Written in response to someone asking me why I “attack” Christians after I wrote a comment about the separation of church and state and why certain theocratic sects in the Christian religion represent a danger to society

“The Christians applying a false equivalency claim of discrimination will have to be prepared for a rebuttal against the claim…”

I was asked recently why I “attack Christians”. I do not “attack Christians. I do, however, criticize and yes, oppose fiercely and publicly theocratic Christianity. I address the untruths, words and behaviors that are aimed at creating a world based on falsehoods and I try to follow through and support truth.

I question any belief that is poorly conceived, based on logical fallacies or that demands I accept twisted facts and distortions of truth to satisfy a “belief” someone holds, whether that belief be religious, cultural or anything else.

I do not “attack” Christians. I will attack ideas, however, or specific statements of any faith or belief system if they deny truth or reality or demand I ignore historical truth, deny the right of others to live without fear, demand I hate or fear the Other, demand I persecute, vilify or deny life or love to someone, demand I obey the tenets of a religion I do not hold, or demand I reject centuries of scientific knowledge and research in favor of superstition and willful ignorance.

I will reject any tenet of any faith that demands the subordination, oppression or suppression of other people, whatever the ethnicity, creed, color, gender, orientation, nationality, or that uses its tenets to place females below the feet of males or put them in a position of subordination to, or vulnerability to, males or to any church or state.

I have never called for Christians to be persecuted, jailed, denied their rights to practice their religion in their own lives, adopt children, visit hospitals, buy homes, pray (tho I have mentioned that their own book cautions against praying in public), be crucified, be put behind fences and starved to death- yet I have heard and read the words of certain Christian peoples calling for these acts to be done to and against homosexuals. I have encouraged Christians to follow the corporal works of mercy, to ponder the Sermon on the Mount…

I have never called for Christians to be isolated from others, denied their rights to practice their religion in their own lives, adopt children, be able to buy homes in any neighborhood,  pray to their own god or follow their own religious practices in public, be persecuted and accused of terrorist acts as a whole- yet I have heard and read the words of certain Christian peoples calling for these acts to be done to and against Jews, Muslims, pagans, and people of other beliefs.

I have called for all Christians to be kind and loving and tolerant of others, and understand that faith is unique to each person, that the spiritual path belongs to the individual and that each person has the right to practice their own faith, so long as they do no harm to another, including believer or non-believer, man or woman, child or adult.

Where we part company is when extremist Christians (or any other extremist sect of any other religion) demand their religion becomes imposed in local or national or global law as theocratic law, or try to impose their personal religious beliefs on those who do not follow that faith; when they try to deny to others the same rights they claim, deny others the same and equal protections and benefits of the law, or deny and want to silence proven scientific facts in order to try to shape the world to their own perception or will.

I avoid attacking the person of any Christian (or other faith) who is debating with me. Those who use personal attacks and insults as ‘arguments” have already proven they have no argument or rebuttal to offer. It is interesting to see how often certain sects or theocratic Christians (or other faiths) use name-calling and insults to try to intimidate or silence, shout down or denigrate the person with an opposing view in an attempt to close down the truths they speak, or the clarity and cogency of their arguments. It is also interesting when people of faith try to use their “holy text” as “proof” of the accuracy or veracity of their claims about the world or the rights allowed themselves or others (sacred texts written in an age of shepherds and superstition are not reliable proofs of truth or reality) while rejecting any science or other texts that rebut their claims

When a religious sect or group demands obedience even from non-believers or demands all live under that religion, then calling out and labeling logical fallacies, erroneous assumptions, fantastical statements, or oppressive tactics is not an attack on a religion. It is an important correction addressing how a person argues, the accuracy of their points, the flaws in their argument, and the veracity of what they are presenting.

Challenging an idea or statement does not define or attack an entire group of people. If a person can provide me with a reliable proof for their beliefs, or with facts that dispute my own ideas, I will take their words under consideration. If they can show how their beliefs offer hope, respect and kindness to all, recognizing the humanity of every person they encounter, I will consider their arguments carefully.

I also do not attack the tenets of a faith if– and this is the big point– those who believe these tenets impose them on themselves alone, as they have chosen these beliefs and practices for their own lives, and can offer their own lives as proof of the viability towards humanity of these tenets. But as soon as a person says “I believe in this, therefore you must…..”, I will stand up, speak out and resist the imposition of those beliefs, that religion, and those religious leaders, upon myself and any others who may not have the voice, the freedom or the means to do so.

The fundamental core of religious freedom- both freedom of and freedom from– is that the individual person has a right to choose what the religion he or she will follow, if any, and believe in his or her personal life, or use to make personal choices and decisions, and use to shape his or her own life. What a person chooses at that point is of no concern to me or anyone else. I care deeply, however, when an individual, sect, or religious group hold religious beliefs and tries to impose those beliefs on others, or tries to impose them on how others live, love, marry, perceive truths and facts, or comprehend the world.

And when any religion promotes bigotry, hate, false words or deception, misogyny, racism, deliberate misinterpretation of words or facts, selective editing, attacking people not ideas, misinformation, pandering to the worst of human nature rather than the best, fear as a default position as acceptable, then it is time to say “Here- and no further.”

To try to intimidate or silence opposing voices by claiming you are attacked any time your beliefs or ideology is questioned is the game of a deceit and duplicity.

© 2020 Eschate

“Religious fanaticism almost always leads to killing people because that is at the core of the people who become fanatical about religion: a hate and fear for their own kind, a hatred and fear of the world, combined with a love and hunger for power and control over others.”

 “Imagine the people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally resent it bitterly.”  Issac Asimov