySeven@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Fuck all you and your dumbass beliefs. I have no problem with atheism. But when you say that religion should be stamped out, or that I cannot think critically because I believe in God, you’re a narrow minded fucking idiot.

    • DarkGamer@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I have no problem with Santa deniers but when you tell me that adults shouldn’t believe in Santa Claus or that I don’t think critically because I know he’s always watching me from the North Pole and determining whether I’ve been good or bad, you’re a narrow minded fucking idiot.

      • TwentySeven@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Anti theism is a fringe, extreme viewpoint. Most atheists I know are reasonable people who respect other people’s beliefs, as I do theirs.