User talk:SouthWriter/sandbox/An atheist's objections/@comment-257949-20100706192357

Atheism is not about war on religion. Well, it can be, but it isn't. Take your US system. You have the Democrats and Republicans. Both believe in the fundaments of bettering humanity, but both bitterly disagree over how to get there. Yet they are not at war (in general). Then you have your fringe parties and different groups of the overall Democrat and Republican parties, which to continue the analogue would be on one side Richard Dawking and his anti-theist behemoth and on the other ultra-fundamentalist borderline-Holy War militant believers.

I have never thought of myself as anything other than an atheist, but I do not believe that people should be forbidden the right to be taught about the possibility of God's existence. There are atheists who think religion is an utter delusion and should be stamped out. I'm not one of them; I believe religion should remain as integral a part of someone's life as they wish, provided they are open to the views of the other side. I don't discount the entirety of the Bible as false (as a historical document), and in return I would expect a theist to acknowledge that what scientists have spent the last two centuries deducing is plausible, even if they choose to continue believing in their appropriate creation myth. If we can both agree to better humanity and accept that there is credibility in each other's views, then by all means atheism, agnosticism and religion can and should be able to get along peacefully and warmly.