Being called closed-minded by religious people is a bit like being called yellow by a bunch of bananas. - Pat Condell

I don't respect your beliefs and I don't care if you're offended.

There's a common misconception among Christians that the purposeof their religion is to spread the message of Jesus. In fact, the purpose of Christianity is to suppress the message of Jesusand to swindle you out of the kingdom of heaven. Christianity is grounded in the notion that there's something fundamentally wrongwith being born a human being. Original sin. It's probably the most poisonousand self-destructive idea in human history, so naturally it has been enthusiastically embraced by clergy. Whereas Jesus seeks to empower you, clergy seek to weaken you,to make you feel small and helpless. They don't want you to consider the lilies of the field or to seek the kingdom of heaven withinbecause that's too much like the message of Jesus. They'd rather you focussed instead on the ludicrous celestial psycho dramaof God and Satan and angels and demons and hellfire, and to burden yourself with baseless guilt and morbid fear of eternal damnation. The depict this earthly life as a grubby thing to be transcendedbecause they want you disconnected from the planet that gives you life. To feel that you're apart from nature, not a part of nature, because they don't want you grounded in any way.

They say great minds think alike. That's also true of tiny minds, and it's especially true of closed ones. I'm always impressed by students who know so much about the world they feel no need to listen to anyone else's opinions, aren't you? Especially when they feel compelled to actively shout them down. That's confidence for you. ... Anyone who's unwilling to hear an opposing opinion has no business attending a university, unless they're planning to graduate with honors in bigotry. And they have no business teaching at one either. There's nothing liberal, intelligent, enlightened, civilized or progressive about shutting somebody up because you don't want other people to hear their opinions. Who are you to decide who should and shouldn't be heard? Who made you emperor? It's not only an incitement to public disorder, it's a form of assault and a violation of the civil rights of everyone around you.