But a LOT of religious people in America are trying to do exactly that. From Pro lifers to gay haters to racists. Unless that religious person is known to me as a good person who is tolerant (and that seems to be few and far between) then I don't like them. I hate religion and everything it stands for. Whether it be extreme Islam, Homophobic orthodox Russians or American bible bashers. I detest religion with every fibre of my being and Im not in the least ashamed of that.

Same. I live and let live. I might roll my eyes at some beliefs, but people should be free to believe in whatever brings them comfort, provided they are doing no harm and not trying to recruit.

To further my earlier point, religion is also extremely harmful. Hating it seems pretty reasonable. After all, what exactly is there to love about it?

I think religion chokes all of us by its principals,agendas, and the influence it has on the laws that govern us. So welcome to this community.

To each their own. I will always ridicule the ridiculous, because it's ridiculous. I've had it shoved at me my entire life. I have a real problem with it being included in laws, and the expectation that we all abide by someone else's idea of "god". I have a real problem with "churches" not being taxed. Yet, they feel fully emboldened to try to influence everyone else.
I do hate religion. I think it's evil. I don't think it's wrong to hate evil.
Whether anyone has a problem with that really doesn't concern me.

The only time someone`s religion bothers me is when they legislate it.

There may be some new members here who are a little bit angry at their former religions and are expressing their frustration here. No one is trying to shame someone here.

As an older person, I remember growing up with religion being pushed down our throats. The Christian religion had become THE defacto religion of our country. The school insisted we attend Baccalaureate or we would not get our diploma, we were required to say "...under God..." in the pledge, we could not buy alcohol before 12:00 on Sunday ( I did not drink, just wanted to make Chicken Cacciatori), some townships did not sell alcohol at all ("Blue Laws" ). Many landlords would not rent to unmarried couples. We could not designate "Atheist" on our dog tags in the Army...we had to designate "No Preference" for a religion. We were rousted from the barracks on Sunday morning with the threat of "k.P." if we did not dress in our Class A uniforms and go to church while in Basic Training. "In God we Trust", "Do you swear....so help you, God?" So, given the opportunity, believers WILL push their beliefs on us and make some rationalization as to why they do it. In short, they have pushed their superstitious beliefs upon us for years and we have the right to point out what they are...invasive, stupid superstitions.

There is a difference between religion hating and hating religious people. I think it is ok to hate or better deeply reject ideas, but that should not necessarily imply that one needs to have the same sentiments for the people who hold those ideas.
Personally I have mixed feelings about religion itself: but I try to stay optimistic about the power of enlightenment: people can change their views and we atheists should be clever enough to figure out how to help with that at least for some people.
However, if religion or other ideas impact very negatively the way how people behave, I do not feel bad about resenting those people. If somebody's religion makes them throw gays off buildings or force a raped 12 year old not to have an abortion, fuck them, they deserve some hate.
At the same time religion can often be the reason why people are kind and nice, so it depends also on what people make of their religion what my attitude towards them is.

I don't hate religious belief systems, I actually find the essence of religion to be quite beautiful. For example, pologamy in Islam as practiced is horrifying. In essence, too many women were widowed due to war, so Mohammed councilled men should take multiple wives (but only one virgin) and treat all of them, and the children (irrespective of patrimony) exactly equally. Great sentiment, really crappy practice.

In Christianity: the new testament Christ condemns divorce five times. But it's homosexuality christianity abhors, when Christ himself never condemned the act, his desciples did.

So, it's the rampant hypocrisy I can't stand, not the message itself.

religion is one of the biggest reasons for humans murdering other humans with war, it also nurtures paedophilia and can brutality like female circumcision and makes a lot of women second-class humans. I don't care about them being stupid but there dangerous.

Your one up on a lot of people. I commend you. I just throw my belief out there. I've been clobbered because I didn't have the right answer for them. Lol.