Faith is a big part of a lot of people's lives, and it kind of is in mine too but not really in the typical way. I do not consider myself to be religious, I do not affiliate myself with any particular set of beliefs. But I don't, by any means, hate religion. I don't believe people who believe in god are fools. I don't consider myself an atheist. I have a lot of respect for people who have faith, in some ways I really admire it. But sometimes people's beliefs can manifest themselves in ways that make others want to bash them with a brick that has "common sense" written on one side and "decency" on the other.
So I'm going to talk about a few of those.
First, people who believe their faith entitles them to more than others. I often if these people really even believe in the religion they claim to follow or if they just want an excuse to lord over others. There was a time when being spiritual was related to being enlightened. Now it's often associated with ignorance. People think that if they just talk loud enough and have a cross (or other religious symbol) to back them up, then they can get what they want. Then they get really upset when they're told that they are, in fact, not better than everyone else and should really stop pestering the other children because the teachers find it awkward trying to explain to everyone why you're so bossy and self-righteous.
Secondly, people who believe that anyone who does not follow their beliefs is automatically less moral than them. I'm not going to go into any examples or silly metaphors, because all I have to say on the point can be summed up fairly easily; I believe your morality should be based on how your actions effect others, not what you personally gain from them.
People who believe that it is okay to discriminate against people who are religious, because some religious people are jerks. That is bullshit. If one person of the fill-in-the-blank faith is an ass to you, that doesn't mean that everyone of all religions is a delusional psychopath, and believing that makes you just as much an ass as that old lady who cussed you out in public and threw a drink at you because you're gay/vegetarian/listening to heavy metal/carrying a decapitated goat head around. Being an atheist doesn't mean you're smarter or more sensible than others, just like being a Buddhist doesn't mean you have an above-average waist size.
People who believe that atheism is synonymous with "Satan worship". It's just silly. I mean, I can kind of see why people believe this. The world is divided up into the realms of God and Satan, and so if a person doesn't worship God that must be because they're devoted to the other, right? Nope. They don't believe in that guy either. If he showed up in their bedroom at night and instructed them to burn down an orphanage they'd just think they were dreaming and chuck their alarm clock at his head.
People who make their own religion look bad by crapping all over everyone and acting in direct opposition to the things they claim to believe in. This kind of ties into the first one, where I think a lot of these people just follow whichever set of beliefs because they see it as a way to get what they want and belittle everyone else. They're not strong enough to bully people physically and maybe not smart enough to manipulate people as effectively as they want, so they just default to the next main thing they think they can use to push others around. Unfortunately for them, people in the modern days aren't too keen on discrimination and their pseudo-faith doesn't end up being the Excalibur they were expecting.
And I guess that's the main pet peeves covered. As I said, I really don't dislike religious people at all or think that they are silly for their beliefs. I really admire the ability to experience unwavering faith in something. I just believe that a portion of them are full of shit and really just need to stfu for the good of us all.
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