A Note on Religion

Religion is one topic that is seldom out of the news (usually in a bad light), and one which I've been thinking a lot about recently. However, the main issue for me is not whether or not God exists (well- on one level it is, but that is not what this post is going to focus on), but the inability of people to accept any viewpoint other than their own on the subject- and this is true both for atheists and people who are religious. Although, I feel I should clarify, I don't actually believe in God (I think- I'm still keeping an eye out for anything vaguely holy), I personally think that the attitudes of atheists towards religion are more repugnant than the other way around. This is because, although the majority of religious people do indeed want to persuade atheists and those from other religions to convert, however annoying or offensive others find it, they believe that in doing so they will help those converted, and (In Christianity anyway, my ignorance may mean I am over-generalising) save them from death, whereas I can think of no reason for atheists attacking religion, other than to give themselves a feeling of superiority over "brain-washed" believers. I agree that, perhaps a hundred years ago or more, religious leaders were a serious factor in repressing the rights of some people, and that even now, in some places the church (again, forgive my concentrating mainly on Christianity, but it is the only religion I really feel I know enough about to discuss) does pose a serious problem on issues such as gay marriage, in lots of the world the church is too weak to really be much of a threat to progress, which means that attacks on it are not only pointless, but in my opinion rather cruel. If atheists really want to change the minds of religion, they would do better to follow it's example- while the church attempts to use kindness to change the minds of non believers (and, in my experience the church IS kind- the only activities run for young people in my village, for example, are two religious youth clubs, a a (free) Christian holiday club and the Brownie unit run by one of the church elders, none of which are trying expressly to convert children), atheists should do the same, but adding tolerance and acceptance into the mixture. Even if it doesn't convince everyone that God doesn't exist, the worst it can do is make everyday life, and maybe even everyday people, just that bit more like they should be.