If I start espousing creationism for the same reasons that creationists do, I hope someone shoots me in the head. Point blank. I mean it too.
When my neighbours try to force creationism as some kind of "science" and want to force it into public schools, I see no reason to "love them as myself". Tolerance has it's limits, and when an intolerant form of cultism like creationism tries to force itself into public life, such limits are reached. I live in the Netherlands, where this isn't much of an issue. Yet every once in a while the ghoul of creationism rears it's ugly head even here. In my opinion, there can be no other response to this then to try to force it back into oblivion as soon as possible.
I try to moderate my tone in these debates, because I think persuasion is not reached by insult. I can have no respect for creationism, but I can have respect for individual creationists and will happily discuss these issues without insults. But a line crosses for me when these people start ignoring the evidence that is there, invoking the miracle escape. I have noted that this line is reached for me rather more quickly the last few months, which is why I tend to be less active on these forums.
Look at how the Netherlands or Sweden turned out, which both have some of the lowest percentage of religious people in the world.. Unlike some other countries I could think of but will not mention (ok, I'm thinking of the United States), we have lower crime rates, higher wellfare, healthcare for all, an education system that rises above that of a third world country and all those things while maintaining a competitive economy. I have lived in the United States for half a year and would like to return there, but not for reasons that supposedly would have to do with religion. There is a sense of openness in America for new ideas that is harder to find in the Netherlands. But that sense of openness is not found in the strictly religious circles. Looking especially at the fundamentalist movement, values that I would consider moral such as tolerance of other groups of people, striving for universal wellbeing and freedom from oppression seem to be completely absent in the fundamentalist movement. Indeed, when I gave some examples of the standpoints of the religious right in America, even several of my fundamentalist christian friends in the Netherlands thought these people were misguided in their reading of scripture.
Perhaps you should consider that the issue is more complicated than religious or non-religious?
