Why should religion get a free pass?

I can't remember the specifics or even who first said it but it's something along the lines of "a man can say that god talks to him and that's fine and acceptable, but a man that says god talks to him through his toaster is crazy. Why does the addition of a toaster make it crazy?" I want to say Sam Harris, but I'm sure he was repeating it from someone else.

Because I can assure you that 9 out of 10 of those people would very much think differently of you if they knew you were (are you??) an atheist. Atheist is still a dirty word. Numerous polls have shown that a) atheists would never get elected, b) most parents wouldn't let their children date an atheist (in the south, they would let their white daughter marry a black man before an atheist). It's only in the most liberal of liberal parts of the US (Oregon, NY, most of Cali??) where it's no big deal to be an atheist. It's quite alright for religious to get on the street corner and yell about rapture and salvation (Ray fucking Comfort does it in Huntington? beach) but god forbid an atheist says word one about zombie jews "you're oppressing me! Leave my beliefs alone".So, religion deserves this free pass and it's quite alright to openly mock atheists???

I said that mockingly and was paraphrasing. But if you insist, I was referring to the beliefs that make you a christian.

Given that the subject of the thread is "why should religion get a free pass?", it is not surprising that I, an avowed godless heathen, would say (saracastically) what I said. If you think religion still deserves this free pass that you admit it has, fine, so be it. If not, you've nothing to really say against my comments. This is all true and blindingly obvious. It also explains why we need loud mouthed atheists like myself. We all know the liberal/moderate religionists won't rock the boat. For if they do, it will jeopardize their ability to openly believe the stupid shit they believe. Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

It's quite the opposite over here (save for the most liberal of liberal places). It's almost a given that you believe in jesus as your savior. Anyone who says otherwise is typically met with "WHAT???? Well what DO you believe??? You must believe something. Do you worship satan???" Most people wil start a religious conversation with "so, what church do you go to??"On my FB feed yesterday, I posted the video of Jessica Ahlquist speaking at the school board meeting where they were "voting" on whether or not to appeal the ruling. midway through her speech, ADULTS start booing her. I commented along with the post saying "disgusting bigots". My ex-wifes father commented something along the lines of "this is getting out of hand. If you don't like the prayer, just don't look at it" (yes, I am still in "debate" with him about this). Mind you, he is an engineer and I have no idea what his religious affiliation is, because he never says anything religious. So that says to me he is at most pretty fucking liberal about it. It is that kind of attitude over here from the moderates that is the most annoying.