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…and religious theists are not weak.

I often read claims by atheists asserting that “religion is a crutch for weak-minded people”. Less often do I or other atheists consider the implications of this claim.

Calling religious theists weak and equating religion with a crutch is neither a constructive argument against religion nor a compelling defense of skepticism. Atheists cannot fairly presuppose all religious persons are weak-minded while at the same time demanding those religious persons to stop presupposing atheists are inhuman, evil, etc. It is a meaningless ad hominem attack that should be avoided, especially when atheists have many valid, intelligent reasons for disbelief.

Besides the logical dilemma this claim presents, the idea that religious people are “weak-minded” is arrantly incorrect. Atheists can certainly argue that religious ideas are weak, but the religious theist can survive quite well in their absence without any mental undoing – and we witness this frequently in the “deconversion” process to skepticism. Perhaps you went through it yourself.

Finally, to consider religion a crutch upon which religious persons secure themselves only sustains the idea that religion is actually sound enough to support people. We’re agreeing that religion has enough substance that it can be compared to a sturdy, helpful, physical object, and what we really mean is that religion is the imaginary cane we have been conditioned to walk with and believe we cannot do without. (But we can!)

Religion is a cultural construct transmitted over the centuries that everyone has agreed to believe in. This belief doesn’t make the believer any weaker than someone born with dyslexia. It’s something they can learn to overcome. Dyslexia is the weakness. Religion is the weakness. But people with them can be strong. They don’t have to imagine a cane in order to walk.