I'm going to go as straight to the point here as I can. I'm not going to post links or references because if anyone answers they should have done their own homework.
I have loads of religious friends - mostly Christian, a few Muslims and Jews, one or two weirdo's who haven't even thought about religion and can't form an opinion (they're my closest friends) but sadly none of them dare debate with me openly.
As a Western society we're dominated by certain religious aspects - like not being allowed to buy booze on a Sunday, being woken up at the crack of dawn with some idiot singing off key in a foreign language, or being led to believe that if you're a Christian / Muslim (depending on who you're rooting for - Allah or Christ, or even Micky mouse but you just don't have the congregation backing you up) you're a good person.
Why do the religious (Christian, Muslim, whatever) have so much control over my life as a non religious person? On the rare occasion I ask for a bacon and cheese sarmie and they tell me they only have "Macon" I will strip my moer! Why should I be any different when I am having a braai on a Sunday and want to buy some booze?
Who the hell do you people think you are?
As far as I am concerned religion is the oldest excuse for ignorance, subservience and the key example of intolerance that spans many cultures, countries and creeds. If people as a group don't like something, and they believe they have God on their side, they will go to war, murder and plunder and think that they are righteous in doing so. Get into an argument with anyone who is religious and even if I corner them with facts of their OWN religion they resort to pretty much the same thing that most animals do when they're in a corner - retaliate. By retaliate I don't mean debate, I mean seek and destroy. There's just no point in arguing with them, it's like trying to feed a pill to a wet cat.
I have proof, all you have to do is Google it, then continue reading, just type this in the search box: "Religious intolerance through out history" - don't click on the first one from Wikipedia, and don't think the 2nd one has the answers either - click on all the other links and read them all. Some are unfounded, yes, some are relevant. Either way, if you're intelligent, you will go down that rabbit hole of information. I just beg you to go down that rabbit hole looking for the antithesis of your belief instead of looking for proof of your belief because you won't find it.
My point, ladies and gentlemen, is that there is a serious lack of tolerance in the world today - tell me I'm wrong - and we are mostly to blame for our own hardship.
As a non-religious person I have to tolerate a multitude of unfair things which are forced upon me by law or by corporate sales - like not buying booze on Sunday or getting a real bacon and egg sandwich - that is an infringement on my right to live my life as I want to - it is a human right violation is it not?
So where is the line blurred? Where do you feel comfortable - because that's what your religion says that is how it should be? Because the law of the country said so? Because your parents said so? Because all your friends said so? because your wife said so? Because your lover said so?
They all agree?
So I should discard all relevance, all of my logical questions because "they" all agree? There's a bunch of other "They's" who disagree - what intelligent person wouldn't see the discrepancy?
How many religious people have actually studied their religion? How many have sought the same truth of their belief by adventuring into the beliefs of others? How many die hard religious people have actually taken the time, effort and will power to study and truly understand what it is they have faith in?
Mostly none, because any religious zealot I've spoken to is retarded, one-sided in their ignorance and quite frankly, absolute proof that when Jesus said he is the Shepard and you are the Sheep, that it's the only religious context that makes total sense to me.
What I really don't like
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