I always find it strange how many religious people (even the really smart ones) are unable to see their own positions from the point of view of those that don't hold it. This phenomenon is exemplified when Christians debate Muslims or Buddhists debate Hindus over the minutia of what it says in their special books, what x said to y three thousand years ago or whether it's wrong that their particular prophet reportedly had sex with a child etc.
From the point of view of an Atheist all these debates are essentially the same, i.e. based on no foundation in reality whatsoever, and therefore simply matters of opinion. It feels to us like a Thursday evening book-club debate that the participants are willing to kill each other over. You might say "so what, where's the harm", but, being no more than evolved primates, the philosophical differences between the myriad of faiths and none almost always end up harming someone or restricting the freedoms of the "other". We need only look at suicide bombers, abortion clinics, gulags and segregated school children to see how these differences impinge directly on the ways we live our (real) lives. It's a shame so many people find it so hard to separate the plurality of reality from their parochial imagination and desires.
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