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.

Well, your first mistake is treating DavidHenry as representative of much beyond himself.

But yes, many people -- especially those with strongly held beliefs -- are often willing to disparage or insult those that disagree with them. And yes, sometimes it can be a double standard.

But I think that's a feature of human interaction. I don't think it's peculiar to religion or atheists. There are plenty of obnoxious believers. There are plenty of obnoxious pro- and anti-abortion people. There are plenty of obnoxious pro- and anti-immigration people.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

The post I quoted was just an example. It's been my experience for some time that you can't even discuss something like Star Trek online without something like that creeping in.

And of course you get obnoxious people in any issue. However they tend to not endorse a similar double standard. For example people on either side of the abortion issue will vote based on it, maybe picket, call names etc, but they wouldn't call it unfair if the people on the other side did the same thing.

I'm sure there are some people here and there who do.

However I feel like it's a commonly held opinion amongst atheists that it's fundamentally wrong for everybody else to put someone down for their beliefs or lack thereof, vote based on it, evangalize about it etc, but it is perfectly fine for them to do so.

I think you're seeing what you expect to see because you're sensitized to it. Yes, some atheists are obnoxious. It's even understandable (if not excusable), because it can be pretty irritating to be a nonbeliever living in a sea of believers who wear their beliefs on their sleeve and try to use religion to justify policy.

But I believe you're mistaken to call it a "commonly held" opinion among atheists. I don't believe it's any more commonly held among nonbelievers than it is among anyone else. Rude is rude.

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Scarred survivor of the April 2008 Mod War.

I believe that the first mistake in making an arguement is genralizing.
Like raytri said, dont get one comment and try to make the case that you "see many comments like these".
Whatever anyone says and how htey say it, its their own opinion.
I am a atheist and I dont tend to turn to this kind of attitude in religious discussions. i do believe that religion should not be given a free slate on things and just be respected, when htere is overwhelming proof on some things htat religion is not making the world a better place, but the attitude to make that arguement, I agree, has to be positive.

I would never stand in the way of someone freely practicing their religious beliefs. However, I hold very little sacred, and I'm not going to use religious dogma as a foundation for any kind of political debate.

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Enjoying my hedonistic existence minute by minute...tick tock, tick tock

Well, guys, the deal is that atheist militancy has been sparked as a reaction to culture warriors invading government. It wasn't an atheist who started culture wars; it's never an atheist that starts culture wars. That would be religionists trying to trump up a cause to play martyr for.

There was a time when I was a laid back live/let-live agnostic, but that was until we got our current Evangelist-In-Chief who appointed to the Justice Department an evangelical who lost an election to a dead guy.

As the rightwingnuts commandeered not only our government but our public schools, too, atheists came to realize that live/let-live wasn't working anymore because evangelicals wouldn't let anybody else live except as second class citizens.

I went from agnostic to not just atheist but militant atheist, reading not just one version of Bible but a number of different versions just to put by verbal ammo. All of this can be summed up in the single word BACKLASH.

As long as evangelicals intermingle government with their religion to the exclusion of others participating in their government, everybody's relgion is my political business--is OUR political business. Until evangelicals restore our government to what it was before they trashed it (by evacuating their sorry selves from governmental premeses), until they get the dickens out of my bedroom, out of my government, out of my buisness and out of my hair, I will remain militant.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
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Atheists tend to annoy me in general. As a rule they seem to be at least as arrogant as any Christian I have ever met. They simply cling to non-spiritual absolutes. But they still cling to absolutes.

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My Political Blog (Last post Feb 14) - My MySpace Page

In God We Trust

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“Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation.”

-Proverbs 16:12

In God YOU Trust. You do not speak for me.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
Hypercrites