Respect people's faith: attacking faith is one-upping virtue-signaling
Usually, people see virtue signaling as a left-wing, liberal phenomenon.
And there is A LOT of virtue signaling among liberals.
But virtue-signaling is not limited to liberals only, and conservatives as well as "intellectuals" do it as well.
Belittling and one-upping people's faith is a common "intellectual power move", and a form of virtue-signaling.
Attacking or ridiculing people's faith in the name of rationality is a way of saying:
Oh, poor you, naive you, you're not nearly as intelligent and rational as I am
And, when done in general, not towards a specific individual, it says:
Look at me, I'm so rational and "enlightened", mate/partner up with me, I'm going to go places with my practical, reality-based attitude
Of course, like most virtue-signaling, it also says that people aren't probably nowhere near the top and/or content with themselves, since virtue-signaling is a tool to acquire more status for those who feel they don't have enough.
People of faith are tired of that shit.
An example:
Michael: When people talk about their faith it's not nice to be demeaning about it.
Because we don't share the same belief it doesn't mean you beat me.
I'm not demeaning to atheists
Why did he feel the need to say that, and pre-emptively defend?
Because he's had a thousand people one-upping him for his faith!
INDIVIDUALS VS INSTITUTIONS: DON'T MIX UP THE TWO
Keeping religion away from the state, government, legislation and most types of decision-making make a lot of sense, and it is worth fighting for.
Trying to impose one's own religion and customs is an act of aggression and must be fought against.
But one-upping individuals for their faith is a different ballgame.
You're not so much defending "secular institutions" as much as you're putting down an individual, which ends up in value taken away both from him, and from you.
Don't be the guy who puts them down yet again.
As long as people aren't taking value from you or others, let them free to express themselves for who they are.
They'll be happier, you behave higher value, and you make more friends and allies.
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