Religious Tolerance 101

So, today I responded to a youtube question about why Atheists ridicule people of faith. It is a good question, because let’s face it, everyone believes something different and some of us don’t believe any of it at all. And despite that we still all need to get along.

Religious tolerance isn’t easy. It means accepting people for the good people they are despite the fact they believe something that probably seems absolutely absurd to you. And then they need to reciprocate that acceptance of you despite your differences. It isn’t that hard to do, you just need to be respectful of the fact that very good moral people can believe very different things and that is ok as long as they are good moral people.

If you sincerely like someone you will respect their beliefs regardless of how ridiculous those beliefs seem to you. If you don’t you won’t. It is as simple as that. And I can say from experience, the ONLY times I get snarky about faith is when I am pushed to that point by someone who isn’t respecting my disbelief. If you are nice to me despite the fact I don’t believe as you do, I will be nice to you to. It really is that simple.