For a lot of them, I honestly don't think they took a similar approach. Something like "Islam is bad because it oppresses women" in hindsight just feels like a workaround to wanting to be racist but needing a different avenue to attack. Starting at "religion bad" and doing no further examination on why does sound about right sadly
But like, why religion bad if not for those reasons? If you want to be a misogynist Christianity is right there waiting for you, you can just be religious and join the dominant group in our society.
What is the point of complaining about religion when you want everything they want anyway?
never been to a moving church service & self-important enough that they want to feel superior to believers. a bit of half-understood rationalism that makes it uncomfortable to endorse a fake theology?
I think they first became atheists because religion is, well, kinda silly tbh, and dealing with the brain rot of conservative Christianity probably made them feel really confident (euphoric, even) about their own intelligence and critical thinking skills.
Then they were confronted with unfamiliar concepts and arguments from the progressive left, had a negative initial reaction and, thinking of themselves as intelligent and rational skeptics, dismissed them immediately ("these extreme liberals are just as ridiculous as religious conservatives!").
Finally they grew obsessed with "SJWs" and epically owning them with facts and logic and fell into the reactionary pipeline.
For a lot of them, I honestly don't think they took a similar approach. Something like "Islam is bad because it oppresses women" in hindsight just feels like a workaround to wanting to be racist but needing a different avenue to attack. Starting at "religion bad" and doing no further examination on why does sound about right sadly
But like, why religion bad if not for those reasons? If you want to be a misogynist Christianity is right there waiting for you, you can just be religious and join the dominant group in our society.
What is the point of complaining about religion when you want everything they want anyway?
never been to a moving church service & self-important enough that they want to feel superior to believers. a bit of half-understood rationalism that makes it uncomfortable to endorse a fake theology?
I think they first became atheists because religion is, well, kinda silly tbh, and dealing with the brain rot of conservative Christianity probably made them feel really confident (euphoric, even) about their own intelligence and critical thinking skills.
Then they were confronted with unfamiliar concepts and arguments from the progressive left, had a negative initial reaction and, thinking of themselves as intelligent and rational skeptics, dismissed them immediately ("these extreme liberals are just as ridiculous as religious conservatives!").
Finally they grew obsessed with "SJWs" and epically owning them with facts and logic and fell into the reactionary pipeline.