Being Wrong and being harmful

In my time of being an outspoken Atheist I have always made one thing very clear: I have no problem with anyone being a Christian or a Muslim or whatever faith one may subscribe you. I even have no problem with anyone being a Young Earth Creationist. I have no problem with anyone being catastrophically wrong when it comes to science or being wrong as far as having no evidence for the supernatural and holding a belief that is not indicated by evidence.

I debate theists for 3 reasons: First because it’s fun. Secondly, because I’m interested in whether or not my beliefs or lack thereof are warranted and are an accurate model of reality. My third and most important reason is, that there’s a difference between merely being wrong and being harmful.

If you or anyone else wants to believe in the resurrection or that the Earth is flat or somehow just 6000 years old, then be my guest. But keep these things away from me, keep them out of school (except maybe in a comparative religion class) keep them in your church and don’t try to indoctrinate children or me or anyone else with it.

One can have a reasonable civil discussion about whether or not the resurrection occured and believing it as a matter of faith doesn’t bother me. When you go out there and do it like the adults in the movie “Jesus camp” (the title picture is from this movie) you’re not being wrong, you’re being harmful and even if you are right, you’re still harming these children.

You are also free to believe, that the Earth is flat. While I won’t debate anyone on this topic but educate people, why the Earth is a spheroid, you can still say “well it’s just my faith, I won’t try to convince anybody of it and it isn’t scientific it’s just religion, therefore it shouldn’t be taught in science class and I also let my children arrive at their conclusion free from my influence” then I’d also be willing to say, that I won’t bother with you because your belief does not, at this moment, lead to harmful actions.

As soon as you push your beliefs on me others and state as a matter of fact, that which has long been refuted and debunked, you are being harmful and I’ll go on the attack and show you why you’re wrong and why you’re having a negative impact on society.

To conclude: I have my reasons to debate theists and while it is something, that I also do for fun and educational purposes, I also do it to make this world a better one.

Goodbye from yours truly,

Rene von Boenninghausen @Renevelation