How /more/ good could they do if they gave up their irrational faith?
I'm personally quite fond of many religious practices--in fact I'm
contemplating founding a religion myself. Such things as building a
community, teaching a moral foundation, maintaining history, organizing
celebrations and ceremonies, and coordinating long-term projects are
very good things--but none of them require irrational faith, or God, or
any of the other silly things most religions waste time on. If the
people doing those good things are offended by those of us who disdain
faith, then maybe they'll be encouraged to do those same things for
rational reasons. It is irrational for me to hold my tongue solely for
their discomfort. If they take offense at my simple, honest expression
of my beliefs, that's far more intolerant of them than my desire to
express beliefs that don't happen to match theirs.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC