Rights: April 2008 Archives

The Problem with Atheists

 

The problem with modern atheism is that its followers do not seem to have a firm grasp on the fact that religion is a part of our modern culture. We have people making outrageous claims and making attempts at refuting religious beliefs, and denying the fact that many religious values and concepts are ingrained in our culture as a people.

Many atheists are so against having a belief in God that they would infringe on the rights of others who do choose to believe in God. Many atheists will persecute any and all people who freely choose to follow a religion and have a belief in God. They will bring up petty, minor, nearly irrelevant issues such as whether or not the word God is used in our Pledge of Allegiance; or that In God We Trust is printed on our money and used as a motto; simply to continue their efforts to persecute and look down upon those that choose to believe in God and follow a religion.

Certainly some people are going to disagree with our feelings on religion and beliefs in God, and they should of course be free to do that without being persecuted for it. Just as you or I, or Richard Dawkins should be free to at the very least state our feelings, our thoughts, and our opinions on the subject. I just feel that a great many atheists are very invasive with their beliefs, and that stems from the more popular atheists in the world. People see Richard Dawkins being extremely arrogant with his opinion everywhere that he goes, increasing his popularity with these extreme atheists, and indeed they are building his ego up as they continue to follow in his footsteps, which is just going to make the issue worse. It's a vicious circle.

Of course there is an issue if and when religious beliefs somehow change our policies and laws, in our free country, in these modern times. I do not agree with that at all, and believe it to be a much greater issue than the word God being in the Pledge of Allegiance, using the example above; or the fact that many of our and much of the worlds holidays take place on dates that are particularly important to various religions throughout history, or are for various figures of Christianity and other religions. Religion is an undeniable part of our history and culture as Americans and of humans as a whole, and it should be respected as such.

From Various Thoughts and Opinions

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Think of this: How many people in America owned guns in the early days of the colonies, up to the revolution and through the 19th century? I don't know if there are actual statistics available, but even without any statistics I would be more than comfortable in saying that a large portion of the population owned and used guns regularly without issue. Those were different times, a completely different culture from what we have today. The same basic idea can be applied to various countries in Europe: You have countries with rampant gun use, ownership, and general knowledge, such as Switzerland, and then you have countries with heavy handed gun laws, such as the UK. The reason that you end up with different statistics of gun usage between those two countries and the US is due to culture. The people are very different.

Another issue that was just brought up a few posts above this one is that a large majority of gun related crimes are happening in poor, uneducated areas. Areas with a completely different culture, way of life, and way of thinking, than other areas just a handful of miles away in many cases, which are not having the same issues with gun related crime. That isn't something that is going to be fixed by pouring money into the problem areas either, it's an issue of general education of young people in our country. And not just public education, but parental education and guidance as well, perhaps even more importantly.

School shootings on the other hand, are another issue entirely:
They are caused by emotional issues on the part of those committing such crimes. First of all, anyone that would even have the thought of doing such a thing is not well mentally. They should be given proper mental treatment before it comes to bringing a gun to their school and ending the lives of many innocent students and teachers. There's a huge issue with the treatment of those with mental health issues in the US, it's not just the crazy homeless guy that needs proper treatment, at one point that guy was in school and very likely had the same exact issues, but they went untreated and that is how he ended up. People need proper mental treatment, in my opinion it is a far bigger issue than the physical health of the public, which is generally all that is mentioned by the politicians and everyone else.