I’m truly surprised that you believe that it’s anyone’s right to say what they want. That is most certainly not what the gospel preaches. Titus 3:2 says to speak evil of no one. Ephesians 4:29 says “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth.” Psalm 34 says “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.” James 4 says not to speak evil of anyone. Matthew 12 says that you will be held accountable for every careless world you speak (on the day of judgement). And I’m sure you know what the bible says about gossip.

So, in reality, if you believe that it is anyone’s right to say anything they want, then you are going against your own religious creed.

That said, legally freedom of speech does not give you the right to say anything you want. If you slander someone, you will be held guilty in the eyes of the law. What freedom of speech means is that you have the right to speak against the government without being arrested or being executed.

Freedom of speech stems from the Enlightenment. At that time, if you spoke against the king or said anything against the church, you were arrested, jailed, and often executed. Freedom of speech has never given anyone the right to say anything they like. It is neither part of Christianity (which forbids blasphemy, by the way), nor is it part of the American constitution.

You are completely wrong that if you say that a Christian can’t say they feel abused without being told they are wrong. You admit to mental illness. Has it ever occurred to you that your mental illness makes you think that you are being abused when, in fact, you are not being abused for being a Christian. Having your doctrine criticised IS NOT ABUSE. Being mocked is NOT ABUSE. Abused is being beaten, gaslit, emotionally manipulated, tortured, kept prisoner, etc. And I do not know of a single case where atheists or others have done that to Christians.

The modern Christian trope of abuse has nothing to do with abuse. Christians are mocked because, and forgive me my bluntness, you believe in a lot of baloney, and people cannot believe that, in this day and age, people can believe that garbage. That, however, IS NOT ABUSE.

Well, yes, Christians have done a helluve lot of bad things during the past 2000 years – So has every religion. The crusades, the inquisitions, the killings of the Incas and the Atzecs, slavery, and more. Why do you think people shouldn’t mention that?

The bottom line is that if Christians really were in touch with god, and if god really was good, then those things would not have been perpetuated by Christians. But the reality is that there is no god, and Christians (just like every other religion) believe what they want to believe, and they justify the evil they do by claiming that God made them do it.

I’m confused as to why you wouldn’t want to be reminded of all that Christianity is guilty of through the ages. Incidentally, that list includes the evil of accusing Jews for 2000 years of the murder of God (deicide), and persecuting, torturing them, stealing their things, and murdering them.

I truly doubt you are getting any abuse from people on Medium. You are probably getting mocked, having people being sarcastic, pointing out all sorts of uncomfortable things, etc. That IS NOT ABUSE.

The dictionary defines abuse as to “treat with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.” That said, what surprises me is that you say you believe in the right to say whatever one likes. Does that mean you don’t like it when someone says whatever they like to you? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?

There are bad people from every creed in the world. Interestingly, though, per capita, atheists have the number of people guilty of crime and in prison. Atheists, live ethical lives, for the most part. We have the least divorces, are the most generous, the most educated, and the most intelligent.

Unless you think those things are bad things, and then I have to ask you what you think living a good life means.

The real issue that Christians have against atheists is that they cannot defeat them in argument, and I guess that it’s not nice to be on the losing side..

You’re not hitting back at all. Your article was quite well written, and it made a point – that there is no Christian community on Medium.

You will find that, outside America, religion is not a big thing in the rest of the first world. In fact, if you go to Finland or Sweden, only something like 8% believe in gods. They will laugh at you if you mention your belief in a God. They will probably ask you which one of the 3000 Gods that mankind has invented do you believe in? Thor? Zeus? Osiris? Shiva? Allah? Anubis? Odin?

Medium is an international site. Belief in Gods may be comforting to some, but most of us can stand on our own two feet. We don’t need to resort to magical thinking to be able to live our lives ethically and reasonably well.

I hope that I have not offended in this response. It is not intended to be nasty. I am merely rebutting the issues you have raised.