Against Interfaith Work

[rug]

April 8, 2016
by Peter Mosley

Many secular people are arguing these days that atheists should join interfaith groups in order to make the world a better place to live.

I disagree. But before you jump in with straw-man arguments, let me clarify.

Of course I’m not saying that atheists should not work with people who happen to be religious in order to make the world a better place. No one is saying that. Atheists work with religious people to make the world a better place all the time, in work, in education, in government programs, and a host of other environments. No one — even the most rabid anti-theist — really seems to disagree that we should do this.

And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have close relationships with religious people. Most atheists have religious friends, family members, business partners, and acquaintances. Some of the people who hate religion the most even have very religious spouses. And these people often talk about religion in ways that seek understanding and respect the person without accepting compromise and respecting the religion itself.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/barrierbreaker/against-interfaith-work/

Tl/dr: "Religion poisons everything."

[kentauros]

1. That article is so flawed, I don't know where to begin with it.

In fact, I don't think I'll bother. Most everyone in this group (and those who just read it) are intelligent enough to see all of the stereotypical assumptions put forward as fact in that hit piece. Either this anti-theist is young, or jaded; probably a little bit of both. Attempting to dispel the stereotypes would be a fruitless waste of effort and time.