or Certainty vs Conviction

Although I am encouraged that there is a website such as this that has so much potential to support those of us departing a certain religion, I am equally discouraged that there is a high level of disrespectful, discourteous and even ignorant content and comment in this website.

Atheists, agnostics, etc all live by faith - a foundational belief that what they hold to is right and true. You may want to pretend this is not the case, but that doesn't change this fact. To ridicule, marginalize or in any other way castigate another person for their faith is wrong.

Many of us may have been deceived, misled, abused, or simply mindlessly following doctrines and leaders in organized religions, but for 95% of us who have departed from religion, we were not victims - we CHOSE to participate.

The same guilt-driven, threatening and condescending rhetoric is present in many of the dialogues and much of the content of this website that is found common among religious groups and sub-sects. Are we to return evil for evil? Is that the solution? It cannot be.

I challenge the webmaster, the subscribers of this site, and the leadership of exchristians.net to take a higher road. Mocking faiths of others is not morally, rationally or intellectually good or acceptable.

This bullshit of boohooing and bashing people of organized religions reminds me of third graders standing on the playground calling each other doo-doo heads.

The simple truth is that none of us, from atheists to Chrsitians to Moslems to existentialists, will know definatively WHAT the truth is - or what we should fear and not fear - until we are dead and stay dead.

In the meantime, those of us who are intellectually honest enough to admit that we, too, are living by a faith, need to discontinue our condescending theologies and behaviors and embrace tolerance, peace, respect, and honesty. Otherwise, we are no better than those we charge have wronged us.

Cliff Boston