Tolerance

DZ did not write this. It's reproduced here from a FB page, the Scottish Atheist's Group 

"Q: Why Can’t You Just Leave Religion Alone?

A: The answer is simple. Atheist activism exists because religion exists.

Religion permeates our culture, shows up on our doorsteps with literature, scriptures and threats of eternal damnation, influences our science books, contaminates our political systems, indoctrinates our children and postulates that its doctrine must be followed, lest we be destroyed in body, in soul, or both. Non-believers are simply responding to the avalanche of religious messages that bears down upon us daily.

If the religious lived in a bubble where no ripple effects negatively impacted others, there would be no problem. But religion does not exist in a bubble. It accosts us in our homes, in our places of work, in our personal and professional lives. Believers are charged with a lifelong mission to preach, teach, disciple, shout it from the mountaintops and to “go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”And when the skeptic raises a hand of protest, he is dismissed as misguided, immoral, rudderless, angry or (wait for it) “religious about his atheism.”

Is that a fair assessment? When’s the last time an atheist rang your doorbell with brochures about the Good News of Humanism? How often do you find Richard Dawkins books in the dresser drawers of your hotel rooms? When was the last atheist temple erected in your neighborhood? Have you ever attended an atheist revival? Has atheism demanded 10% of your household income? How many dedicated atheist television channels broadcast through your satellite dish? How many atheist verses were you instructed to memorize as a child? When’s the last time someone thanked a farmer (or even the cook) at the dinner table instead of God?

On a more radical front, what’s the name of the last atheist who sawed the head off of an “infidel?”Or sentenced a shrouded woman to death for displeasing an oppressive husband? Or strapped explosives to his belt in order to kill hundreds in a public square? Or publicly hung a homosexual? No, atheist activism isn’t a religion. It’s a response. Religion is a pounding drum that has gone mostly unanswered for a long, long time, and legitimate challenge to its wild and often harmful claims is long overdue."

 To illustrate the point being made, here is a copy of an (anonymous naturally) letter sent to a brewer by one of these pious oppressive "christians"

Why indeed can't the religious just leave the rest of us alone?