Well, if atheism were purely an intellectual exercise and it made no difference to nonbelievers which religion happens to hold sway in a particular area, you'd have a point. You may oppose communism in all its forms, but the schism between Albanian and Maoist communists will make absolutely no difference in your life.
Atheists, by necessity, tend to be concerned with the "sexual-political" aspects of religious dogma as well, because it definitely makes a difference whether it's the Evangelicals or the Unitarians who are voting people onto the local school board. (That's an American thing; I don't know if school boards get elected in the UK. School board elections in the U.S., however, are vastly more important than most Americans realize.)
As for unbelievers setting themselves up as judges of Christian doctrine: it's quite possible to be knowledgeable about Christian doctrine without being a Christian (and, conversely, to be a Christian who is profoundly ignorant of Christian doctrine). Also, an awful lot of atheists are ex-believers who know their former religion quite well.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 01:22 am (UTC)Atheists, by necessity, tend to be concerned with the "sexual-political" aspects of religious dogma as well, because it definitely makes a difference whether it's the Evangelicals or the Unitarians who are voting people onto the local school board. (That's an American thing; I don't know if school boards get elected in the UK. School board elections in the U.S., however, are vastly more important than most Americans realize.)
As for unbelievers setting themselves up as judges of Christian doctrine: it's quite possible to be knowledgeable about Christian doctrine without being a Christian (and, conversely, to be a Christian who is profoundly ignorant of Christian doctrine). Also, an awful lot of atheists are ex-believers who know their former religion quite well.