Time to regulate Bible and samurai sword ownership

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Castout

You know I grew up in a country which taught tolerance among different faiths.

As a believer in God I can accept people from other faiths fairly well especially when theirs is a monotheistic one.

I don't even in the slightest hate atheists.

But what I don't get is that many atheists seem to share a passion of hating anything religious. I mean they don't have tolerance towards anything religious.

I for one think even atheism is just another belief but this will anger too many atheists.

Tolerance is not taught in schools abroad? and taken as a value? Or is it because atheism attracts too many fundamentalists and view anything religious as hostile? Could it be guilt masquerading as aggression? or fear? or pas disappointment that resulted in blaming God? For one if one day I found that God didn't exist I'd just happily stop believing simple and square.

Short answer: disrespect/animosity could root in 100's of years of oppression and persecution of atheists...

longer:
Ok, first of all I speak for no group, only for myself as an individual. I am an agnostic, most of my friends are non-believers, but I have friends of nearly any belief - except maybe the antique Greek Gods I respect their faith but I make jokes about their beliefs as I make jokes about nearly anything.
The problems I have are msotly with organized religion, here are some points:

- a special treatment of religions: blasphemy laws are bs, why should religion have more rights than for example a musician, a comic book character or a tree? When I pee on a tree I could maybe hunted by people who worship trees...

- derivating from this point is my 2nd point: secularism is mostly just a word - in most of the states of the world! We need a strict seperation of church and state everywhere.

- I can only tolerate individuals, no group gets my special respect. Why should I respect a religion, for example, which states that atheists are lower than animals? Lower because animals cannot believe, but humans can.

- I can not tolerate anyone who wants to tell me how to think, what to think

- I have a deep contempt for anyone who wants to take away my freedom, in whatever name

- interpretation of the writings; by this I mean the fact that you can read nearly anything out of the books - especially when taken out of a conrtext. Like my plowshares example said, you can use the bible as a root for pacifistic behaviour, the guy mentioned in the op used it for an agressive one. The explanation monopole is mostly in the hands of the church, and by this again in the hands of an elite, using it for their "right" way of thinking and acting - of course depending on the cultural, political and sociological context.

so I am cool with you , your beliefes don't mind me, just don't try to take my freedom away!

...and atheism is not just another belief, it is the lack of belief