“I Hate All Religions Equally”
I see this comment fairly often. And probably somewhere around 99 times out of 100, the person saying it is a Culturally Christian Atheist who is trying to say that they view the Christian concepts of “belief in a higher power” and “faith in and submission to a specific deity” as abhorrent…
But what is actually communicated to non-Christians includes:
“I think that all other religions are just reskinned versions of Christianity with a different name plate on the Christ Figure.”
And:
“I hate your culture for no other reasons than displaced trauma and lack of education on my part.”
And I’ve recently been seeing this comment repeatedly on my “Missionaries Are Inherently Xenophobic” post, and basically just auto-blocking the people making the statement.
Because it’s so ignorant. It ties into the Christian worldview that “Culture” and “Religion” are two distinct things that are almost modular, in that you can swap out the “Religion” module with any other and have no effects on the Culture. (9 times out of 10, these types also insist that Culturally Christian holidays are also secular…)
So, sure. Let’s take this statement and run with it, just to demonstrate what it actually says to those of us who aren’t Christian.
~~~
I hate all religions equally.
So, yes, I do hate Judaism just as much as I hate Christianity. Nevermind that means I’m in ideological agreement with Nazis, I hate this ethnoreligion which has never done me personal harm, and has been persecuted for thousands of years. To me, Judaism is Just A Religion, and I don’t understand, and don’t WANT to understand that it is also a persecuted minority whose culture gets routinely outlawed by people like me. Since I don’t understand that, seeing a visibly Jewish person on the street with their modest garb and hearing their foreign language, I am revolted. I hate Judaism, and I hate JEWS, just as much as I hate every other religion, equally.
So, yes, I hate Sikhism just as much as I hate Christianity. Nevermind that I’ve almost certainly never met a Sikh, and I don’t know that they don’t seek converts, so they’re also an ethnic group, the mere fact that they have a Religion that comes with that ethnic group means that I hate them. Their religious beliefs with which they’re raised as part of their culture–honesty, equality, fidelity, standing up to oppression–are Evil because it’s a religion, and need to be wiped out. Seeing a Sikh man, with his Religious turban and beard, as they give out free food to everyone in need at a Langar… well, it fills me with disgust and rage, and I wish to rid the world of this Religious Practice, observed by people who are different than me. I hate Sikhism and I hate Sikhs, just as much as I hate every other religion, equally.
So, yes, I hate Shintoism just as much as I hate Christianity. Nevermind that my understanding of Shintoism is almost certainly bastardized by my Western conceptions, their beliefs in venerating nature and respecting their ancestors are Religious and therefore Evil, and need to be wiped out. Seeing a Shintoist leave an offering to the Kami, engaging in ritual cleanliness, and marking major life events with solemnity fills me with disgust and rage. I hate Shintoism and I hate Shintoists, just as much as I hate every other religion, equally.
So, yes, I hate the Druze faith just as much as I hate Christianity. Nevermind that they are a small ethnic group who are prohibited from proselytism from their founding; I don’t care. To me, they’re Just Another Abrahamic Religion and I Hate Abrahamic Religions, even if there are so few of them. They have a Religion, and I Hate All Religions Equally.
So, yes, I hate the many and myriad beliefs of the First Nations, just as much as I hate Christianity. Nevermind that they were persecuted and marginalized by Christianity, which tried to wipe out their beliefs, way of life, and identities, I hate their Religions, even if those religions are tied to their ways of life. Nevermind that the residential schools, which had the stated goal of “Kill the Indian in the Child,” have mass graves of children. I refuse to recognize that this puts me in ideological agreement with Christian missionaries. After all, I Hate All Religions Equally, and if mass graves of children is the price to pay for a world with one fewer Religion in it, then so be it.
After all, I Hate All Religions Equally.
Quick clarifying note: I was reading the comments after I posted this and someone pointed out that it is slightly suspicious that the OP seems to have gone out of their way to not mention persecution of Muslims and Islamophobia. I am choosing to believe that this omission is just a complete coincidence and not intentional.
Update: I’ve checked OP’s profile/page, and I’m not so sure that that omission was a coincidence.
I’m pretty sure it is just a coincidence. OP is Jewish and therefore, naturally, talks a lot about antisemitism, but if you search their blog, they do also talk about Islamophobia.
I’m curious where you got the impression they left Islam out intentionally?
Well, it wasn’t anything particularly specific but, goodness knows on this site you kind of just need to go on hunches. Like, there is one mutual that I have who loves Harry Potter and I was very suspicious that they might be supporting JKR’s transphobia so I checked in to their blog every once in a while to find out if they were transphobic because if they were, I didn’t want them to follow me.  I didn’t have much concrete stuff to go on, maybe grasping at straws, sure, but it’s sometimes tricky on this site to find out whether you are supporting people that would also support you. Goodness knows, as a gay Muslim I have enough trouble with that.
This post ignoring one of the largest religions in the world and talking about far less well-known religions instead, coupled with a meme from earlier down in their blog of a person trying to shove a mattress into a sedan and the caption was “anti-Zionist trying to insert Israel into an unrelated conversation.” [btw: lol, true!] The two things together made me feel like maybe they viewed Muslims as an antagonist. like, maybe the omission was intentional. Nothing big but in case it was one of the many things that was obvious to everyone but me, I wanted to add an update to it but if this was an obvious thing to everyone else that I had my suspicions. I’m glad to know that I was wrong.
I’m just going to copy and paste the exact thing I said when someone else asked the se thing (that didn’t include the insinuation that I’m Islamophobic just because I’m Jewish), which can easily be found in the notes of this post:
I considered [doing a segment on Islam], but Islamophobia from New Atheism/Christian anti-theist-types is a feature, not a bug, starting with how they view Christian culture as normative, which includes “traditional” Islamophobia (Richard Dawkins being perhaps the premier example). As such, they’re used to defending against (accurate) accusations of Islamophobia (some of them will even cheerfully own up to it), and I thought that I would take a different approach and pick smaller, non-proselytizing religions to make the point.
So, since you are so suspicious as to police others by what they don’t say, I would advise that you start with your own latent antisemitism.
I mean…. the post also doesn’t mention Buddhism, which is also one of the largest religions in the world. Or Hindusim.
Rather, using religions that are increasingly unknown to Westerners is the point. It’s emphasizing how absurd the statement is in the first place. Not only are these Nu Atheists judging the religions they think they know - Christianity, Islam, Judaism - but also ones they’ve never heard of, like the Druze, Bahai, and Zorastrionism.
I read this post as focusing on ethnoreligions, which Islam certainly is not.
I can understand being cautious about unknown bloggers. I feel it. But hopefully the added commentary from op helps!
