which do you have a negative opinion of?

[Ebowed]

I have a negative opinion of religion, as I believe it does more harm than good.  I don't automatically have a negative opinion of all religious people, of course.  To a large extent, religious fundamentalism is the byproduct of the tendancy of people to become more extreme when surrounded by likeminded people.  This is why fundamentalist communities exist, and religious people outside of those sorts of exclusionary communities tend to be more moderate.  Another thing that can cause extremism is singling out a religion and unfairly making certain accusations about them.  The most obvious example of this is the small minority of Muslims who condone terrorism.  Of course, when a group feels victimized, there can also be a tendency to attempt to reform their image- as demonstrated by the majority of Muslims who condemn terrorism, as well as the Mormons.  The LDS, I believe, is constantly working to legitimize their faith.  I find it quite interesting that they attempt to do this by claiming to fall under the Christian umbrella.  This appears to be accepted nearly universally by non-Christians, but is the subject of much debate among Christians themselves.  (As for my personal position, I can see why the Christians are loathe to accept the Mormons as their own, but then again it's all equally crazy to me.  Many of the arguments that Christians employ against Mormonism-- and I am well versed in the subject, as I've always found this issue particularly interesting-- would apply to Christians themselves.)  The psychology of religion is really quite fascinating.

To hold a negative opinion of people solely based on their religion is impractical among several other things, simply because the odds are that most of the people you meet will be religious, and the odds also are that any atheist or agnostic will have religious friends and family.  Though I think it is fair to say that knowing that someone is religious means that I have one less thing in common with them, so I might be less likely to get along with them.  The same could be said of anyone with a particularly opposing quality, but it is by no means an absolute statement.  I have good friends who are religious, ranging from several young earth creationists to Buddhists.  With some of them, I am willing to debate religious issues-- with others, it simply isn't brought up.

I don't hold a negative opinion of socialists.