Yeah, and I always want to tell — okay, DARE — those people to walk into an AA or NA meeting, preferably one in a rough neighborhood, and stand up and tell all the people there that they’re stupid to believe in a Higher Power and that they’d be better off drinking and using again than believing in a “sky fairy.” I’d actually PAY to watch what happens. (They tend to be the same kind of people who assume there’s no such thing as an atheist who’s libertarian or conservative.)

Oh, don’t be so sure. There are a WHOLE lot of secular progressives who have no qualms about telling religious people they’re stupid/delusional/actively supporting a hateful institution, etc. Otherwise reasonable, thoughtful people, just like the otherwise reasonable, thoughtful people who have no qualms about trashing fatties. The attitude of, “You are wrong, and I’m under no obligation to take you seriously until you understand that you’re wrong” is actually pretty damn prevalent in some liberal circles, when it comes to religious folks.

…I have nothing useful to contribute. I change my religion more often than I change my shoes. :P

And nobody would ask you to. (Well, somebody probably would but they would be a blazing asshole.) It would never occur to a reasonable, thoughtful, non-Inquisitor human to say “if you don’t like how I’m treating you, why don’t you just stop being Jewish?” Sure, it’s theoretically possible, but it’s not my responsibility to change who I am in order to make you stop discriminating against me. It’s your responsibility to stop being a bigot. At least, it is in those cases where people are protected by law.

And yet we still see otherwise progressive, reasonable people saying “well if they don’t like being persecuted I don’t see why they don’t just stop being fat [at me].”

Ehh, we (liberals) don’t accept the mentality of: “If you don’t want to be discriminated against, just hide who you are” when it comes to homosexuality, why should we advocate it when it comes to religion? I do think religion is more of a choice than being fat, but as far as discrimination goes, I don’t think it matters.