The Chaplain has completely hit it out of the park with this one. Her recent post at An Apostate’s Chapel, What’s So Bad About Religion?, is a must-read. It lays out the case clearly, succinctly, and eloquently. It’s one of the best short critiques of religion that I’ve read.

In particular, I was struck by the apt examples in her “second problem” argument, her argument against “Why do you care what other people believe?” I think this is a point that needs to be made more often and more clearly: If religion were purely a private matter, very few of us would care about it very much. But it isn’t. Religious beliefs affects how people act in the world, how they treat other people. Especially when it’s a powerful mainstream religion. It affects all of us. And therefore, as The Chaplain says:

“The moment they open their church doors and let their ideas drip all over the pavement is the moment they invite me, regardless of whether they intend to do so, to examine those ideas.”

Just go read it.