I’ll probably have to repeat this a lot more times, but I feel a need to clear things up.
The fact that I am an anti-theist does not mean I hate people, religious or otherwise.
It doesn’t.
It really, really doesn’t.
I might sound frustrated, but it seems people are terribly quick to rush to the worst possible straw man with the label. It simply does not follow. The fact that I think the world would be better off if people did not believe in God or gods does not mean that I hate all religious people.
It doesn’t. And yet I’ve heard this accusation or forms of it so many times that I feel I need to go on the mountaintop and make a general announcement.
Look: I know God is important to many religious people. I have teared up at weddings and funerals. I have listened to religious people pour out their passion for God to me without talking back. I was religious myself for over two decades. I really, really, really like religious people.
Here’s the way I look at it:
Maybe there was a time we could use the computers we used in the 1980s. They weren’t the best, but they were the best we had. We were looking for better. If you deeply, deeply care about company you’re anxiously ambitious about searching for better. And when you find better, you go back to your old company that you love and urge them to switch systems. If they are using the same system in the year 2016 that they used in 1980 and it’s causing serious problems, you’re going to be begging them to switch.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t understand the nostalgia of the 1980s system. It doesn’t mean you may be unwilling to listen to people talk about how important that old system is to them, how much it has helped them get through, how tough life was before it and how much better it got once they had it. These are people you care about, and these are their stories. You care.
This does not change the fact that you think it is prudent to use all 1980s computer equipment. Your passion for the company directly contributes to your pain at seeing the company fail in ways it could do much, much better.
That’s how I feel about religion. Except it’s a 2000+ year old system, and we have better ways, now, to figure things out. I love the people in the church. But the “system” is hopelessly outdated, and the reason is God.
That’s why I rant and rail and complain and get angry sometimes.
It’s not because I care too little. It’s because I care, if anything, too much.
I don’t hate people. I love people, and that’s why I think it’s time to leave God behind.
This is what makes me an atheist. Not my hate for people; my care for them.
It also makes me explore the possibilities of atheism — the places that open up once a nonexistent God’s imaginary limitations are removed. So, for those reasons, I write about my atheistic views and I criticize God and gods.
When you take that orientation and say, “So, what you’re saying is that you hate religious people” you’re not hearing what I’m saying and you need to listen better.
I don’t hate people. I love people, and that’s why I think we should move on from belief in God or gods and towards connecting in our common humanity.
Hopefully that helps clear things up.
Thanks for reading.