Recently, I read this on a friend’s wall:
I don’t need religion. Any paradigm that puts humanity at the apex of the living world is fake. I don’t wish people on religious festivals, so if you wish me or bless me etc, please don’t expect a reply.
I concur. I am slowly stopping even the facade of respectability I have been according to religious nuttiness, the ‘respect’ I offer to them for not antagonising their sensitivities, however irrational, dysfunctional and abhorrent to my intellect and the deference they expect from me towards those completely false beliefs.
Henceforward, as the first step, I shall stop wishing people on religious festivals and stop replying to posts regarding the same. One step at a time, I intend to cleanse my being from the childhood indoctrination I was, unfortunately, subject to by my well-meaning but ill-informed parents and an overly sensitive society scared of hurting any sentiments, however silly they may be, as long as they are called ‘religious’.
I am sorry, but just as you expect me to ‘respect’ your irrational and downright silly beliefs, I expect respect for my rationalism.
“We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.” ~ H. L. Mencken