Do I have to care if you are offended?

If I posted on Facebook saying how much I dislike the writings of your favorite author, would you get offended? Would you tell me that I should just shut up and leave it alone? If I posted an argument against your chosen political party would you demand that I have no right to post such mean things? Would you demand that I just shut up because you really like those things and my arguments against those things are offensive? I don't think you would.

But yet invariably nearly every time I post anything at all even vaguely against religion or the ideas of religion I am constantly told to be quiet. I am told things like,

"Why can't you just leave it alone?"

"Why do you have to be so mean?"

"You are being offensive!"

And various other things to try to shut me up.

In every other context other than religion, discussion and argument are an expected part of our society, but as soon as religion comes up I am supposed to shut my mouth.

I am not naive as to the reason for this double-standard. The more seriously people take their beliefs, the more their beliefs matter to them, the more they are going to feel offended when those beliefs are challenged. It is a natural human response.

But I think it is also an immature human response, and one that we should fight against.

I am sure I fall into this trap myself, but I try to be aware of it and try to not allow myself the luxury of thinking I am always right. If I am being stubborn and blind to the evidence I want to know. I want my beliefs to conform to reality. This is, of course, easier said than done.

If we get immediately offended whenever something we think is challenged than how can we ever know if we are wrong? There really is no other good way to determine the truth of something than to submit it to the full light of questioning, doubting, and scrutiny.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for basic human politeness and compassion. Would I ever go into a church and challenge anyone's beliefs in person? No. I wouldn't even think to do such a thing. In fact if you know me in person, try to remember a time where I challenged your religious beliefs in person. I bet you can't. There have been a few times where I have discussed religious ideas with some of you, but I always felt like the conversation was welcome by both parties. If I was wrong about that than I apologize.

Almost all my anti-religious activities are done online. If something I said offends you than I cannot help that. I feel I have a right, and an obligation, to say what I need to say. The issues I talk about are important to me. I think these issues are important for the future of humanity.

If the things I say on the internet offend you than you are welcome to not read them.

I welcome debate, discussion and argument. I welcome challenges against my positions. How else could I know if I am wrong if nobody challenges my beliefs?

However if your only contribution is to try to shut me up then please just ignore me instead.

Do I care if you are offended?

Not one bit.

How does an apostate view faith promoting experiences?

Faith promoting experiences. Mormons love faith promoting experiences. They show up in General Conference, Sacrament meeting, Sunday School, Relief Society, Priesthood, and in virtually every other place that Mormons gather. They are given as evidence of all sorts of things, and they can be very versatile. There are some famous ones and some infamous ones. I imagine that every Mormon has a few that they hold dear.
I have had a few myself. I have had experiences that I viewed as evidence of a loving God or even evidence that The Church was true.
One particular summer, when I was a teenager, we were headed on a vacation to Oregon. We had just left my Dad's house in Provo when I started to feel very, very motion sick. It should be noted that motion sickness is not at all unusual for me. I am the type that gets motion sick playing video games. As I have grown up this tendency has lessened a little bit but it still catches me off guard sometimes. This particular time being motion sick was pretty bad though, so much so that I didn't feel I could stay in the car. We had only been on the road for an hour or so and just happened to be near my Grandparent's house. So my Dad decided to stop there and let me rest for a while.
As soon as we stopped the car and got out we saw a huge bubble on the sidewall of one of our front tires. My dad quickly went to get it fixed and by the time he was done I felt better and we were on our way again. I used to see this as God's way of keeping us safe by making sure that my Dad saw the problem before it turned into a dangerous blowout while traveling at freeway speeds.
Now? I view it as a simple coincidence. If you are thinking to yourself, "How could that be just a coincidence?" My answer would be, which is more likely, that God purposely made me sick so that I would get my Dad to stop the car so that he would see the problem, or that it was a lucky break? Wouldn't it have been easier to just stop the tire from developing a problem? Coincidences happen all the time. In fact there are so many things happening all over this world at any one time that it would be strange if there weren't weird coincidences.
Here is another example.
When I was 8 years old my mother accidentally put a gardening fork through my hand. We were weeding and she thought I was done and just casually threw the fork down, into my left hand. It entered about a half inch below the ring and little fingers. It went right between the two bones and missed all major nerves. Other than a cool scar I have no negative effects from this incident. This was always put out as a miracle. That God saved my hand from major damage by making the fork go right where it needed to go. If you are still with me this far you will know that I don't view this incident as miraculous at all. I view it as lucky.
If God wanted to impress me he could have easily stopped the fork in mid flight before it hit me. Or how about a simple prompting to my Mother to not throw the fork in the first place? The reason I still have full use of my hand today isn't thanks to God. It's thanks to good doctors, medical science, and luck.
Here is a good summary of why coincidences should not only not be surprising, they should be expected.