[ExI] atheists de-baptize unbelievers:

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2010/7/19 darren shawn greer <dgreer_68 at hotmail.com>

> Well said. I've been wanting to say something similar myself, and have been a bit troubled by the amount of space spent on-line by fellow atheists ridiculing and making fun of the beliefs of others. I'm not a believer, but my parents are. They are devout Christians, with a quiet, simple faith. It has been a great stabilizer in their lives and has made them, as far as I'm concerned, happier, more balanced and productive people than they were before they believed. Because they respect my meta-physical/philosophical position as an atheist, I have been forced to respect theirs. I have learned over the years that to paint all Christians (Moslems, Parsis, Jains, Hindu's, Buddhists, whatever) with the same brush--judging them by the worst or most fanatic followers --is as misleading as saying all men are murderers because some do occasionally take lives.

They're not all bad but they're still wrong. Truth is not a matter of
utility: if the belief in a flat Earth could be shown to have a
calming, positive influence on the life of the believer it is no less
a false belief for that. The flat-earthers are generally harmless folk
and perhaps we should leave them alone, but if they had vast amounts
of money and influence and went about successfully turning people to
their view they should be vigorously opposed.


--
Stathis Papaioannou