Why do some people feel the need to denigrate the religious?

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I'm not saying that one has to be Christian to be against abortion - but that this is one of the topics related to dying, in which religiosity play a role in the debate.
In contrast to, say automation. Or zoning laws. No one in his right mind would turn towards a holy book to find answers for zoning laws.
... so.... for the legal framework of our lives -the thing governments deal with-, religion barely plays a role.
It is therefore fair to say, most first world countries are not really Christian. Only parts of their population.
But decisions are being made on economic grounds, every day. Which is something we can all agree on, sort of: more wealth is better.
Sadly, that also implies that there is barely any valid argument against economic interests.
Not even health and environmental concerns. Let alone religious feelings.

I think free market rationale in conjunction with technology has enabled anyone to do anything in the name of profit. And there's not really a cogent counternarrative.

xenophobia and racism are based in tribalism. A religious congregation is only one form of tribe. Your family is a smaller tribe, a nation is a larger tribe. Historically, it has been useful to be weary of outsiders - a functioning policeforce is a relatively new invention, and so is a functioning society.
Racism has had a brief push by ideologues abusing science, mainly in the first half of the 20th century, - now, science has disproven major differences between races, but the tribalist-habit of "us versus them" remains.

and sure, Christianity is a historical part of western society. So is greek and roman antiquity, and in the US, native American culture. And I do agree that one should learn all about that and then sort for oneself the good from the bad.
History is not to be atudied so it will not be repeated - history is there to be atudied to learn about the contingencies of our lives today.
Things are, because they happened to happen that way - understanding that frees one up to change direction.

I didn't say christian, I said religious.

Are there appropriate times to point out the failings or inappropriate thinking of a religion?

Are all religions good?

Regards
DL

I do not think so.

I think it cause moral people will always speak against immoral creeds and their Gods.

Genocidal pricks like Hitler and Yahweh ahoulod always have many speaking against their ways.

Right?

Regards
DL

A lot of atheists have been raised by religious parents who rely on emotional manipulation and pseudo-arguments. It's largely retaliation.

In my own experience this seems to be very common in America and nearly nowhere else.
What I don't understand behind this reasoning is why not fight to have more freedom of beleif for children to allow them to decide, or just fix the beleifs of americas 'christians' many of whom seem ro have never read the bible, instead of just deciding all religion is horrible everywhere

It seems that freedom of religion is more important to us than freedom from the immoral brain damaging practices that religions do to children.

I think our priorities are skewed the wrong way.

Regards
DL

My biological father is a religious nut. I seldom speak to him nowadays because he relies on emotional manipulation, conspiracy theories and pseudo-arguments.

One thing that he often says is "God is love. People who hate god have no love in them." In other words, he's a nauseating fruitcake.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Glurge

Reality Check: When you are in love, it is just like being addicted to a drug on a chemical level. That's actually a scientifically proven fact.

Love helps us cope with harsh realities, but it should not be used as a replacement for reality. You should always use logic and observation to determine what is and isn't real. Love helps us cope with harsh realities when they start to feel overwhelming.

My biological father is a former hippie who later became a born-again Christian. I find that hilarious, given that the hippies were a disgrace to the left. Born-again Christian rhetoric is largely repackaged hippie rhetoric.

Immoral and brain damaging? Really?
Please stop trolling gnostic, no one here appreciates it.

I can see how that would be annoying. Again, never met anyone outside america like that.

At a guess I would say its because the people who founded america were so devoutely religious and one of they main reasons they left is because they felt the church was too tolerant of others. It was a country founded on extremists, and the beleifs were then manipulated by politicians and now half of them don't have a semblance of what actual christianity looks like

We seem to have such a hands-off approach on civics and morality that most parents can't think of a viable alternative for their children. To some extent yes, I'd blame fundamentalists for this problem but I equally think that the run on freedom from responsibility and toward rights uber alis has created no alternative structures to answer those needs and the public schools don't cut it. This is part of why plenty of atheists I know are happy to send their children to PSR, or take them to church, and then tell them - later in life - that none of it is literally true. That is they want their children to know the culture they're growing up in, its founding myths, and they want them to be able to know the moral ropes.

Truth is trolling to fools.

Only a brain dead fool would not see supernatural belief as damaging to a mind.

Are you in that league buddy?

Regards
DL

I can see that "American guilt" is a thing.