the other side of the mountain

The down side to being an atheist is that I often end up working on religious holidays when my supposedly devout colleagues are happily skiving off at home or on the beach. Nevertheless, I am actually quite content with the dearth of deities+ in my life and up until recently, I have been happy to let those with a spiritual bent go off and do their own thing, provided that the favour was returned.

However, for a growing number of infidels – including such worthies as Richard Dawkins – tolerance of religion is simply not an option any more. In essence, they have taken the stance that if you know something is fundamentally++ flawed, then sticking your thumb up your arse and looking the other way “out of respect” for someone else’s erroneous beliefs is a total cop-out.

Even though I recognise the urgent necessity of bringing unbelief to the non-heathen and eradicating religion, it’s a task which has “uphill struggle” written all over it. I mean, nobody ever gave up smoking just because someone told them it was unhealthy, so trying to persuade people that they are praying to figments of their imagination will be no mean feat.

And before anyone pops an artery over this, consider for a moment what sort of world it would be if we showed respect to people who believed passionately in Apartheid, Nazism, Slavery… need I go on?

+ i.e. imaginary friends

++ I just crack myself up sometimes