Comment 21 by casaoui-cool :

Comment 15 by Red Dog :

Comment 9 by casaoui-cool :

Comment 6 by Peter Grant : ...

PZ is right. We don't respect their ridiculous beliefs and I don't see why we should to pretend to. When they stop believing nonsense they can join our group, but until they do we will keep ridiculing them. I'd even go so far as to say that we have a moral obligation to do so.

You seem to be totally unaware of the fact that what you were saying was / is the very definition of ...fascism, ironically enough .

Congratulations .

What makes you think you possess or monopolise the truth, buddy ?

Ridiculous pretentious intolerance : science should make you humble, people .

P.S.: I do think, at the other hand , that all beliefs , cultures , thoughtstreams ...do have some elements of truth here & there , to some extent at least ,including the secular or atheistic ones ,so.

Yes, its amazing that people who claim to be dedicated to "critical thinking and evidence-based understanding" can take such intolerant closed minded views.

BTW, I don't personally think that all beliefs have some elements of truth. I think some beliefs such as Christianity are just wrong. However, its ridiculous to automatically assume that just because you disagree with someone on a particular issue that you treat that person with contempt until they agree with you.

Even more than my belief in atheism is my belief in reason. And to have reasonable debates and analysis with others its essential that you treat people with respect even when, especially when, you disagree with them.

Exactly :

I can only agree with you, my friend : very wise words you put there , for us all to reflect on indeed .

It's really amazing to see how many of these kindda self-declared rational atheists behave so irrationally & exclusively ,if not via a fascist way , excluding all non-atheistic thought via these silly undemocratic irrational destructive ways ,unfortunately enough .

Why can't people just let everybodyelse believe in what she/he wanna believe in ?

When are we , humans, gonna stop pretending to possess or monopolize the truth ?

The very simple fact that what we do know is almost nothing compared to what we absolutely do not know & the fact that every single human being seems to have a certain amount of free will, should be reasons enough for us all to be more tolerant with each other , more compassionate ....more nice to each other .....showing our compassion for our mutual ignorance , ......................

Besides the obvious fluff of your comment, you are naive to think you know how much we don't know. I'm sick of this being abused. We know quite a bit and the things we know lead us to discount certain beliefs, especially those which are harmful. LIKE, the belief that sweating in a blanket for 48 hours is going to do anything but kill you... These are just beliefs and if the world were left up to people with such soft heads like you, we would probably be extinct.

Sorry, the belief that children are sexy and should have sex with older men is a belief that is WORTH denouncing and DEFENDING against. Just like the idea that all infidels should die. These are beliefs.

Sorry, you can't live in a world where we simply respect everyone's beliefs. For one, that isn't what is really going on. What religious people want is the right to act on their beliefs, to bully children and women, etc.

You can't simply say "it's okay to believe that all Jews must die and I'm Okay with this and not combating it is enlightened"

No, not all beliefs, opinions or thoughts are equal and sometimes they're downright disgusting and need to be denounced. Religion falls easily within this criteria and it's every humanists duty to denounce, ridicule and otherwise combat such disgusting ideas.

I could care less if your naive spouse is born again and finds time to donate to the good will. I could care less if you think everyone has an opinion worthy of protecting.

We need to make a crystal clear distinction between belief and thought. You can THINK anything you like, but when you say you BELIEVE it. It means that you are asserting it as TRUE and it's what you consider reality.

We don't allow people who believe in murder and go about practicing it to continue to do so. We disagree with their beliefs and rightly lock them away. In the same sense, many religious people think it's okay to murder in the guise of combat, or that beating children to death is sometimes okay, or that burning witches is a great way to purify the human population, exorcism, thousands of wicked, horrible things that BY BEING A CHRISTIAN YOU ARE DELIBERATELY IGNORING AND CONTRIBUTING TO.

Just like it's not okay to think that jesus is an effective sacrifice, thus liberating you from the responsibility of consequences of your actions. That's immoral and I will live my life trying to raise consciousness through contempt, comedy, ridicule and every single skill of persuasion I can muster.

Yes, christians, from the start, are worthy of contempt. They are ignorant, naive and enabling suffering.

You lose.