A little about the left and religion

Recently I have run across several progressive Humanist and/or Atheists who seem offended by the notion that some folks dare to criticise them for their attitude toward Christians. With a hearty serving of righteous indignation they complain about Christians being the ones who are bigoted and trying to force their religion on allwho are not Christian. While I agree there are many Christians who do just that and that they are becoming dangerous as some of them have connections to people in power, not all Christians are like that. In fact most are not. Below is my response to just such a post that referred to Christianity as a Cult.

Perhaps it is their 'Cult'. I would submit some of those believe so unwaveringly they are all but lost to any other viewpoint. There are however, many that are faced with a multitude of decisions and issues, would it not be better to communicate our position by showing them that we are different from our opponents by not resorting to name calling or belittling them or their beliefs? I imagine if you wish to sway their opinion of the right wing it might be better to show them that there is room for them on the left rather than tellng them to abandon all they have believed in because in your belief theirs is wrong. Sounds a bit like any two religions arguing about their respective beliefs. Atheism is a belief too. A belief that their is no god (and by the way just as unprovable as the belief that there is a god). You chose your belief let them choose theirs. Welcome their point of view and work with it. The preferred disavowment and debasement of all things religious eliminates the majority of the country from the start. Dooming your position to failure (unless the non believers can somehow eliminate elections). Don't misunderstand I have a great desire to see the Robertsons and Falwells of this country (and the world for that matter) fall from favor and return to whatever dark place they emerged from. They are, in fact, truly about power. Religion is just the means to their end. Also have no doubt that I am an avid supporter of Church-State separation. Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli clearly spells out the intentions of our founding fathers if the First amendment wasn't clear enough (apparently for some, especially on the right, it wasn't). There are a great many well meaning Christians who waver on which party or approach the would support. Progressives would do better to welcome them than issue blanket condemnations of them.

Also I would add as I hinted at in my response there are many Atheists who try to force their beliefs on others. It usually takes the form of ridicule and belittlement (on the more benign end) or long complicated lectures and attempts to prove the non existance of God (an impossibility) (on the more malicious end). Make no mistake Atheism is a belief system too just as any other religion. And its belief comes from an unswerving belief that what others sometimes see as evidence of the divine is evidence of nothing. Sometimes they are right. Try as they might however there is no way to prove that God (or anything else) does not exist, only that there is no verifiable evidence that they do.