Atheists unite. Now.

Douglas Rushkoff has a great post on his blog about why it's time for atheists to stop being tolerant of fundamentalists of all stripes.

When religions are practiced, as they are by a majority of those in developed nations, today, as a kind of nostalgic little ritual - a community event or an excuse to get together and not work - it doesn't really screw anything up too badly. But when they radically alter our ability to contend with reality, cope with difference, or implement the most basic ethical provisions, they must be stopped.

Like any other public health crisis, the belief in religion must now be treated as a sickness. It is an epidemic, paralyzing our nation's ability to behave in a rational way, and - given our weapons capabilities - posing an increasingly grave threat to the rest of the world.

He makes an excellent case for how the Bible was never supposed to be read as history, only as allegory, by its creators -- to show us how to behave under the mores -- and morals -- of that time. I would add that those who insist on it being literal truth have missed all the more important metaphorical truths: Love Thy Neighbor trumps a 2,000-year-old prohibition against homosexuality. Thou Shalt Not Kill trumps the prohibition to embrase the authorial god. Women are no longer chattel, we're free to eat pork thanks to meat thermometers -- why don't fundamentalists grasp that the larger behavioral lessons are what's important?

I feel that as an atheist I have no standing to argue with fundamentalists of any religion (although I do whenever I get the chance). I wish that moderate Christians and Muslims would take a more active role in condemning Bush's assault on the separation of church and state -- the man doubts evolution, for chrissake! Soon abortion will be illegal in half the states! We might as well be living in Iran, under an Imam!

I should probably only allow myself one exclamation point per blog post.(Thanks, Hüsbando, for the Rushkoff link.)