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The Right to be Wrong

Perhaps the central and biggest problem with all of the major religions is that they have never defended the right of a person to be wrong. 

It is far easier for an atheist to defend the right of the Branch Davidians to "believe" in a God, for example, then for a Christian or even the Catholic Church, to defend the right of atheists to believe that Christianity is simply a cult based on claims that are as self contradictory and unsubstantiated as they are utterly unfalsifiable. 

Both oppose the beliefs of the other, only the difference is that the atheist opposes religion because he does not want to be burned alive or beheaded by a religious zealot, while the Christian or Muslim opposes atheism because he does not want to burn alive for all of eternity for failing to do so. The former can tolerate the "beliefs" of the latter, even if they seem utterly irrational, if only they would stop trying to "convert" (i.e. indoctrinate or simply impose by force) the world to how they think everything should be run. The latter, however, thinks they are ordered by God to eradicated the former, and that "tolerance" is worthy of eternal hellfire. 

In other words, Christians work to convert people to Christianity for basically the same reason Iraq's elite military core, the Republican Guard, fought for Saddam Hussein: both know that if they don't they'll be summarily executed by their "ruler."  

For the Christian, being "wrong" is to be an agent of the devil, a heretic, a threat as much to the salvation of a person's eternal soul as to the eternal "truth" of their "beliefs." 

This is why the Christian and the Muslim cannot defend the right of a person to be "wrong," because like Amway, they build up their treasures in heaven by "saving souls" here on earth. While they claim that the devil is trying to harvest souls for hell, in other words, Christians run around trying to harvest those same souls in order to increase their own heavenly rewards (or to at least help ensure they don't just miss the quota for salvation). 

I oppose religion, since it is simply a cult of mind control, but that certainly does not mean I would ever support any system that would ever deny someone's right to be wrong.





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