So I made a little comment in another diary about how it's not your religious beliefs that matter, it's how you put them into practice. The comment is behind a hidden comment so I won't link it.
Meteor Blades suggested I turn this comment into a diary. So here goes, and because this was his idea, I'll springboard off his motto:
Don't tell me what you believe, show me what you do and I will tell you what you believe.
Often what I see, both here, elsewhere on the Internet and in meatspace, is that people actually give a crap about other people's religious beliefs, or lack thereof, more than they do about how those beliefs are put into practice, i.e. they care more about what you profess to believe than what you do.
And I've got a real problem with that. More after the orange flying spaghetti monster.
Now, full disclosure, I'm an agnostic atheist. (Brief explanation: Atheism is the null hypothesis; God is presumed to not exist lacking evidence to the contrary. One cannot KNOW God does not exist, one can only presume.) As an atheist, I'm used to theists expressing their outrage, their mistrust, their fear, at my lack of "moral grounding", or more passive-aggressively, their pity at my lack of being "saved" or whatever.
Also, as an atheist, I'm used to that little subset of atheists who seem to take atheism as a necessary and sufficient criterion to be intellectually and morally superior to religious folk. Whether this is a defense mechanism to a society that views us as corrupt and malicious, or a manifestation of the simple human desire to believe oneself to be, well, special, I don't know and I really don't care.
But I do know that both of these types of people, ultimately, miss the point of any system of belief, of morality: Morality is a framework by which we strive to be better people, and to better the lives of others.
Why should you care if a person believes in God, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or one's own conscience, so long as that belief leads one to do the right thing?
And why should you care if a person claims the same religious belief as you, if that person acts out of selfish interest with no regard for the lives of others?
For me, it's simple:
Does your faith in God impel you to show compassion and give comfort to your fellow human beings in need? Then you are my brother, you are my sister, you are my friend.
Or do you believe in a God that coincidentally hates the same people you do*? Then begone; you are part of the problem.
And the same thing's true for atheists: Atheism can form the basis of a moral framework that leads you to strive to leave this world better than you found it, or it can be a cheap excuse to self-aggrandize at others' expense.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather associate with Carl Sagan than Jerry Falwell.
And I'd rather stand with Fred Rogers than Ayn Rand.
So basically, folks....
Start appreciating it when people are decent human beings and stop giving a flying fuck about why.
*Cribbed from Anne Lamott: "You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."