I want to ask Atheists here on their opinion regarding as to whether Atheists can and should actively seek to eliminate religious belief from public and private life.
At the moment, I'm looking at the history of communism and am undecided on the issue as the history speaks for itself. My personal opinion is that I am unsure whether religion is compatible with freedom, and consequently suspect religion is incompatible with humanism. On the one hand atheism is part of scientific and moral progress towards greater freedom, whilst on the other it violates long-standing ethical conceptions.
State Atheism, and to a lesser extent militant atheism, self-evidently has some serious human rights implications as it means that individuals lose their "freedom of religion" and that also impacts "freedom of thought" indirectly by the use of state power. Yet at the same time, a lot of our conception of ethics are also derived from religious sources, even in secular systems. So this walks straight into a potentially nihilistic and relativistic realm of thought, which can get pretty ugly.
There is also a question as whether an Atheist has the right to talk someone out of their beliefs as Atheists cannot be equal to religious people without it, given how often religion takes on an evangelical form whereas atheists are typically individualists. So I'm going to make a distinction between this on an individual level (trying to talk someone out of religion) and on a social level, because they latter will almost certainly imply using the state to achieve an atheist society.
i) can religion be eliminated in society as a whole?
ii) should an atheist try to talk a person out of their religious beliefs?
iii) should atheists use politics and the state as a way to promote atheism and/or eliminate religion?
I'm not sure on this issue given it's sensitive nature, so all perspectives are welcome.
At the moment, I'm looking at the history of communism and am undecided on the issue as the history speaks for itself. My personal opinion is that I am unsure whether religion is compatible with freedom, and consequently suspect religion is incompatible with humanism. On the one hand atheism is part of scientific and moral progress towards greater freedom, whilst on the other it violates long-standing ethical conceptions.
State Atheism, and to a lesser extent militant atheism, self-evidently has some serious human rights implications as it means that individuals lose their "freedom of religion" and that also impacts "freedom of thought" indirectly by the use of state power. Yet at the same time, a lot of our conception of ethics are also derived from religious sources, even in secular systems. So this walks straight into a potentially nihilistic and relativistic realm of thought, which can get pretty ugly.
There is also a question as whether an Atheist has the right to talk someone out of their beliefs as Atheists cannot be equal to religious people without it, given how often religion takes on an evangelical form whereas atheists are typically individualists. So I'm going to make a distinction between this on an individual level (trying to talk someone out of religion) and on a social level, because they latter will almost certainly imply using the state to achieve an atheist society.
i) can religion be eliminated in society as a whole?
ii) should an atheist try to talk a person out of their religious beliefs?
iii) should atheists use politics and the state as a way to promote atheism and/or eliminate religion?
I'm not sure on this issue given it's sensitive nature, so all perspectives are welcome.