Some historians posit that the Crusades was not about infidels, but was due to European war- lords killing each other, and a means to divert this to a unified cause. This type of politics has a long history and it is often not religious.

I don't understand why atheists are so angry about people who believe in a god. Surely, if they are people of good-will, and their faith is a both a guide and consolation, what really is the issue? As long as these people don't try and force or coerce their beliefs upon others, then there is no problem.

Apart from any intellectual difference, what does it matter what others believe if it does not effect one, nor damage society. We all have differing beliefs about a wide range of matters, in fact, I would hazard a guess that not many of us are on the entire same page.

I just don't understand the anger. Could someone explain this ... please ...?

Danielle, humans are tribal/herd creatures. They find it upsetting when other humans think differently to them.

Problem is that a belief in god or gods brings with it certain rules, edicts, and rewards/punishments. This creates divisions and, all too often, people are on entirely different pages. Different pages lead to conflicts!

Either we want to live in a world based upon reality or we want to go on believing in fairy tales.

Perhaps it's time we grew up!

David G,

"Problem is that a belief in god or gods brings with it certain rules, edicts, and rewards/punishments. This creates divisions and, all too often, people are on entirely different pages. Different pages lead to conflicts!"

Absolutely! But when the beliefs of others are benign particularly as to wider society, and if their belief is of benefit to them, then ...

People look in many places for guidance in their lives. Look at the plethora of self-help books, a plethora which still grows.

I suspect that many become disenchanted with religion, becoming atheists. I suspect some atheists convert to religion. Neither should be condemned.

Ah, "fairy tales" unfortunately these come in so, so many hues. Some are ideologic with a belief system that is deliberately murderous for those that don't believe. Other "fairy tales" are driven by the media. There is a catalogue of "fairy tales" in every aspect of our lives.

It is a very wise person who isn't seduced by some "fairy tale" during their life. It is a very wise person who understands the need to research, analyse, and come to a sober conclusion. But not all know this, nor are so motivated, nor even have the ability.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that when a practice, wherever it is found, damages or diminishes the practitioner and/or the wider society, it has to be exposed, confronted and condemned. I am not an adherent of political correctness, especially when there are elephants thumping round the room.

Danielle,

<<I don't understand why atheists are so angry about people who believe in a god>>
I don't see "anger" --where do you see the anger?

What I think you might be seeing is frustration, and I think frustration would be perfectly understandable under the circumstances.

Grateful presents himself as the champion of reason but when his arguments are exposed as illogical he scurries off --no doubt to pop-up again on another thread, on another day, in the same disguise.

SPQR,

Perhaps, it is as you say, frustration.

But it is always a fruitless task to argue with someone committed to a religion. Religion, by its nature is not logical to those who have no similar belief system. From what I see, there is no meeting point, no point of agreement, no matter how small, from which to engage in debate.

Well Danielle, it's like this, when Muslims like Tamerlane and his horde slaughtered 17 million people in about 40 years you get a sense of why Europeans,Jews, Indian Hindus, Asian Buddhists and secular folk all over might have historical "issues" with orientals.
Did anyone even watch the video I posted earlier? Danielle the Crusades came about because Europe was being hammered by constant Islamic Jihad, Crusading comprised about 20 or so major battles, the Muslims on the other hand made 540 full scale assaults on Europe in 1,000 years. Let's put that in context, that's like Australia with a population of 22 million (same as Europe in the early middle ages) fighting the battle of Passchendaele every two years, add to that the estimates that Islamic raiders took an estimated 3 million Europeans as slaves in 1,000 years and you get an idea why any European, Hindu or Buddhist who's done even a little reading on the subject has ice in their veins when the subject of religious tolerance comes up.
Islam means scorched earth and slavery, that's why the hostility towards Muslims and why secularists,Jews,Hindus, Buddhists and Christians can all get along for the most part.
Ever wondered why even though they took millions of Africans as slaves there are no African populations in the Islamic heartlands? Simples, they castrated or killed all the males so they couldn't reproduce, that's Islam's take on slavery.Perhaps we won't, some people aren't good with gory details.
According to some scholars there have only been 12 years out of the last 1400 without Jihad, look at present day Thailand, the Phillipines and Burma, there's a religious problem in the world all right, it's called Islam.
I guess too that in the seventh century there were refugees trickling, then pouring into Byzantium with bloodcurdling stories of the coming apocalypse of the Jihad and bearing marks of torture on their bodies. So too would there have been people saying "Well Mohammed and his followers are only men, we can reason with them and anyway there's plenty of room for all in Byzantium!"