I used to be a fundamentalist Baptist pastor. I spent my teenage and early adult years preparing for and working in Christian ministry. Through a long series of philosophical shifts (a story for another time), I became an atheist. Now that I am a nonbeliever, I find that religious people – especially my believing friends such as you – are very offended by people such as myself who have the nerve to express their negative views about religion. Since I was myself a believer for over 26 years, I understand where you are coming from.
Firstly, you have likely heard the cliche jokes about atheists spending their lives denying ‘God’. The jokes imply that it is pointless to spend one’s time debunking things they don’t believe in. If atheists don’t believe in any gods (or, as you would say, ‘God’) then why do they spend so much time talking about ‘God?’ Of course, if you’ll think this through honestly you will quickly realize how silly and wrong it is. Many Christians spend huge amounts of time and effort debating with and attempting to debunk the beliefs of other religions and philosophies. They don’t do this because they secretly believe these other beliefs are true, but because they sincerely believe they are false and misleading. The same is true for atheists such as myself. I value the truth.
Another important thing to consider is that many atheists are former believers, and so invested much time in beliefs they now consider false. There is a certain self-loathing and heightened annoyance at religion due to this. Also, it is very difficult for a Christian living in America – especially fundamentalists – to realize just how religion permeates much of our society. You probably tend to think Christianity (at least your circle) is being discriminated against, persecuted, shouted down, and so forth. That is natural, and if you believe it you can certainly find evidence to support it. However, the truth is that the vast majority of Americans are Christians and that religion touches practically every aspect of public discourse in America. Of course, if you are a fundamentalist, you largely write off the legitimacy of most other Christian groups. But the differences you make much of are quite insignificant to everyone else.
In order to understand just how much Christianity fills the public sphere in America, you would need to imagine yourself living in a country – such as Iraq – with a majority Muslim population. The subtle differences among the various sects (Sunni, Shiite, subgroups) would be insignificant to you as a non-Muslim. The simple fact is that, in these nations, Islamic beliefs affect everything from media to politics to education. Such is the state (although probably not in the same measure and type) of Christianity in American life.
a Christian interrupting a stranger's day to tell him he's wrong...
You probably don’t understand why atheists don’t just leave believers alone and let people believe what they believe. But I could ask you the same question. Why do Christians try to convert nonbelievers and people of other faiths? In fact, billions of dollars and millions of man hours are spent by Christians every year writing books, producing television shows, marketing to nonbelievers, and even going out into neighborhoods and venues to confront people who haven’t requested any information about your beliefs at all. Of course I know why Christians do these things because I was one. It should suffice to say that atheists can have all of the same reasons as Christians for speaking out: they think the information they have can be helpful, they think the beliefs they are confronting are harmful to society, etc.
And let’s be frank: even outspoken nonbelievers don’t spend nearly as much time or energy promulgating their beliefs as believers. And they certainly don’t practice the confrontational telemarketing-style tactics of soul-winners. As far as vociferous groups go, atheists are probably the most harmless. It isn’t likely that atheists will be on the evening news rioting in the streets or shooting up a church. At best, they will be out debating and writing books and posting to their blogs.
Now, on to the point: Why is religion so bad? Of course, you will not agree with most of my reasons because you believe differently. However, I would ask you to imagine – just imagine – that you believed as I do. Pretend for just a few moments that you didn’t find any evidence at all to believe in any gods or any of the world’s religious claims, and see if it doesn’t help you to understand why someone such as myself finds religion worth confronting.
the money spent for this preacher's airline ticket probably could have been better spent...
1. Religion wastes massive amounts of resources.
For example: When Christian missionaries go to third-world nations with food, medicine, water filtration devices, and other supplies, how much time and effort is spent – not in actually raising the standard of living of the people they work with – but in indoctrinating them (‘discipling’) religiously? Let’s be honest: huge portions of funds, efforts, and educational resources at the dispense of religious charity efforts are spent this way. Now, you think this is acceptable because you believe this ‘aspect’ of aid is more important than the others. But can you understand why somebody like me would find it absolutely disgusting and wasteful? Consider: not only do I think that it lessens the humanitarian impact, but I also think that the religious beliefs being taught are themselves false and damaging.
The same goes for the world’s resources as a whole. What if religious beliefs really are just myths? You find this an absurd proposition. But I believe it. If you were me, what would you think about the fact that much of the population dedicates much time and money to their religious group? Wouldn’t you want to free these people?
2. Religion stands in the way of progress in every way imaginable.
Throughout human history, religion has fought progress at every step: scientific progress, technological progress, moral progress. And there is a reason: religion thrives upon ignorance and control, and is weakened by education and change. Religion is little more than the practice of asserting things are so, as opposed to figuring things out. This is why any time someone figures things out (whether it is the nature of the solar system, the origin of the species, etc.) he had better be prepared to run from religion. Libraries have been burned, scientists have been threatened, reputations have been smeared, and every sort of progress imaginable has been sabotaged in the name of religious beliefs.
har.
Progress usually wins out. But religion has managed to delay, delay, delay. Think about it: just a couple hundred years ago, protestants were burning people at the stake for interpreting the Bible differently. And today even you, my fundamentalist friend, find that abhorrent. It is your modern sensibilities – those enabled by moral progress – and NOT your religious beliefs that aid you in making this judgment. There are still believers in America who think that black people or white people are cursed by ‘God’. You might find this repulsive as well. But don’t ignore: they use the same Bible you do to make their points.
