General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Pope Francis Kisses Sick Man With Boils Showing The Healing Power Of Compassion [View all]TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)taking an entire world of belief and dismissing it as a "fairy tale" insulting?
And this doesn't even account for the variations in belief-- many of us "Christians", perhaps most of us, don't have any particular identification with an anthropomorphic God, but do use the structure of our churches for guidance in our lives. Buddhists, Ethical Culturalists, Unitarians, many Quakers and others are essentially atheistic, or at least agnostic as far as God goes, but still have rich religious traditions.
Let's say you claim some evidence for the essential goodness, or evil, of mankind and you base your personal ethics on that, without benefit of any gods or anything else supernatural. One or the other would be a "fairy tale." Maybe both. And there's no science that can prove anything either way. Food for fascinating discussion, but not ridicule.
Atheists are as capable of being evangelists as any Christian fundie, and really should stop, just as the fundies should stop. Discussion and explanation are fine, but evangelizing and ridicule are unacceptable.