I live in a place where almost half the people are muslims, the other half are christians, and atheists are a minority. Whenever I voice my opinion against Islam, people who initially agree with what I say would eventually devolve into making negative stereotypes against muslim people (and arabs) instead of criticizing the religion they follow. I’ve heard comments from people saying:
‘muslims’ are a negative influence on the world and must be stopped.
Muslims? really? Not Islam? The religion telling them to do negative things? And guess what? They get mad when I tell them their Jesus is no better.
Couldn’t the religion be separated from the people?
I have reluctantly concluded that for the vast majority of humans, their beliefs – religious or otherwise – are, for all practical purposes, their very identity. So to criticize those beliefs is to judge, disparage, and, indeed, when you consider the intensity of their abreaction to simple disagreement – it is to annihilate them.
If I had a dime for every time someone has treated my lack of acceptance of their beliefs, or at least the legitimacy of them, as an existential threat, I’d be a very wealthy person indeed.
And when you really examine what chafes the hides of theists who encounter atheists, it is not the hatred they imagine we have for their beliefs … it is our indifference, or failure to be impressed or at least deferential. It is our utter comfort with a world that doesn’t include their pet beliefs. THAT is the bridge too far. They would rather imagine we secretly believe but rebel in the interest of some silly thing like being a libertine; or that we have some deep wound fostering resentment or misunderstanding. But what they can’t accept is that we have given their beliefs due consideration and dismissed them as lacking credibility.
I honestly wish religion would just disappear. It divides more than it unites. Always causing problems. Always causing conflict. Nothing good comes of it.