To all those religious people who tell us that atheists are offensive because we try to convince others our beliefs are more reasonable than theirs, or to the religious people who advise us to respect their beliefs simply because so many people hold them, or to the “progressive” religious people who tell us not to lump their faith in with that of the fundies when we criticize religion, Greta Christina has a response for you:

It is difficult to avoid the observation that, whenever believers give advice to atheists on how to run our movement, it is always in the direction of telling us to be more quiet, to tone it down, to be less confrontational and less visible. I have yet to see a believer advise the atheist movement to speak up more loudly and more passionately; to make our arguments more compelling and more unanswerable; to get in people’s faces more about delicate and thorny issues that they don’t want to think about; to not be afraid of offending people if we think we’re right. I have received a great deal of advice from believers on how atheists should run our movement… and it is always, always, always in the direction of politely suggesting that we shut up.

(via Greta Christina’s Blog)



