Agreed. I'm not passing any judgment. If I were a stringently believing athiest, I suppose I wouldn't be comfortable in the company of folks with strongly held religious views either. I tend to think this dislike is largely due to the fact ardent athiests have frequently attacked any show of Christianity in ways the average person finds absurd. Ardent athiests mostly probably don't see themselves as persecuting Christians and vice versa. Wolves also don't consider the moral implications of eating sheep. I suspect not. What are my religious beliefs, by the way?
I don't think so. You find a much larger, louder group of atheists in England than you do in the US. Yet it's shocking to this American how little anybody there really cares one way or the other about religion. I've got several English friends who list "atheist" in their Facebook info under religion, there for all the world to see. I never see people do that here. If your theory were correct, wouldn't you think they'd be much more disliked over there? I think the term "persecution" gets used way too much in America. Christians feel "persecuted" because they can't have one of Charleton Heston's Ten Commandment promotional gimmicks in their town square. Atheists feel "persecuted" because somebody defaces one of their bulletin boards. Boo hoo, on both sides. (But especially on the Christian side--come on, you're the freakin' majority! It's like watching Shaq in his prime whine about too much contact in the paint.) We've really become a pretty soft country where everyone with a petty grievance is "persecuted." When it's really just people disagreeing (admittedly sometimes in obnoxious ways). Do I get to choose? I'll go with "scientologist." Somebody around here has to be more persecuted than me. *sniff sniff*
Not at all. As you say, the average "Christian" Englishman doesn't have much in the way of beliefs to challenge. Atheism is in many ways predominant amongst the European population, so in many respects the battle is already over. There aren't many true, serious Christians left to get worked up over things, and the official state religion thing casts it in a different light. I think the conversation changes quite a bit with respect to England, however, if you broaden the discussion to other religions, especially Islam. There are A LOT of people very serious about their Islam in the UK, and they typically just don't openly communicate or engage the godless atheists. This itself changes the dynamic quite a bit when we talk about "loud and proud" atheists in the UK. They're often loud and proud when talking to other atheists or presumed atheists, but rarely engage in much discussion with the actual devout followers of the religions you've got there. I tend to think that's a much less healthy dynamic for all involved than what we've got going on here. Who could say no?
To me, the issue is the gradual scrubbing of anything religious from the public square. Typically done through new laws and court rulings. It just seems silly that a christmas tree or manger on some public property (city hall, library, whatever) is any threat to the republic or society as a whole. It sure seemed that almost all people were happy before those things were scrubbed - christmas is a happy time for most people. It seems silly that for decades, people in a small town where just about everyone knows each other and goes to church together, have said a prayer in the locker room before the big football game. I don't see the harm in it as long as nobody's forced to participate. Yet these things are being / have been scrubbed. There's the gag factor - you can't speak freely about a non-destructive topic under many circumstances, if you're a govt. employee. To complete this line of thinking, the bigger the government, the more govt. owns of the property, and the less places one can invoke what should be natural and 1st amendment rights. There's one party that pushes more govt. and one that (perhaps in words but not deeds) talks about smaller government. It's no surprise where peoples' interests align.
When the Republicans lose power they cry that government is busted and must be made smaller, when they are in power it is all about social issues. Frank Luntz 101.
