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Comment by Dellort | Hacker News Reader

Because it is dangerous. People act according to their beliefs regardless of them being grounded in real evidence or not. I would say we are poorer for it as we have seen people fly planes into buildings or have tried to eradicate an entire race as a result of their beliefs.

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How many people have been killed because of the campaign of atheism and "scientific materialism" as happened in many countries (e.g. Albania, USSR, etc...).

You do not understand the problem. The problem is not beliefs or ideology, but zealotory (the insane belief that your way is the one true way and that you are better/smarter/more enlightened than anyone else).

That is pretty much an apt description for New Atheism. It is just a different form of zealotery.

How do we separate insane beliefs from sane ones? This distinction might be clear to you now, but what will you do when you let yourself be guided by unfounded belief? Do you think you will be able to see insane belief for what it really is before it is too late? You avoid having to make that mistake by abandoning belief.

Why are New Atheists so obsessed with other people's personal beliefs? I have explained to you the problem of zealotry and the imposition of your beliefs on others (which is clearly wrong in most moral frameworks).

Yet New Atheists do not see this as wrong. Some have even argued that parents should be prevented from "indoctrinating" (i.e. teaching children religion and their moral framework).

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