I'd like to point out that most Christians are just going about their business too. You have a very vocal group on the right who are kind of ants at a picnic for everybody, but the majority of Christians understand their privilege and are not trying to infringe on anyone else's rights.

Of course it's not equivalent, and I would never suggest that it is. Christian's rights are held above others in the US, and that's completely insane. I hope you can appreciate that I'm not trying to say "woe is me" or put bad things that happen to me above bad things that happen to anyone else. I'm just talking about…

Your experiences with certain Christians absolutely suck, and I'm sorry that these incidents have happened to you. I want you to know that most of us aren't like that. Don't get me wrong: there are plenty of Christians who are jackasses who can't keep their opinions to themselves (and who have ridiculous opinions in…

That's completely fair, and what I would expect from any parent.

I completely agree. The vocal Christian right in the US are completely nuts. It infuriates me too, as someone who is almost guilty by association.

Fair point. In Canada it's a little less pronounced because religion isn't as ingrained as it is the US, so it's more of a 'live and let live' attitude up here. I imagine in the States it is incredibly annoying to be inundated constantly with Bible-thumping politicians.

Nobody would expect you to raise your children as Christian - that's the point. In general, very religious people would like it if their kids/grandkids were raised in their religion of choice. Having an athiest marry into the family puts that at risk, which can be a very scary proposition for a lot of people. I'm not…

Hey man, both sides could use some PR work. I spend more time headdesking over Christians than I do about athiests. I understand why people get so intense sometimes, because it's incredibly frustrating to constantly be browbeaten.

I can't speak for your experiences, and I'm sorry that you've had bad ones. I'm from Canada where being athiest isn't exactly unheard of, so I definitely have a different perspective than you do. That said, I want to be able to have these conversations without having it devolve. I'm not trying to antagonize or make…

I'm sorry that you feel you can't talk about your beliefs without being jumped on. I know it sucks. I'm not coming after you, so please do me the same courtesy and save the 'go jump' crap for someone else.

Can I age like Stacey Dash? Seriously.

I don't doubt that you've had shitty experiences with Christians. Is it that hard for you to believe that I've had shitty experiences with athiests.

If the subject of religion comes up, it's one thing for an athiest to say, "nah, not my thing", and make a few points about why they feel that way. It's another thing entirely to jump to belittling people and acting smug and intolerable. You may think these people are rare, but I can tell you from my experience that…

To quote the great Chris Hardwick: "Nerds make the shiny things that distract the mouth breathers."

Well, we all have those (cough*WestboroBaptist*cough).

I've seen bits and pieces of this around, but have mostly avoided anything to do with Dawkins because I find him so offensive (not the science stuff, but anything to do with religion). It's incredibly frustrating that even a movement that supposed to be about forward thinking and progression is bogged down with sexism…

Ah, okay. I was vaguely aware of some of that, but haven't paid much attention because the guy bugs me so much. Thanks for explaining this without bashing me.

You're right, there are very annoying people on both sides. All the more reason to avoid those people if they bug you.

When you're degree is rendered useless by a shit economy, then yeah, some consideration might be warranted.

Yep, I'm in the exact same place. I would love to pay a little more, for a lot of reasons, but I can't.