Depictions of Mohammed are in the news again.
There's a faction of conservative Christians and anti-SJW atheists who use these things to be jerks on purpose because attacking religious minorities is what they do. It's part of their ideology.
I'm posting this podcast because they are being careful to not be deliberately antagonistic, but agree that Muslims who are complaining are in the wrong on this issue, much as it pains me (and the hosts) to agree with cons.
1/5
Quick review:
Religious freedom: I can't do that because it's against my religion.
Religious persecution: You can't do that because it's against my religion.
In India, mobs of Hindus will lynch non-Hindus based on RUMORS of eating beef, which is against Hindu rules. In many cases, the murdered victim was not actually eating beef, but being accused of it turned out to be a death sentence. For whatever reason, these rumors are almost always about Muslims, not other religious minorities.
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Some time back, a group of Jews rioted in Israel because non-Jews were driving cars on Saturday.
Here in America, Christians are imposing their religious beliefs on everyone else.
In many states in America, child marriage is legal because Christians (and some Jews) demanded it, and state governments caved to their demands.
Christians are passing laws forcing others to follow their rules about abortion and gay marriage.
3/5
Recently, Christians used their majority status to ban immigration from Muslim countries.
If you look at America's pre-Constitution history, it gets even worse.
Puritans used to use majority control over local governments to legislate their religion, and punish people of other Christian denominations in ways that ranged from petty to awful. The events of this period are in part what drove the American concept of separation of church and state.
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@tofugolem The world would be a better place without religion.
@AlliFlowers
I agree, but I don't thin kit would be much better.
If we don't address the sloppy thinking that makes religion possible in the first place, humanity is going to continue to make a lot of bad decisions with or without religion.
@tofugolem Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Can we return to critical thinking while religion is in place and strong?
@AlliFlowers
Religion has an obvious motive to encourage certain kinds of sloppy thinking to which human beings are naturally prone, but even if you could wave a magic wand and make religion disappear overnight, those forms of sloppy thinking would not also disappear with religion.
One need only look at the various opinions to be found in the atheist community on topics other than religion to see what I'm talking about.
I've been part of many Internet atheist communities over the years.
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@AlliFlowers
And in that time, I've seen atheists take every manner of stupid position on topics outside of religion: 9/11 conspiracy theories, Waco conspiracy theories, vaccine conspiracy theories, belief in trickle-on/austerity economics, libertarianism, fascism, belief in a flat Earth. Heck, there are even atheists who believe that country & western counts as a form of music.
Once you get outside the topic of religion, every manner of stupid belief exists among atheists.
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@AlliFlowers
Thus, I can safely say that getting rid of religion would not get rid of the sloppy thinking that makes religion possible in the first place.
While religion has a motive to actively encourage certain kinds of bad logic, that doesn't make atheism a magic logic pill. Sorry to be so blunt about it.
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@AlliFlowers
As much as I speak out against religion, the focus should really be on the sloppy thinking that makes religion possible. At least in my opinion.