People who are silent tend to never become majorities.
They don't have to be vocal, shouting it from the rooftops, trying to indoctrinate others, convert them to their beliefs. Respect for others' life choices, what each individual decides he or she wants to precieve as real and as the truth, is the right course of action. If persecution is what keeps atheists silent then the onus is on theists to make them feel welcomed, not the other way around.
You as an individual with free will can assume whatever you want, but I don't know why you keep bringing up god as if I'm making a case for that. I'm talking science, and to date science has found no proof of extraterrestrial life.
It has, the organisms that created those fossils in the Martian meteorite discovered in Antarctica.
Careful there speaking for the world. The possibility for you might be nill, but the possibility for a religious person is metaphysical certainty. Still others would say they don't know, or they don't care, or extraterrestrials sparked humanity, or (my favourite) evil corporations are responsible.
Religion cannot explain life in a rational, tangible way. Science can because protein synthesis of naturally occuring chemicals has been conducted successfully in labs from the 1950s onwards.
Out of curiosity, which historical massacres do you solely attribute to religion?
Religion warps minds, just as any dogma can. It's indecipherable to tell what motivations drove the heads of state or leaders of militias to war. That's for political scientists to figure out. But many, many dictators have used religious belief as a coercive tool, as a motivator, as a cause reason why the citizenry should risk their lives. This is documented fact. So-called secular wars that you may cite in response to this only harken right back to religion in just about every circumstance. Remember that a mind susceptiable to indoctrination most likely was preconditioned to be that way from early childhood exposure to religion even if they no longer practice it as an adult.
Considering how many people still have religious beliefs today, Dawkins had better propose building giant institutions to house all those crazy people. Siberia's got lots of space, except that shipping undesirables there was already tried once with disastrous results. Or we could build more Walmarts and make them work there.
Why the mockery? The only reason why religion is still popular today is society's fear of rapid changes. Societal change scares a lot of people, especially those already born into a position of good life quality. Conservatists cling to the church/mosque/synagouge as a crutch, a constant that will not change even as the rest of society and culture does. This is why the right wing and religion goes hand in hand, they have the numbers and politicians whom otherwise are as liberal as the next person co-opt the skin of a purist in order to win elections. This is why liberals starting off their campaigns often become centrists by vote-casting time because of religious-minded majorities. Youth observing these trends feel as though power lies with the majority and so where otherwise they only give lip-service to god, choosing to affiliate with religion gives their elders hope that the traditional way of life will not just up and die away.
And putting aside that religious people obviously don't think their beliefs are "total nonsense", the main reason people still believe is that it gives them peace of mind, which, as one gets older, can become even more important than one's physical health. Until science comes up with a new cell phone that can match that, or until religion stops working for people, it's a fact of life.
True, I will give you that. Many people are scared of death and cling to the hope of an afterlife through devotion as a means of preserving themselves. However so much time is wasted believing in something that might amount to nothing that they forget to appreciate the one certain life that they do have, to appreciate all those around them whatever their life choices may be, to appreciate the beauty of the outdoors and not the confines of manmade places of worship. To say that these people are living fulfilled, happy lives through their faith is questionable.
Religion may not stop working for people but tell me, what is religion anyway? When one obsesses over their favorite sports team or rock band, is that not a form of devotion and worship? When one marries are they not devoted to that other person more than others? Religion like all things is random and subjective, and so is the belief in nothing. Humanity doesn't really need to know where we came from or where we're going, only that we're here and very second spent preoccupied with these questions only subtracts from us living out our known existences.
