When 1 in 5 Americans Don't Belong to a Religion, is God Dead in 2013?

[LeftishBrit]

50. It's more complicated because atheists are often grouped with 'heretics'

Those who persecute atheists usually persecute ALL who do not belong to, or fail to conform to, the dominant religion. It is rare for ONLY atheists to be persecuted, because that would require that members of different faiths co-operate with each other more than they generally do.

However, this does not mean that it is safe to be an open atheist in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, or any country that has the death penalty for 'blasphemy'.

And discrimination can exist at different levels; and even the relatively mild ones are still discrimination. For instance, I don't suppose that 1960s Switzerland was a place of terror for women, or even one where they were denied education; nevertheless, their denial of the vote and political representation should still be seen as discriminatory. The same goes for places where atheists cannot have political representation.

In any case: my real objection was not to the idea that discrimination against atheists isn't as great as against certain other groups, or even the claim that it doesn't exist, but to the idea that atheists DESERVE to be discriminated against because of their own actions. This is disgusting when applied to any group. By the way, if you check my posts, you will see that I have objected several times to such statements, and that when I have done so, it has usually been in the I/P forum and has concerned either Jews or Muslims.