My boyfriend, who used to be Baptist but now is agnostic, saw me watching a Christopher Hitchens video on YouTube. He asked me why I was watching it then said, "You know, you're just as bad as the radical religious folk. They constantly go to church to re-affirm their beliefs. You're just indoctrinating yourself within your little bubble."
Now, this upset me specifically because he used the word "radical." Like, I'm radical because I watch some atheist videos on youtube? I barely talk to anyone about my atheism at all. He also said that by watching people who "slam Christians," I am being disrespectful and unkind. (He also said he wanted to help me be more kind..... lol) I tried to explain to him that I view all religions the same and I'm not just picking on Christianity, it's just that Christianity is the major religion in our country and so it's the most relevant to me.
We've gotten in multiple discussions about this, and he has insinuated that he has a more balanced view because he doesn't claim to know whether there's a god, and I act like I'm certain there isn't, which is ignorant. I've been an atheist all my life. I wasn't raised with religion or spirituality at all. Yes, I live my life as though there is no god because there's never been any evidence for one. That doesn't mean that I try to tell anyone else what to do or think.
We also recently got into a disagreement over the whole ten commandments monument erected in a government building. The satanic temple was arguing that, if the ten commandments were allowed to be placed in a government building, then they should put a baphomet statue as well. I happen to agree with this, as I think every religion should be treated the same under the constitution and federal law. His argument was basically, "Well they're not a real religion and they just want to be assholes to Christians when Christian do nothing to them." For some reason he also added that "atheists have the most blood on their hands in history. Hitler, Mao, and Stalin all killed Christians specifically because they hated religion."
I'm super frustrated that he called me a radical and that he thinks it's fine that Christians trample others' rights to freedom of religion. I'm not trying to convince him of anything. I just want him to leave me alone when it comes to this stuff. But he doesn't really seem to respect where I'm coming from.
Thanks, rant over.