You cannot persecute an idea or a belief system. Regardless of what you believe that belief does not deserve sacred immunity from criticism. I oppose bigotry and discrimination against human beings, but I don't think coddling fairytales is necessary to do that.

Here's something that I just came across on YouTube.

This has been a good post for weeding out the members I do not wish to associate with.

I agree with you. The only person I hate is a clown. Ever since our last election I've had a big fear of clowns.

I don't automatically dislike members of any group. Some, however, make it exceptionally easy to dislike them personally, and bring discredit to whomever they claim to represent. Also, I'll just leave this right here as a gentle reminder of why many have animosity toward a mostly abusive religion:

I agree with you for the most part. Like many have mentioned, though we commonly identify as atheists or agnostics, we are indeed a diverse bunch in other aspects. I've seen many instances of prejudice and judgement. I've encountered close-minded and backwards thinking (at least the way I view it).

Myself, since I joined this site, I've become more and more anti-theist, not just atheist. That said, although I may have a negative view of religions, that doesn't mean that I am necessarily personally against the individuals who subscribe to these religions. As long as their actions don't harm others, I really don't care what they believe. I might be annoyed (like when someone says "god bless you", ughhhh), but whatever, I just let it go. Many religions teach love and acceptance, but some followers focus on hate and intolerance. I still would not hold it against everyone who follows that religion. I have some great Christian friends and some great Muslim friends who selflessly focus their lives on helping others without pushing their beliefs on others or trying to take away others' rights. We just never discuss religion. Then the other day, I read the comments on FB on a post about punishing gay sex by stoning, and I was horrified at the amount of support and praise for this hideous law, stating religious reasons. Disgusting!!!

I'm always told that I should accept or tolerate other people's beliefs and choices because I would want my beliefs and choices accepted or tolerated. Ummmmm, nope. I refuse to accept or tolerate other people's choices and beliefs that harm others directly or indirectly. And I never ask anyone to accept or tolerate my beliefs and choices. I do not care what they think or how they evaluate me. Still, I don't attack people I disagree with. I give them logical reasoning and fact supported arguments. Then again, it's sometimes useless to debate with believers (and yes, I had a 3 hour debate with my believer father about god that went nowhere).

I couldn't agree more. One of my core beliefs is "don't be an Asshole" life is to short for that drama.

Everybody is looking for a single incident that sets people off. Sadly, it is the accumulation that something is bad, wrong or otherwise. I was asked to go to a trump rally that was held at the Melbourne, FL airport during the election. I've been shot at and blown up and I was never as scared as in the airport hanger. The level of hate, bigotry and just plain ignorance was the worst I have ever been exposed to. Now, I see that same level of hate and bigotry on a daily level and that some atheists show it is not surprising. We as a group are not monolithic, we are people who see no use in religion, doesn't change the underlying fears and prejudice's that society has drilled into us!

I don't disagree with anything you said, but what was it specifically that set you off? That kind of diatribe cries out for citation of particular incident(s), especially since the behavior to which you refer is, on the whole, anomalous. Free thinkers tend to be rather even-handed, logical, and incisive. Atheists and agnostics tend NOT to be demagogues.

There is nothing special about being an atheist, other than one is fortunate enough not to be trapped by religious beliefs. We are just as foolish, unreasonable and judgmental as the theists.

I agree with everything in your post. I try to get along with everyone and show kindness. Even I don't agree with someone. Showing kindness might help me to change a religious persons mind and help become an Atheist.

It's one thing to read a person's personal, subjective opinion about an issue they are dealing with and without spending the minimal amount of energy it takes to consult google about why perhaps this person may feel the way they feel, just assume a simple minded, zero complexity intent to that person. It's a whole other thing to realize, that in fact, while you may be the smartest person in your bedroom, all 7 billion people on the planet live just as complex lives as you, have similarly deep, perhaps in one or two cases, deeper thoughts than you, and in possibly in rarer cases, have dismounted their high horses in order to have open dialogue, in order to actually achieve goals, rather than name calling, with negative effort to search out facts, and ultimately achieve compromise, if not understanding. For example, I don't expect you to be aware of this, but due to muslim immigration, Sweden now has the highest rates of both sexual assault, and rape in the world. It can be demonstrated that there is a 1:1 correlation between Muslim immigration and specifically child rape, as Finland has allowed precisely 1/3 the amount of Muslim immigrants, and has precisely 1/3 the amount of child rape as Sweden. There are many multiples of correlations along these lines. There are countless examples of this type of corrosion of societies where mass muslim immigration is allowed, and if pressed, I'll be more than happy to indulge. So before we get all huffy and puffy and attribute false motives based off an emotional whim, perhaps, ask questions, learn, and stop assuming your the only one in the room with a conscience, much less deep ethical thoughts.

It's amazing, I forget how horrible people are. Heres a recent example How to sell a massacre: NRA's playbook, revealed for a fun snippet.

Atheists aren’t bigots. Bigots share a common sense of identity that sets the boundaries along which they themselves and the targets of their bigotry are defined. But your comment illustrates that we’re not a solid block of people formed around a common understanding of our identity as atheists. In other words, your comment illustrates that an atheist can perfectly well criticize other atheists’ and call them “bigots.” The reason for this is that aside from ditching god from the things we consider to be real, we share nothing else. It’s perfectly possible to be an atheist and a social justice warrior or an atheist and a MAGA supporter, and the former believe that at least some of the latter are loathsome bigots with punchable faces, as one prominent commenter said in regards to Nick Sandmann. On the other hand, even the mildest MAGA fans berate “liberal Hollywood” and the strongarm tactics of Antifa.

Call it out when you see it.

Be nice. It’s not difficult or complex.

I have seen it as well. I don't engage but sometimes feel like I should.

Once an asshole, always an asshole, sadly.....

Well - I would like to see examples.

I've seen comments about the correlation between religion and persecution - which would certainly be PERCEIVED as aggressive by the religious folks so commented on - but which I would claim not to be hateful themselves, just accurate.

I've seen comments about religiously-inspired moral judgementalism and bigotry - which, basically, I would also claim to have just been accurate.

So if the OP can provide examples, please provide them.

It'd be neat if you cited an example of what you're talking about, especially if it is on this site.