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ecib  ·  4624 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Atheism and Oppression  ·  
For me, it's a little hard to just remain neutral and immerse myself in the fantasy that religion isn't harmful in the aggregate and that the bigotry that theists engage in doesn't extend beyond their group. I have a gay family member, and it breaks my heart to see her wishing so badly that she could marry the woman she loves, but cannot, due to that bigotry. In fact, the Christian church in the aggregate mobilizes against her to make sure that never happens. The average 'nice' Christian you meet on the street supports this.

I think atheists have every right to actively go after religion in the public sphere as long as religion is giving its mouth and money in that public sphere to deny basic human rights to others. As a group, atheists are a lot less activist than theists, even counting the militant (or anti theistic) ones. It makes sense, since atheists have no central tenant to rally behind, and we certainly don't have the biblical command to go out and convert others like our theistic counterparts. I treat people kindly in person and generally with the same amount of respect as the extend to me. I'm not a raging atheist by any means, but I'm glad there are people out there like Dawkins chipping away. Institutions that promote and enshrine the kind of widespread bigotry and immorality that the church does need to either a) change their doctrine, or b) be torn down, IMO.

Edit: As an aside, I do find r/atheism to be one of the more grimace-inducing corners of the Internet. I had to remove it from my main feed a long time ago.