> Here's a hint to all of you atheists: one, it's not
> your damn business what I believe;
Unbelievers aren't given the choice in this benighted country. Every single morning, every public elementary, middle and high school in the US begins with this charming statement: "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." (At the peak of the Cold War, the US Congress added the term "under God" in 1954).
> yourself a favor by relating to religious people (the
> vast majority of the people on this planet) in a
> language they understand rather than being hostile
> towards their viewpoints.
Most people on this planet have a very, very different concept of religion than US petro-fundies. It's more about life-worlds and life-cycles; the fundies, on the other hand, repackage US settler colonialism as reality show advertising.
> But the whole "God thing" seems to create
> rifts in even folks I thought were solidly on the
> left.
This varies historically. In times of surging secularism, theology and dialectics can learn from each other. In the era of petro-fundamentalisms, critical distance is advisable.
-- DRR