Must Atheists Trash Religion?

[kurtcagle]

58. Most atheists are realists

They recognize that America is a de facto Christian nation, that it is very much in danger of becoming a theocratic state (and that many of the states within the US ARE theocracies), and that such theocracies are fundamentally anti-democratic. In general, when an atheist argues against religion, it is not with the intent of replacing religion with "atheism", it's to get people to stop and THINK rather than simply absorb their beliefs wholesale from Fox News or Breitbart.

I am, for all intents and purposes, an atheist. I'm fine with people having religious beliefs, but I am not fine when those religious beliefs impact the rights of myself and my family, which happens daily. 25% of the people in this country are non-religious (either atheists, agnostics or holding no formal religious belief structures). Yet 95% of Congress is made up of people who publicly espouse their Christian religious beliefs, with the balance made up of people who identify as religious Jews. This means that policies are now being put in place that actively discriminate against any but Christians at all levels in this country.

When we hear people like Trump railing against Muslims those of us who are not religious hear the asterisk "* and anyone else who does not believe as we do". In many states in this country, we cannot run for political office, because we are not Christian - or at least mouth that we are. The moment that it comes to light that a politician does not believe in the traditional concept of God, they are done in politics. It's that simple.