The bigotry of atheists

Ok, that is an honest approach and I have no problem with this. I agree but many other people take this term very seriously, especially in the terms of racial prejudice. Having grown up in the South (southern USA) myself, the term bigot is taken very seriously, especially by very open minded humanists and antiracists like myself. Historically, especially in the US, the term "bigot" is traditionally applied to a person who does not tolerate other races and is derogatory towards these other races. Therefore, I don't think emotionally loaded and historically derogatory terms such as "bigot" should be thrown flipantly around anyways. In many societal circles it has the same effect but opposite meaning as racially derogatory terms. Not really. I was just conceding because you seemed so adamant about using this term to classify my statements as being bigoted and I was tired of arguing with you about it. Honestly, I don't think bigotry used in the historical context of racial or even religious bigotry can be truely justified (at least morally that is).There is a difference though between disagreeing with a person's behavior, which a person has control over, and a person's race, sex, or other physical characteristic which someone has no control over. That is why I do not think that it is appropiate to use the term bigot to someone who just disagrees with another persons behavior. No, and vice versa, disrepect towards atheists by theists is not bigotry either, in my opinion. This is just people disagreeing with each other people's worldviews. The term bigot is a relative term which different people use in different ways. But the definition I provided here is what many people use to define bigotry. Which is why websters dictionary stipulates the following: "one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance". There is an obvious difference between disagreeing with someones behavior and spewing hatred towards a specific group of people regardless of whether they are able to control these "differences" or not.Maybe I strayed to close to this line but that is not what my intention was. I do not hate these people (there are not that many people I do hate except child molesters, murderers, wife beaters, terrorists, etc.) nor do I hate there beliefs, rather I feel sorry for them and hope that they can find joy and hope in something better than a piece of concrete that happens to possibily look like the virgin Mary (such as family, friends and life in general).

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For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
Dr. Carl Sagan

It's been two weeks and forty-six replies.
Now comes the dictionary.
Thief

Catholic Scientist responds to me:

quote:

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The refusal to respect is inherant to the dictionary definition of bigotry.

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Argumentum ad dictionary? Surely you know better than that.The "dictionary defintion" of the word "theory" is "educated guess." But that isn't what scientists mean when they use the word. But since you seem to think it's legitimate: Hmmm..."obstinate and unreasoning attachment of one's onw belief and opinions"..."demanding for oneself""With narrow-minded intolerance of beliefs opposed to them"..."that which you deny to others."So now that we have a dictionary definition that matches my description, what does that do to your argument? Are you sure you want to continue down the road of argument ad dictionary?How is "refusal to respect" not an example of demanding for yourself that which you deny to others? Certainly the bigot demands that his opinion be respected.

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

Hi!webster's definition (i don't know how updated the following is I've been reading some earlier posts and each time i come across the word "races", i wonder. I guess on this forum one has already given a satisfying desription or explanation of the use of this word, but personnally i still can't use it or determine exactly what it's supposed to mean. Generally impressed not only by the erudition of certain people here but also their will to clarify ideas. But the "race" issue is not always clear, and since the forum deals with evolution, i guess it should be, i mean all the time.As for the word "bigot", funny thing is in France people who are called that are only "very religious" people. The Lourdes pilgrims, who can't even think of accepting abortion, who have the huge cross above their bed, etc. The racist extension is not obvious for us. So it is quite what we call "un faux-ami".Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Fix quote box. It's "qs" for "quote shaded", not "q".

i will have to quote in different ways, or just stop quoting, as i find the quoting technique on this forum is way too complex for me. Sorry, anyway i hope my post is intelligible.

Olivortex, simply use qs instead of just q and it will be alright. use qs=name to include the name of the person you're quoting in the boxes. You can also use the "peek" button on other's posts and you can see how they did it.I hope this helped.

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I hunt for the truth

I haven't seen any concrete examples of atheist bigotry presented by anybody - just a constant bickering over what 'bigotry' means. As I stipulated in my OP, I was hoping people could understand the spirit of my words, rather than argue over the semantics.When someone mentioned the history of bigotry, especially surrounding race, in the USA - the bigotry of atheists was brought up. I don't think a single person who knows what EvC stands for cannot give an example of racially oriented bigotry. When atheist bigotry is requested? Those that believe it happens basically hummm and harr, and for the most part avoid the thread and those who like a good argument argue over semantics.If you don't like the term 'bigotry', then open a thread about the definition of the bleeding word. If you want to participate, but you don't like the term - assume it is means 'extremely intolerant' or how about 'someone who is prejudiced against another's character or capabilities on the basis of a minor/seemingly irrelevant fact about that person'.English is not a precise mathematical equation. Definitions cannot be precisely given for many words. If you have an example of atheist bigotry all I ask is that you give it, and explain how this is bigoted in the same sense that America's racial problems were/are.If you still have difficulty with the spirit and/or meaning of the word, then this thread is not meant for you. This thread is focussed on those that would accuse atheists of bigotry in the same context as racial bigotry. If you don't like the term - you aren't one of those people that would make such a statement.

To answer the question, then, especially in relation to the thread title. The comment could easily have been made by a theist. Not just because most theists in this world aren't Christians, but because many Christians would share Devil's basic opinion that this is bullshit. (In this country, probably most). As for whether it could be non-atheistic bigotry, I'd comment that bigotry is usually associated with lack of a reason and/or blind prejudice. I think it's hard to argue that describing people worshipping a lump of concrete as "stupid" and "ignorant" lacks reason.As for being disrespectful, because bigotry usually (perhaps always) involves disrespect does not mean that all disrespect is bigotry by any means.