hate is a strong word, more disgust of everything bad that all religions stand for

I most definitely do not hate religious people but I do detest religion .One of the many reasons is ruining my life until I was about 12 years old by forcing me to attend catholic school and being subjected to those sadistic hateful racist nuns.The churches get away with not having to pay Real estate taxes for their ,as I call them stupid houses of Superstition.Religion effects all of us indirectly, as an example overpopulation due to archaic leaders like the pope who are against birth control .Religion effects people that are not religious is why I despise it .Wars,suffering discrimination and more.Criminals,racists and homophobes (Rev AL Sharpton as an example ) posing as men of god stealing guillible peoples money and misguiding them etc,etc !!

When was the last time you saw a major church leader stand up against the government for all the illegal wars it is waging, all the killing, droning, depleted uranium, white phosphorous, support of racist Israel, shooting unarmed Palestinians? Religion is but a hiding place for some of the worst elements of society . . . . . Religions often teach people that their fate is in the hands of someone other than themselves, which is almost always ultimately a method used to control them. As for christians, these people believe that certain people are "saved", and certain people are not, and those who are not will burn in hell. When you dehumanize other people, and picture them as being unworthy, i.e. ("do not throw your pearls before swine" ), "swine"? . . . that is clearly and unambiguously a form of hate. Why not seek what is best for ALL of mankind, the World as a whole, all races, all cultures, rather than being divisive?

What's to love about it?

there is a group donating money to gay conversion centers, where they torture gay kids relentlessly.

yes, there's something to hate.

I do not hate religion because I am a non-believer. I hate liars. I hate excuses for cruelty, for narcissism and for giving charlatans authority they do not deserve. I hate systems that people are forbidden from questioning.
Some religious people fall within those parameters. Those that do not, I have less of a problem with.

You mean, this isn't reason enough?

Please explain!

Oppression of others by legislation of religious ideology. Exploitation of the downtrodden for conversion purposes.
Rape of children.

You think we should ignore those things?

To me, my issues with religion are not religious, but political.

Having religion is like having a 14 inch penis, nice...but, no one wants it crammed down their throat every day.

How about the Catholic religion raping children. Massive extortion. Etc.

People have learned to hate religion because of the lies they have been over the years and those few evangelicals and televangelists who perpetuate the hoax.

I think those who have hatred for religion have usually experienced its harmful influence first hand....and it’s not the religion per say that they hate, but the harm it has done to them or others. The religious institutions themselves are hierarchical and misogynistic and do not act in the interests of women, and that is pretty much the same across all of them, for that reason alone I intensely dislike all religions. I dislike the way they rob people of the ability to think for themselves, beginning that indoctrination at birth. It is divisive too, pitting believers of one belief system against those of a different one. They hate each other more than they hate atheists if truth be told....they wage holy wars against each other in the name of the “one true god”. However what they really fear is secularism, because truth and reason frighten them, and impartiality in government and education means loss of special status for their particular brand of religion and a loss of power and control. I have never had a religion and therefore never felt a personal hatred for it, but I do understand the strong feelings it evokes in others.

My parent's are religious. Number one, my parent's aren't the angry intolerant kind. They have no problem with gay people, brown people, or poor people, ...they are tolerant, forgiving and decent Christians. Number two, religion helps my dad. He was always depressed and his faith gets him through the day. I would never try to take that away from him.

No, like you, if it doesn't impact me directly at any given time, I ignore. I do not like the influence it wields in Gov't these days. I find most Chritians act contrary to their doctrine.

If Santa Claus went to war for no good reason, would you feel different about christmas?
To not have some loathing for it would be odd, Do you find lying, thieving and murder distasteful?

I dislike the brainwashing and scamming people out of their money.

If I only had a brain

I do not have an issue with religion. I have issues with people who try to ram their own particular sky fairy down the throats of other people, and who are also prepared to commit murder as part of that process.

Why did so many Christians hate those who dying believe?

It's not that I hate religion per se, but the things people do in its name, and the way they use a "good" god to justify their own worst impulses. And I hate the way religion tells its believers to deny truth, because that truth is contradictory to mythology- all while saying "the truth shall set you free". I hate the hypocrisy.

When you know instinctively that "A" is morally and ethically right but someone claiming to be able and 'ordained' to speak for a God tells that that God tells him/her that "A" is wrong and "B" is right and you must obey him/her without doubt, pause, etc OR you will face Eternal Damnation because God loves you ONLY IF you obey, then would not any sane, sensible person find such a system of blind belief and trust, etc, both disgusting, despicable and abhorrent?

I hate the false promises of religion and I'm aware of them because I was once religious.

What! Open your eyes and ears.

It's because of people like this:

[debateisland.com]

I don't hate religion personally, how can you hate something that doesn't really exist.