Rising atheism in America puts 'religious right on the defensive'

[LeftishBrit]

51. Thank you. But I have had far far less exposure to religious-right attitudes than the Americans on

the board, and therefore have less reason to be non-gentle.

Religious conservativism does not on the whole play nearly the same negative part in politics in Britain as it does in America (there are exceptions, some of which I've posted about; but they're rare).

I don't care what others believe; it's their right. But I do care if they use their beliefs to get us into a war/ plant bombs in the underground/ restrict women's reproductive rights/ conduct vile smear campaigns to defeat my MP in favour of a Tory/ support economic injustice as somehow divinely ordained. Few people in my experience have done these things, but a few have (and I've used examples from Protestants, Catholics and Muslims here). On the other hand, many religious people in Britain use their beliefs to fight in favour of social justice.

Anyway, I don't mind if you think atheists are stupid or wrong or deluded; but I do mind if you (or rather, not so much you personally, as larger, influential groups of people) consider atheists as some sort of evil conspiracy, to be resisted politically. To put it a bit more concretely: anyone who ever tries to prevent Ed Miliband, or any other Labour Party leader from coming to power, on the grounds that they're an atheist, is my enemy.

And, on a more personal level, when you compare atheists with Stalinists and Maoists - remember, *that's not just me you're talking about; it's my Mum, Dad and much of my family*! You can't expect me to accept it. It's not criticism; it's demonization. Nor can you justify it in terms of attacks that I'm made on Christians, because I haven't. It's only the religious right, and strong political anti-atheism, that I attack!