The problem with anything in life is that if there is an ability to evangelise about it then the evangelists are the ones who shout the loudest and as such are the ones who ultimately create the wider feeling around that thought process.
So e.g. evangelistic Christians shouting about hell and gay marriage and miracles and such like are generaly in the minority, however because the majority aren’t shouting and are just going about their lives on a daily basis and happening to believe in their God are disregarded because they’re not interested in getting involved and don’t want to be seen as one of those types of Christians.
Similarly Muslims blowing themselves up in the name of Allah are in the minority and are doing what they do in the name of rather than because of their cause. But the millions of peace-loving muslims who exist around the world are disregarded and Islam is haled as a terrorist organisation....
Take it away from religion for a second, vegans are mostly just people going about their lives who happen to have a vegan diet. But then you end up with those who believe that it’s the murder of animals, hold protests and so on and who give the entire practice a bad name. Similarly feminism, I and a number of other MN’ers have the feminist boards hidden because of some of the posts on there which really do not show feminism in a positive light at all. But now this is how feminism is seen.
The list goes on but you get the idea, and some atheists are up there with the other evangelists for their cause.
And on the whole there is no need for any of it.
If you believe in a God, then believe in a God. pray to your God and be happy with your life. At the point you start evangelising about that belief or start using that belief to want things to be different for others who do not think as you do, then you should be held accountable for those beliefs, because your beliefs do not trump anything else.
Similarly if you don’t believe in a God then fine. Don’t believe. As long as no-one is forcing their beliefs on you then carry on with your life as is. Comments about sky fairies and imaginary friends don’t make anyone look big or clever, just tell people that you don’t believe and that’s that. If you don’t believe in a hell then comments about it shouldn’t upset you as you don’t believe it exists so you’re not going there.
Personally I don’t believe that there is a God in the way that some do. Might there be a higher power? Don’t know. Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. But the thought that there is some father figure up there who we should seek a relationship with in order to gain access to their kingdom is beyond me. We wouldn’t advocate for that kind of relationship between individuals in the world so why towards a God? If your father went around killing people and allowing them to suffer and refusing to be a part of their lives unless they worshipped himm you’d be told to go NC, so if there is such a God I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it.
I do see how people find comfort in their faith to a degree if they e.g. lose a loved one, because they want to believe that that loved one is in a better place. But I do struggle with the need to love something/someone who doesn’t demonstrate that in return and yet demands it for themselves.
But as long as you don’t need to convert me then crack on and believe what you want, and let’s have a healthy discussion about it.