The bottom line is that I am intolerant of terrible ideas. I am intolerant of
racism. I am intolerant of misogyny and sexism. I am intolerant of
homophobia. Most importantly, I'm intolerant of any system or ideology that
promotes or offers justification for such atrocious ideas. And I'm intolerant of
these things for the same reason that I wouldn't tolerate a rattlesnake
taking up residence in my living room. You don't let a poisonous and
venomous creature simply call dibs on a portion of your couch. You chop its
head off and make a belt out of that sucker.
Now there are some who take the conciliatory "live and let live" approach.
They see that religion offers some good things and so they take the pacifist
approach, and many of them don’t like people like me any more than theists
do. Their view tends to be that even the rattlesnake serves a purpose by
eating smaller vermin. The problem with that approach is that you have no
guarantee that you won’t one day be on the menu. The fact is, if you leave a
snake in your home, you've got no grounds to complain when you get bitten.
You have to ask yourself if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Now, a snake serves a niche in the ecosystem, and if we removed them all it
could be very detrimental. Religion however, no longer serves a tangible
purpose. There is nothing that can be found in religion that one can't find in
various forms of philosophy. The simple truth is that religion is
masquerading as an indispensable part of society while it fights to dismantle
the very society it claims to be a tool for. In the truest sense, religion is a
suicide bomber who's taken a hostage it actually wants to kill. You can't
negotiate with that, you just have to shoot it in the head before it can do too
much damage.
Call It How You See It
Look, we've all got to call it how we see it. I've been called a bigot due to
my position, and while I fully disagree with that assertion, everyone is
entitled to their opinion. But the clear distinction in my mind is that I don't
hate people, I hate ideas. I don't hate Christians or Muslims or Jews, but I
do hate the doctrines and dogma they subscribe to. Their religious beliefs do
not prevent me from treating them with love and compassion as any decent
person should. I accept their right to believe whatever they choose, but I
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