Religion and Liberalism

This weekend over on Daily Kos, a diary went up about What It's Like To Be An Atheist. As with many discussions of religion within the context of the modern Left, it skewed very much towards how religious people (on the right) will often marginalize atheists or agnostics, and how this person felt that the religious people were really just the nutty ones for believing in such nonsense.

Today, someone posted this diary: Ten Things Religious People Want Atheists To Know. This quite possibly rates as one of the best things I've ever read on Daily Kos. It's well-reasoned, and offers a very compelling defense not simply of religious beliefs, but on another level why the Left is incredibly remiss in discounting the value of religion and religious beliefs to the vast majority of Americans (and the world).

Note that I myself am not "religious," and my worldview is that of a Theravada Buddhist, although I do not attend a Buddhist religious institution nor do I actively practice many of the necessary precepts of that faith.