At every rung on the ladder of progress, the pastor or priest has been there to stave the world off with the Bible and hell. And, when they eventually lose the battle, they simply retreat to the next rung up. If you were me, you would be seriously wondering, “How much would we have accomplished by now if we had given religion the boot?”
3. Religion poisons the mind of children (and adults, too).
When a parent or a teacher tells a child a certain thing is true, the child – more often than not – believes them. Fundamentalists are crippling their children with the things they are teaching them. For instance, you are probably telling your children that biological evolution is a massive lie. You are teaching them, in so many words, that scientists are either just big liars, or just really stupid and gullible people. (I hope you can appreciate the great irony I see in this…) This sort of education is devastating because it teaches children to partition their minds and to reject anything whatsoever – regardless of the evidence – that contradicts their beliefs. And, furthermore, you do not allow your children to consider any alternatives to your religion. You tell them from the time they are born that your beliefs are true and immutable, over and against all claims.
How to Brainwash Children and Disable Their Minds
This produces adults who are, quite literally, mentally disabled. Frankly, any adult who thinks that a universally accepted scientific theory is a big lie because of what his religious book says is mentally disabled. If you were a nonbeliever, you would think this too. Try to understand that to me, this is not different from a person thinking the world is flat or that it rests upon the back of a giant turtle or that evil old women turn into cats. If a person rejects such obvious truths out of hand because of their religious beliefs, they are crippled mentally. And this is only one expression of that disability.
Why is this such a big deal? Because this disability spills over into other areas that affect society even more, such as tolerance, foreign relations, etc. Any time a person holds unjustified beliefs in higher regard than justified beliefs, their critical reasoning skills are damaged and they are potentially susceptible to extreme, irrational influences. It is incidental that your beliefs do not lead you to blow up a bus or fly planes into buildings. Your children will probably not learn that people of other faiths should be exterminated (although they will think God will take care of that with hell…). But they will believe other things that are just as irrational, such as that Jesus is coming back to destroy the earth soon or that homosexuals are wicked people or that if they talk to God he will answer them. I know you honestly believe these things. But again, if you didn’t, wouldn’t the whole thing be quite unsettling to you? Especially if you had once believed it all and now realized just how debilitating it is?
4. Religion robs your life of value and happiness.
This will be a hard one for you to grasp, but I hope you try. You believe that you will live forever, and that your life is important because you have a purpose given to you by your creator. I believe that death is final and that life has whatever purpose we determine for ourselves. Let me quickly set aside a major hangup believers have about ‘purpose’ without gods:
The idea that life without a creator could have no purpose is not rational. Firstly, everybody’s life – including yours – has exactly the purpose that the person himself determines it has. If you think about this, you will realize it is true. ‘Doing God’s will’ is your life’s purpose because you make it your life’s purpose. Secondly, we can easily see the fallacy in this line of reasoning: consider God. If a life only has purpose if it was created for a purpose , then what about God? What is God’s purpose in life? Of course, we would have to say that God ‘just is’. He didn’t choose to be, and he wasn’t created. So wouldn’t the same line of reasoning that says we can have no purpose without God – that our lives are meaningless and that we should despair – mean that a god’s life would have no purpose and that his existence would be entirely meaningless? I think you get the point.
So, if you put yourself in my shoes, you would feel very sorry for those people who spend so much of their life toiling as though they will reap the rewards in another life and as though they will live forever. I recognize that when these people die, they will never so much as see a glimmer of light again much less experience the pleasure and freedom they forfeited in this life to prepare for the next. I know that even those who toil do derive some satisfaction from their efforts, whether it is the simple sense of satisfaction from hard work or the belief that their dedication will be rewarded later. But I believe much of the life that you live – the rules you follow, the initiatives you pursue – will not in fact bring anything other than the present satisfaction you feel.
Think: if you believed that this life is the only life you get, how would you live it? It would instantly become more valuable to you, as it did to me. So would the lives of your loved ones. And the realization that all of the petty things you now believe God cares about (what people do when they are naked, what they drink, what sorts of clothes they wear, what sort of entertainment they enjoy, etc.) are really just decisions you yourself are free to make is a liberating one.
Millions of Muslim women are still treated as property thanks to the oddity of religion
If you believed as I do that this life was the only one people live, and that enjoying life is always good so long as it isn’t at someone else’s expense, wouldn’t you feel inclined to do your part in refuting beliefs that said otherwise? You can, in fact, understand where I am coming from at least to a point: consider the lives of strict Muslims or Amish communities. Consider how Muslim women are expected to dress and act, how isolated the Amish try to remain. Do you not pity them on some level? Do you think these people are wasting their time? Do you think they could potentially be happier on some level if they were freed to live as you do? I think so, too.
Of course, there are many more reasons – and further details – as to why I think religion is bad. However, I think this should be enough to at least help you understand why many nonbelievers feel it necessary to address religion. Ultimately, the reason is as I stated earlier: I value truth. Anyone who values truth will find it difficult to remain silent where they believe myths are being promulgated as fact.
For those of you who are not fundamentalists, I suppose I will pick on you later. 
