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comment by briandmyers
briandmyers  ·  4105 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Do physicists believe in God?

One reason for the hate - until very recently, in a lot of the world, being an outspoken atheist was very likely to get you killed, or at least ostracized. This is STILL true, in a lot of places. Of course, being of the wrong religion is usually just as bad - but it's not the atheists doing the hating here.





Raxyn13  ·  4105 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I guess I don't see the point in doing the same here. I mean, not to the point of getting killed, but there seems to be an marked intolerance in some communities. It's not THAT bad, but it doesn't take much for these things to escalate.

briandmyers  ·  4105 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Just making the point, that the perceived intolerance, of atheists to the religious, does not hold a candle to the very real intolerance of the religious to the atheist. Not even in the same league.

Raxyn13  ·  4104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Not to sound doubtful or anything, honestly curious, how are atheist subject to intolerance? In my experience I haven't seen much at all.

briandmyers  ·  4104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Are you asking about me personally? Or in general? Because if the latter, here ya go : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition

briandmyers  ·  4104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And if you live in America, surely you know that it is very difficult to be elected to public office if you are an outspoken atheist. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, I have been away from the USA for some time.

Raxyn13  ·  4104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm speaking of modern times, thought I was being fairly clear about that. And it depends on where you live, really. A heavily red state wouldn't vote for an atheist, but the opposite applies in a deep blue state.

briandmyers  ·  4104 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Really? Because I don't believe things are like that, even in a blue state. This link has a lot of info - see the USA section, where it says this : "Few politicians have been willing to identify as non-theists, since until recently such revelations would have been considered "political suicide", until Democratic California Representative Pete Stark's 2007 decision to come out as the first openly nontheistic member of Congress."

That's 2007 - the very first openly atheist member of Congress.