I am much more amused by that word combo than I should be. When asked what my religion is I have a stock answer that I give. I am a non-practicing poly-pantheistic QuakerPagan. Say what? I believe in all gods and believe that you have the right to deal with your god in whatever way you wish, while believing that it is a very personal thing, all while not being religious. Need me to break that down for you? Non-practicing: A cheeky play on concepts. It means that I 'm not religious. I don't practice any religion. Poly-pantheistic: literally many pantheons. I believe that all gods who are believed in exist. All. Quakers are a quirky little branch of Christianity that I find I am rather fond of their worship practices. Which is to say, they sit in a room quietly and commune with god their own way without having someone sit there and tell them how to do it. Not for everyone, sure, but I like it. I am pagan by definition and by choice. I still don't have a religion.
So what does that mean in the long run? It means pretty much jack shit and nothing to most people. It does, however, put me at opposition to every single friends group and family member I have save a few. Honestly, the agnostics who tend to be pretty fucking chill about all things religious/spiritual and the three people who believe something sorta similar to me.
I know a lot of atheists. I dig my science, and I'm going into a hard science field, it's pretty impossible *not* to know a crap ton of atheists. Science taught most of them that there is no god and that logic is king. Science taught me that there is no way to prove or disprove god so keep the two separate. Neither one is better than the other.
Until religion, and atheism for this case, becomes a scapegoat/platform for hate, for bigotry, for harm of self or others I'm pretty damn cool with it. I don't care if you want to dance around a bonfire, I don't care if you want to kneel in a church, pray in a mosque or temple. Don't. Care. When you use that to further hate, I stop being ok. Same with atheism. When it's used to harm someone else, to spread hate, to separate classes, types, groups of people it's as bad as any other religion.
I guess to make a moderate ramble pretty short: I don't care what construct you use to get by in day to day, as long as you aren't using it to hurt, you are golden in my book. Once you start using that belief to hurt, you're wrong. Whatever place you're arguing from, if you can't follow the Wil Wheaton Law, you're doing it wrong.
