torsdag 20 Dec 2007, 13:48
I've just had a revelation about us atheists, as a result of posting this comment http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=394488&cid=21760630 on Slashdot.
What I've realised is, somehow, we are religious zealots too. Let me set that straight, I couldn't be more profoundly convinced that we are right and that everyone who disagrees with us is wrong, I know that I'm right as a fact and I think that most of other people's beliefs are utterly retarded and downright laughable. And so do other religious zealots.
See, I think we have particularly a lot in common with the angry black guys from the Nation of Islam. These people feel somehow religiously oppressed because they're a small minority, just like us. They also call white people "devils" because of all the horrors we have done to them and to other people all over the world. A lot of us atheists think that religion is an extremely dangerous and harmful thing, and many of you out there have suggested the internment or systematic organised killing of people from certain or even all religious groups.
Maybe we've got a point, and maybe the Nation of Islam does too. But the Nation of Islam is a hate group, which members are typically racist and think they are superior to white people, to the point they call themselves Gods (which is heresy with respect to the traditional Islam, but that's beyond the point). How is that different from what many of us think or do? For those of us who have quite some aversion for "Jesus-freaks" and such, isn't it equivalent to racism? Don't we think we're superior to people who we think must be mentally challenged for believing what they believe in? Don't we want the end of the Christian supremacy as much as they want the end of the white supremacy? How are we different from these people some of us despise or hate? Aren't we somehow religious zealots too, despite not having a religion?
Once again, don't get me wrong, even in this country (the USA), religious extremists and such do horrible things, their beliefs harm and kill people in this country as well as abroad. And so does the "white race", with lynchings, wars and genocides. Even if our hate is justified, it's still hate. Because of this, some of us treat who we identify as "religious nuts" as less than persons.
A lot of us display little tolerance for these people who merely have a different opinion than us, yet amusingly enough we completely fail to understand that if non-atheists have so little acceptance for us, and that so many people who don't really believe in anything refuse to be labelled atheists, it's because we hate them in the first place, and we would hate them even if they showed a superhuman level tolerance towards us. People don't like us not just because of our opinions, but because we hate them.
What's a religious zealot? Is it someone who strongly believes in ridiculous fictional and imaginary things? Or is it someone who is strongly convinced that his opinion on religion is the only worthy one, that every other opinion is despicable, and that anyone who disagrees shall either convert or die?
Now ask yourself, who's the zealot?