I’ve never been more ashamed of the community here than over the last few days. One troll diary posts about how much she hates religion, and we are all at each other’s throats. Shame on all of us.
Our tribal nature has been exploited here. We are forming into in-groups and out-groups and defending our teams without realizing we are all on the same, larger team that is here to protect our democracy and implement social justice.
People are not good because they are atheists or Christians, or Muslim or pagan. People are good because they are good. Likewise, people are not smart or rational in spite of or because of religion. We are smart or rational because that’s who we are as a person.
Atheists and agnostics, I understand that you still are an oppressed minority in far too much of the world. It’s scary to think this country could be regressing to the point that you fear for your safety and freedom. Those who are part of various religious communities at Daily Kos see that as well and we want to prevent that from becoming reality. In the book American Crusade: How the Supreme Court is Weaponizing Religious Freedom, Andrew Seidel states,
Put simply, Christians can be bigots, authoritarians, bad people. Most aren’t. Many Christians fight for true religious freedom, including pro-choice pastors, nuns saving the environment and the Unitarian minister arrested for giving food and water to immigrants...
Christianity is not a monolith. There may be strict rules in many sects but more take the good to heart and ignore the bad. Those liberal believers are typically more worried about being ethical and kind, rather than being religious. They are your allies, not your oppressors.
To the religious, especially Christians. You need to realize our privilege. Christians have been able to speak our minds for centuries because of this country’s culture. This will probably change in the future, but right now that’s the reality. You need to show you are the allies the non-religious need by trying to drag your religious communities into the twenty-first century. You need to condemn those who use religion as a means to be hateful and oppressive. And when you do encounter non-religious folks that can’t abide anyone adhering to any religion, you need to still be kind and show that you truly believe in loving your neighbor.
I hope we can all realize that hate and division is what the right does best. This attempt at disunity should be shoved into the past as soon as possible so we Kossacks can focus on creating a society where none of us need to feel oppressed or afraid.
I realize probably a negative number of people will read this, but I feel better for having written it.