(If you aren't keeping up with the most recent fucked up things the cops are doing in the US, go read about it or other things on race in America before reading my random shit.)
Every now and then I subject myself to reading atheist articles against religion. Inevitably, I get incredibly angry at the proselytizing, the logical fallacies, and that they lump all religions into one: Christianity as it occurs in most of America. Occasionally, the article will be a broader attack on Judeo-Christianity, and even more rarely an indictment of fundamentalist Islamists as well. Having spent way too much of my time arguing with people (yay high school speech and debate) the logical fallacies and the total ignorance of non-monotheistic, non-hierarchical religions leads to me foaming at the mouth in fury. I start stomping my foot and screaming "Not all religions!"
Right about there I need to hit pause. "Not all _____!" is never a good sign of an argument. Not all men are cissexist, sexist, rapists, but enough are that lumping all of them in together is important for the safety of many folk who are not cis men. Not all gamers are fans of #gamergate, but as a dude looking geek, I am very careful about expressing my love for games in a way that makes it VERY clear that I'm no fan of that particular shitstorm. And anyone who says "Not all white people are racists" are pretty much deluded because honestly all white people in America are fucking racist. The only question is how much any given white person is willing to WORK ON THAT SHIT.
Regardless, most of the atheists writing those indictments of religion are coming from a place of pain. Stomping my foot saying "Not all of us!" can very much just invalidate that pain.
Not all Heathens are racists. Enough Heathens are that I step very carefully around anyone calling themselves Heathen. Any non-racist Heathens have to address the racism in their midst, because simply saying "Not all of us are like that" doesn't help deal with the fact that the folkish fuckwads drive a lot of people away.
So, I'm working on stopping my furious reaction when atheists spout off illogical arguments, at their generalized indictments of religion. I'm working on being able to engage in productive conversations, including giving them better arguments instead of logical fallacies. But, I will still not stand for getting witnessed to about atheism.
After all, not all atheists are illogical, proselytizing, douchebags.
