Bear with me a moment. It is commonly held by atheist that it is a "bad" thing to do to "shove your belief down someones throat" It is also generally considered "bad" to show intolerance towards atheists/people of other religions/really anybody.

And at the surface that seems reasonable. There is a general movement towards respect and tolerance in the country.

However it seems on any board I'm on political or not you can't have a discussion where religion comes up in any form and not eventually get something like this out of the blue:

(That's from these boards).

And that is a double standard. Of course it isn't a double standard if you have a "bring it on" attitude, and, while you wouldn't agree with them, you'd consider it fair play if some people disregarded your opinions and called you a heathen etc etc.

However I think the people posting stuff like that feel it would be unfair if anyone ever treated them that way. And that makes them a hypocrite.

My theory is that they feel this is OK because they feel that they are right and everyone else is wrong. However, obviously, members of every faith believe they are right.

On a side note I'm sure there are people who do treat atheists like that. However. 1. They tend to have a "bring it on" attitude and would feel that turnabout is fair play. 2. Even if someone else does something, if you believe it's wrong and you do it yourself you're still a hypocrite. It would be like saying violence is never the answer, but then when you get punched you come back later and beat them into a pulp with a bat.