Dawkins is right, if a little abrasive

There's been a lot of criticism of Richard Dawkins and his anti-theist, with him being compared to fundamentalists and proselytizers. Yes, he can be a bit abrasive and he can certainly offend people, but all he's doing is analyzing people's beliefs through the best tool we have: science. Probably the best critique was the hilarious South Park episode that featured him.

The thing is, we atheists don't want to convert you. All we want is to not have your religion forced down our throats. Stop assuming that believing in fairies is the default position, or that it doesn't need to be defended like any other idea.

In particular, there's a couple of things that really get up my nose:

  • Religion should be taxed like any other business. Genuine charitable activity, and this doesn't include business expansion ("evangelism") costs, can be tax free just like secular non-profits.
  • Don't go saying your morality is better than my morality just because your morality comes from your imaginary friend.

Hope you all caught The Root of All Evil? on ABC last Sunday. The second part is on this Sunday.

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