We’re in the 21st century, and the vast majority of us still believe in an utterly and obviously fictional creator deity. Plenty of people, even in developed countries with decent educational systems, still believe in ghosts or magic (e.g. voodoo). And I–an atheist and a skeptic–am told I need to respect these patently false beliefs as cultural traditions.
Fuck that. They’re bad cultural traditions, undeserving of respect. Child-proofing society for these intellectually stunted people doesn’t help them; it is in fact a disservice to them to pretend it’s okay to go through life believing these things. We should demand that people contend with reality on a factual basis by the time they reach adulthood (even earlier, if I’m being completely honest). We shouldn’t be coddling people who profess beliefs that are demonstrably false, simply because their feelings might get hurt.
As a hard (as in my faith being unshakeable) (panen)theist, absolutely agreed. Atheists should be able to talk about their beliefs openly without receiving hate, and so should theists. Antitheists need a self-awareness check - their views are rooted in ignorance of religion, prejudice, and are a form of intolerance - aka, bigotry. The hypocrisy is obvious to outside observers.
I would disagree entirely with your assessment that atheist views are rooted in ignorance. As I recall a study showed that on average, atheists had more biblical/theological knowledge than Christians.
My point isn’t that they’re are ignorant of the subject. It’s that they are exactly what they accuse Christians of being.