Quote (Kamahl16 @ May 27 2015 06:44pm)
I think one problem is that religion is given undue credibility from an early age in our country. People have been brought up to revere religion as though those beliefs are more worthwhile than a non-religious belief. You have churches and other institutions built to instill veneration in people's view and thus people are likely to be convinced in it based on the authority aspect of it. If you don't believe me consider how difficult it was and remains to criticize religion, or even generally accepted social positions. If a mainstream Presidential candidate came out and said he was an atheist he's done, 100% absolutely and without question; why is that? Because we revere religion, it has been protected and built up.
You talk about your university being anti-religious and how much it sucks because you feel oppressed when you seem like you don't acknowledge that's how it was just about everywhere in this country for hundreds of years for anyone but Christians.
In short, Christians (and conservatives, really) can sure as Hell dish it out but the second you take one step on their lawn it's the end of the world.
I don't think it's that socially difficult for someone to criticize religion. It's certainly not polite conversation in many circles, but I grew up with a bunch of people who criticized religion. My generation freely criticizes religion in a social setting, generally without consequences.
As far as the presidency, anything out of the norm is perceived as not viable. Atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. Hell, we just recently elected the first black president. Change at the highest level takes time, but that doesn't mean our society isn't increasingly anti-religious. That doesn't mean there hasn't been significant social change in the past 20-30 years.
You have a bad habit of putting words in my mouth. When did I say I feel oppressed? The point of that sentence was to show that I'm sometimes socialized to not have Christian beliefs.