Say “thank you, same to you!” Is that really so difficult?

As an atheist I find it rather difficult to reconcile the fact that some of us feel the need to be relentlessly activist. Some of us have become the atheist versions of Jehovah Witnesses. Are atheists really in the business of “saving” people from religion… sounds counterintuitive to me?

I attend religious ceremonies with my family and though I do not pray. I do, however, respect the choices of the people around me. This does not mean that I am a closet theist, it just means that I am not insecure about being an atheist.

I do enjoy the humorous and satirical commentary on religion which these days can be found far more easily online compared to any religious or faith-based discussions. I also see and live in the discrimination and the bigotry that an average atheist faces today. however, the death of logic and reasoning lies in generalization. Logic is one of the fundamentals of atheism to me. Activist atheists have branded all theists as the evil that must be eradicated.

No one tries to convert me to a religion or a faith… well very rarely. And those who do, I would like to believe, have the best intentions. They truly believe that they want to improve your life just as atheist truly believe that they must help people realize that god does not exist.

Do I get absolutely frustrated when the extravagances of faith and religions, in my opinion, harm those that I care about? Yes. I get very frustrated. Angry even…and make the mistake of lecturing them, this reduces me to a non-religious fanatic. I have also have had mature/adult discussions about the merits and demerits of religion with the same individuals (on their initiation)…these tend to go better.

Religion does invade my life, I don’t necessarily like it. However, I do make a conscious effort to respect the people who are responsible. Where I live there exists a religious event which is basically an all night “loud” prayer session (I forget to which god goes the benefit) which can be quite annoying to sleep through. Ours neighbors in college held one, as a revenge we played heavy metal all morning….their reaction, nothing. They were just as nice to us as ever before. It did remind me that in the last 2 years that we were neighbors, we may have had over 50 or so loud, late, crowded, obnoxious parties. Never had they ever said anything. Teachable moment of tolerance and respect from people who we all would consider “religious nuts” or “backward”.

Yes, that point is trivial in the grand terrible list of atrocities that religion has put humanity through, and that is not what I am discussion here. Religion not ideal but then nor is activist atheism.

I am getting less patient as I am getting older which means I get annoyed faster (my wife would attest to that). On the other hand, I would like to believe that my reactions to said annoyances have matured. I no longer play heavy metal to express my dissatisfaction or pretend to have found the key to happiness in atheism.

Belief or faith isn’t necessarily stupid, ignorant, or close minded. I believe the faults we see in other people are in someway our own deficiencies. We reflect our inadequacies on people we wish to improve as we have given up on improving them in ourselves. So before we look to “fix” or “save” this world from religion, let’s take a moment. Tolerance is what I seek as an atheist, how can i deny the same to others.

Religion should be a private affair…so should the lack of one!

– H