archaeologist writes:
if people want to believe, then it is none of the atheist business,
Agreed. In fact, I don't know of any atheist who would disagree with this. Likewise, when people choose not to believe, it is none of the Christian's business. You can say "how sad that the atheist doesn't believe in Christ", and the atheist can say "how sad that the Christian has these strange beliefs", and maybe we can just leave it at that.
if people want to preach it, it is none of the atheist's business,
This implies that if there are 2 (or 5, or 100) people each of whom believes and wants to preach his/her own
distinct, different version of Christianity, they should all have an equal right to do so. And each one can (and will) say that the other preachers are incorrect in their preaching.
Why are you not complaining about all those other Christians who disagree with you? Why are you picking on atheists in particular?
if people want to use faith healing on their children, it is none of the atheist's business.
As humans, we're part of a species whose survival depends on an elaborate system of social relationships, and many of these relationships are founded on empathy and caring. As a society, we recognize that when children suffer or die needlessly, this is a bad thing, and it serves our communal interests to prevent it.
It's so important that we have laws to enforce punishment for anyone who abuses children, and for parents or guardians who neglect their children (for example, by not consulting a doctor when they really should).
This is not an atheist thing -- it's a human, social, ethical thing, based mostly on empathy. If you don't agree with this, and yet call yourself a Christian, then you are presenting a very bad image for Christianity.
if a family wants to ... have christian ideas taught in public school, then it is none of the atheist's business.
Atheists pay taxes just like Christians do -- in fact, it's likely that a given atheist pays more taxes than a Christian (other things being equal, such as income, property and location), because the churches are tax exempt, and all the money that Christians give to their churches is tax deductible.
So the public schools belong to the atheists as much as to the Christians. It's completely wrong to say that what is taught in public schools is "none of the atheist's business."
And of course, as pointed out by others above, our form of government in the U.S.
requires that our public schools must not promulgate any particular form of religion, since this would violate the rights of others, who may choose not to accept that particular religion, and may object to having their tax dollars spent in support of it.
if (the atheists) do not like it, they can build their own schools...
On the contrary, it's up to the Christians to build their own schools if they want their religion to be part of the curriculum. But even when Christians decide to take full charge of their children's education, it is still a valid concern of the society as a whole to make sure that these children are not neglected due to being given an inadequate education. It serves our communal interests to ensure that all schools apply a general standard of proficiency in various subjects.
autotelic adj. (of an entity or event) having within itself the purpose of its existence or happening.
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