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The fact that the Founders put freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the same Amendment led me to think that they actually wanted a world where people openly spoke about things like politics and religion.

I know few people outside my immediate household where I would dare mention either topic.

So true those that are afraid of talking about these topics allow them to be contaminated. In the US I have no bias against atheism however I am not to sure about some of these byproducts that end up in media you end up with things like Toddlers N Tiaras, Ru Pauls Drag Race and a strong Woke Cancel Culture which is toxic and a two party system just one step away from Communism regardless of if your Democrat or Republican it's a false dichotomy as you end up butting heads over little things and not the big picture.

The problem I've found with modern atheism is that it is oppositional in form.

George Hegel popularized a method of argumentation in which one manufactures dissent by holding paradoxes at the foundation of reason and negations at the surface. When one employs Hegelian Dialectics, one can turn minor differences into major conflicts.

You will see modern thinkers employing this method in all sorts of ways. Atheism, Antifa, and self-proclaimed anti-racist movements all employ the same game with paradoxes and negations at the basis of their system of reason.

Unfortunately, people who want to defend against new think are driven into corners, because attempts to talk about affirmation religion and politics get drawn into the conflicts manufactured by the proponents of new think.