The atheist – Preacher :
My friends!
Today I am starting a series of atheist sermons. And my first sermon will be dedicated not to atheism and not to religion, but to tolerance.
We are like-minded people, but we must always remember the diversity of humanity, that there are many people with different views, including on faith and religion. We must remain tolerant of them. We should not consider them stupider or worse than ourselves. We should not infringe on them. We must respect their beliefs. Just like we want to be treated with respect. We should all live in peace.
I would like all the clergy and authoritative atheists of the world to begin their sermons and conversations about faith and religion with these words about tolerance for people of other faiths and other views.
For me, it is more important not that a person is an atheist or a believer, but that he is tolerant of other beliefs and can respect non-believers. Therefore, the main lesson that I want us to learn from our meetings is to be tolerant of others.
The listener – atheist:
Tell me, but what should we do when believers persistently impose their religion on us? They think that only their way of life is right, and everyone else is mistaken. They consider it their duty to convert everyone they meet to their faith. They are sure that everyone eventually comes to faith. They often talk down to me, as if I were an ignorant youth, and, patting me condescendingly on the shoulder, they say: “Well, never mind, someday you will come to faith.” Isn’t that outrageous?
The atheist – Preacher :
Such disrespectful attitude is a sign of bad manners. It is characteristic of many people, including believers. But you can’t judge everyone by a few people. Bad manners and tactlessness have nothing to do with religion. Both can have them. However, this is a good example to learn a lesson for yourself. We cannot be tactless and we cannot impose our atheistic views on others. It is better to talk about our beliefs only if we are asked about it or asked to clarify something. But to go around and impose your point of view on everyone is ugly.
The listener – atheist :
Teacher, but don’t believers seem stupid to you? How can you believe in something that doesn’t exist?
The atheist – Preacher :
No, I don’t think believers are stupider than atheists. There are many issues in which this or that person does not agree with me in views, but this is not a reason to consider him more stupid than me. We just have different points of view. This may be a point of view on the origin of the world and religion. It can be an attitude to the national or racial issue, an attitude to the government and the opposition, and so on. We have opponents in all these issues, but if we consider them more stupid than ourselves, then we do not deserve respect ourselves. If we only accept the idea that one person is worse than another because of their views and beliefs, then we will plunge ourselves into the abyss of intolerance and arrogance. This is unacceptable for modern and progressive people. Moreover, I know a lot of believers who are better educated, well-read and erudite than many atheists. Therefore, the attitude to religion is not a measure of a person’s mind.
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