As an atheist, I consider religion to be a lie. However, I do not put up signs proclaiming such, nor, in all my years as a teacher of children, did I take advantage of my position to disabuse students of their religious or cultural beliefs.
These Christians should have showed a little more respect and kindness for their fellow human beings, especially during a season that celebrates the birth of their beloved Jesus.
There are only two religions. You merely embrace one - out of the many versions - of the man-centered religion.
Also:
"I've already mentioned in 'From Skepticism To Worship' how my mind was able to intellectually accept two very different ways of interpreting the bible. In reading it as an explicitly stated, technical document, all I saw was a heap of contradiction and error that rendered the whole collection of books as nonsense. Reading it as poetry or literature, however, provided a completely different view, one that enabled me to see the harmony and higher meanings in the overall text.
For years, I had debated biblical inerrancy as a skeptic. While my new understanding of scripture allowed me to see reconcilable paradox where I had previously seen contradiction, and also dispensed many of my other arguments as irrelevant or insignificant, there still remained some legitimate points of contention that I simply didn't have the time or the resources to solve.
In trying to find quick answers, I turned from the library to the Internet and ran smack into J.P. Holding’s Tekton Apologetics Ministries. In my opinion, this guy is the most thorough researcher and honest apologist I have ever read. His website is a treasure to any Christian who is bothered or entertained by debate. The anti-Christian crowd is fond of dismissing Christian apologists for telling 'what could have been or the way things may have been', but there is no denying that Mr. Holding's research illustrates what actually was and the way things actually were.
The moment that I saw the truth in the bible, I couldn't escape it and I gave myself to Jesus Christ. But I was weak in my newfound faith and I didn't have the evidence that one acquires from trusting God. I had never stopped debating - I had just switched sides, only I was ill prepared to defend my new position. To be engaged in constant debate without answers is to be in a state of suspended faith or perpetual doubt. Had it not been for the answers that J.P. Holding had posted online, my Christian faith may not have survived its infancy.
Thanks, J.P.!"
A MAN CALLED J.P. HOLDING Answers at Tektonics.org