General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The practice of a religion is a choice. Period. [View all]MellowDem
(5,018 posts)is a symptom of the continuing power and privilege religion enjoys. There is nothing bigoted or wrong about being against certain philosophies or forms of thinking, much less saying what your opinions or preferences on such modes of thinking are on a discussion board, but the fact that this "irritates" you is because religion still has a lot of power and privilege. I'm glad you are of the opinion that religion is a choice that shouldn't be the basis for oppressing others, and for that I thank you.
But the pass religion gets is simply a reflection of the power it has. The owner of a progressive site congratulating religious people for the appointment of a new religious leader, a leader that very specifically calls out others on that same board as second-class citizens or worse, makes the point crystal clear that religion still has an incredible amount of power and privilege, even here, that we atheists get tired hearing about the laments of the religious about criticism of religion. When the feelings of the religious, which is a choice, comes before the rights of others, well, we've seen that power dynamic plenty of times throughout history.
I could post something about why I prefer free markets here on DU, and it would get shredded, yet, I wouldn't be "irritated", I'd kinda expect it on a progressive site like this, and people disagreeing with me is par for the course on discussion boards.