(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . A comment on the DK "Religious Wars" [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-28 I am afraid that we may be heading down another one of these religious fights where believers feel they are being attacked and non-believers are taking their fears for their own safety out on people on our side. I am a one-time born-again Christian turned atheist so I see both sides of the coin here. We atheists must recognize that we need, and have, allies in the faith-based community. It's a lot like what I expect the BLM organizers struggle with. As members of the minority, I assume they realize they need help from white allies. Instead of labeling all white people as "racists" they must walk a fine line when calling out racism while understanding full well that the racism against POC is, by nature, coming from the white community. We atheists need to accept that not all people agree with the actions of the groups they associate with and we MUST have allies in this fight or we will all lose. ......... BUT...……. I also see the other side of that coin. I use the GOP as an example here. YES, I see never Trumpers as part of team “anti-authoritarian takeover" and I welcome their help and assistance. But I also don't absolve them of their responsibility for getting us here in the first place. For f*** sake, many conservatives who call out the modern GOP still adore and heap praise on St. Roland Reagan for instance. That's my feeling about modern-day Christianity. I absolutely welcome the help of my friends from the faith community because we are in this struggle together. But I also don't absolve them of their responsibility to police their own community that I am not in any way a member of. I don't attend church or bible study sessions, I rarely hang out with Christians in social settings that would allow me to critique their group and I don't share many common interests with most Christians. In short, I don't really have any chance to speak with or have much interest in that community. For that reason I see it as the responsibility of other Christians to take up charge. I am not blaming ALL Christians for the actions of some of their group.... but I am saying I see it as the responsibility of other members of that group to police their own because I am not a member. Furthermore, the issues being exposed over the last few years have been rampant in the Christian community for decades and in some cases, centuries. Anti-science, homeschooling as a means of controlling knowledge, insular communities with fear of 'the other", whitewashing slavery, misogyny, authoritarian tendencies, sexual assault, gun worship, these are all problems in secular society. But much like a person struggling with addiction has to admit to their problem before they can begin to fight it, good Christians have to admit these issues manifest themselves at much greater levels in religious communities. Until good religious leaders and followers accept that fact and start to change the conversations being held in THEIR comminutes, nothing will change. I am starting to see signs that these conversations are finally taking place... but as an atheist, I still have to ask the question... what the hell took s long? Yes, I KNOW that some members of the faith-based community have been fighting against the culture of bigotry and hate for decades, but if believers are honest with themselves they have to admit that on the whole, the Christian community has been silent on many of these issues for a very long long time. I DO NOT blame YOU for your belief or the actions of other members of your community. And I sincerely thank you for being on the side of good. But I DO expect you to accept that many in your community are damaging our society and at least be open to the possibility that you may very well be in the minority in your community when it comes to equality, compassion, education and other principles we share (or I assume we share because of our joint membership here at DK). So please, let's stop having catfights among ourselves? Non-believers need to recognize we need more than just ourselves and not every believer is a racist bigot. And believers need to recognize that the problems in their communities are much deeper than they may wish to admit, it’s their responsibility as members of that community to initiate change and accept at least some of the responsibility for the modern Christianity they are part of. Can we get back to basing Trump now please? : ) [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/28/2166472/-A-comment-on-the-DK-Religious-Wars Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/