Originally posted by lil bitchiness
And what do people in America ''do'' to atheists that compares to a capital crime in certain muslim countries?
What is it that atheists are leashed of in America today?Are atheists denied jobs? Threatened with death? Killed? Tortured? Denied right not be believe?
What?
A valid reply to his original topic. I tried to reframe it slightly to make it more pertinent. Atheists are certainly a minority, and experience a general mistrust from society (public opinion poll results can and have corroborated this) but the discrimination is less overt. More widespread, I might argue, since there may actually be more total people who mistrust or look down on atheists than, say, Jews or Blacks. But of course the level of discrimination for those groups of people is far more severe when it occurs.
Personally, I've been told I'm not welcome in households simply for leaving a religion, had a vaguely agnostic/spiritual (i.e. not terribly religious) girl break up with me for my atheism, and received hosts of questions tinged with incredulity and a touch of mistrust when people find out I'm atheist. And I'm in what would be considered a moderately liberal area...I'm not in the deep South of anything. Nor am I terribly militant with spreading my opinions. It does exist, but at the same time I don't feel actively discriminated against. So it requires a more nuanced discussion than cries of violent discrimination that your questions suggest.
Though to be fair, the thread is generalized to the point that it doesn't focus specifically on America. Your questions are valid for our country, but his examples of discrimination in the Middle East remain true and valid, though obviously not as pertinent to our daily lives and discussions. But I agree that Null's take on this topic is needlessly heavy-handed.