Hallmarks of fundamentalism

[Silent3]

Hallmarks of religious fundamentalism:

1. Being vocal about one's fundamentalist beliefs.
   
2. Being strongly opinionated in favor of one's fundamentalist beliefs.
   
3. Belief that others must believe as you do, or face some dire consequence, such as eternal damnation.
   
4. Belief that saving others from the dire consequence of not believing is so important that all manner of coercion -- including fines, imprisonment, enslavement, torture and death -- is justified.
   
5. Belief that someone who appears beyond conversion to one's own fundamentalist precepts is best destroyed in order to prevent corruption of others.
   
6. Attempts to co-opt civil government to support the agenda of one's fundamentalism.
   
7. Daily life elaborately structured around one's fundamentalist precepts.
   
8. Inability to be satisfied with merely having the freedom to live according to one's own precepts, with others having the same degree of freedom to live differently, but requiring a world where one's personal beliefs and practices are exalted, celebrated, respected, enshrined in law, etc., and where other ways of living are repressed, curtailed, punished, and possibly eradicated.
   
9. Literalist adherence to texts and oral traditions deemed "sacred", and/or to "prophets" believed to have special access to Absolute Truth.
   
10. Preference for "revelation" over evidence.
    

All that's needed for atheist "fundamentalism":

1. Being vocal about one's lack of belief (instead of quietly not believing to oneself).
   
2. Being strongly opinionated in favor of one's own atheism.
   
3. Daring to be critical of religious and/or spiritual beliefs without the most elaborately careful diplomacy.
   
4. Not realizing that if your criticism of religion is clear enough for your point to be understood, then it wasn't diplomatic enough.
   
5. Failing to go along with the idea that Belief should command more respect than lack of belief.
   
6. Pushing for separation of church and state.
   
7. Being deemed "obnoxious", even when this supposed obnoxiousness is purely rhetorical, and in the context of supposedly open online discussions of relevant subject matter.
   
8. Being judged "repressive" by idiots who don't understand the difference between criticism and repression -- the same idiots who can be found in any internet forum anywhere, always bemoaning how they aren't "allowed" to say this or that, even though they have all the freedom to say whatever they want, but are incapable of recognizing their own freedom to speak unless their own pronouncements are greeted with gushing acceptance, and nothing else.
   

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Add one more: Don't think it. Believe it.

[Warpy]

2. OK, now you've done it

and the theists on this board will not take kindly to having their noses rubbed in their favorite insult.

:popcorn:

[TZ]

4. not just the theists.

But anybody not in our "clique", Warpy....;-) :popcorn:

[trotsky]

3. How dare you bring calm, rational analysis to this issue.

:sarcasm:

[TZ]

5. can I say...

You are just dumb........to think this has anything to do with logic....;-)

[ladjf]

6. Animal survival requires objective processes.

That is why fundamentalist are in the process of committing suicide but don't realize it.

It is very unfortunate that others who are guilty of gross subjectivism will also be caught up in the fundamentalist's maelstrom.

[trotsky]

7. This needs a kick back to the top.

The people who desperately NEED to read this obviously haven't.

[uberllama42]

8. Once they catch wind of it

it won't sink for quite some time, I'm sure.