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I’m sometimes surprised that I still see this question come up on Twitter, FaceBook, Reddit and other sites. It’s usually from Christians who just can’t get their head around why so much of society doesn’t like them.
Let me start off here by saying that it’s not all Christians that are the problem. There are some good ones. This is primarily about Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christianity. It also applies to extreme sects of other religions. (Of course, they never consider themselves to be extreme.) For the sake of brevity, we’ll just call these folks EBs, for Extreme Believers.
Let’s break it down…
One reason people are turning against EBs is because of the hate toward homosexuals and the LGBT+ community as a whole. Science has shown that sexual orientation is something we have no control over. EBs think it’s a choice, and that it’s evil. As such, they don’t think LBGT+ people deserve rights, freedoms, and many think they should be jailed or killed. Those of us who understand science realize that hating people for something they can’t control is pretty evil.
Another reason is that most EBs look down on people of color and feel that they don’t deserve the same rights as Caucasians. They make rare exceptions for people of color who submit to the will of their god. Racism is horrible. No decent human can think otherwise. When you understand that all people, regardless of race, are still human and deserving of equal rights, you’d see anyone who disagrees with that as evil.
Another point to be made against EBs is that a large number of them are okay with the idea of slavery. It’s encouraged in their holy book, and they try to wash it out of history books as if it wasn’t such a bad thing and we should all just get over it. The idea of owning another human and forcing them to work for you is appalling. No human with a conscience could ever support slavery. Thus, those who support and want to bring back slavery, are considered evil.
Another issue folks have with EBs is their desire to steer people away from true knowledge, and only allow them religious thought. Religion isn’t fact, it’s belief. There’s nothing wrong with having a belief system, but we need real knowledge. People need to understand science, biology, psychology, everything that goes into understanding the world around us. Most EBs think that verifiable knowledge is somehow evil and leads people away from believing in their god, so they try to force their god into schools and public areas, and try to whitewash or remove other kinds of knowledge. Wanting a population that’s ignorant of facts and only exists on faith seems pretty evil.
Another sticking point for a lot of folks is the idea of women as second class citizens. Most EBs, and most mono-theistic religions, see women as less than men. They’re often seen as low, as dirty, as nothing but vessels to satisfy the pleasures of and carry the children of men. Women are treated as though they need to be subservient, and their rights are often denied, if they really get any at all. I think most intelligent women, and enlightened men as well, would think that’s pretty evil.
One massive point is that EBs always want to force their beliefs and traditions on everyone else. This is not right, in any way, whatsoever. Religion is personal, it’s for you and your family to experience at home and in church. It has no place in public schools, public buildings, or the government. Would they enjoy being forced to follow Satanism, or Buddhism, or Rastafarianism? No. And yet, they want to push their ways on everyone.
What’s worse is that they see the rest of us as taking away their “rights” when we say public areas should be free for everyone. No one wants to take away their rights, we just want public areas to be safe and neutral for everyone. The hypocrisy of trying to force your ways on everyone, while claiming it’s infringement of your rights to be asked to leave public areas neutral for others, is astounding.
As you can see, there are actually quite a few reasons to think EBs are evil. Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, they don’t see it. They think that they’re right, and they need to “save” us all from hell. They cry persecution, while actively oppressing everyone who’s not like them. They’re blind to how they are the real evil, not the rest of us. We may be able to bring some of them into the light of understanding, but not all of them. More than anything, we have to focus on keeping their ways out of public areas, and out of our government so that we can have a free America.
