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You don't have to believe in anything to wish happiness on others. You do have to be a bitter, arrogant, and ultimately futile human being to insist on denying it, even if it appears to you an illusion.

When in doubt, quote Heinlein:

"A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason — but one cannot have both."

As much as I respect Heinlein, his statement is silly in a world where Aquinas, Augustine and Newton (just to name a few) have gone before him.

I like Heinlein. That drivel is, however, insupportable by its own putative standards. He states that one cannot both enjoy reason and bask in the comforts of religion. It is an assertion that is challenged by the evidence of a vast number of intelligent people who consider themselves perfectly happy in both.

It isn't really much of a logical proposition. The critic states that in his opinion the two are incompatible and hence in his opinion people cannot be happy with both. The commonality is "in his opinion." Mine is that he is mistaken. I have evidence. He does not.

My principal point remains, however, that to go out of one's way to deliberately mock another's beliefs at a time when they are most vulnerable to such mockery is an act of rudeness and intolerance. It should be beneath well-adjusted adults. Would you agree with that?

"A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason — but one cannot have both."

In light of this quotation, do you have any comments on

(1) the text on that sign in Illinois?
(2) the people who agree with the text?

When in doubt, quote Heinlein:

“A religion is sometime a source of happiness, and I would not deprive anyone of happiness. But it is a comfort appropriate for the weak, not for the strong. The great trouble with religion — any religion — is that a religionist, having accepted certain propositions by faith, cannot thereafter judge those propositions by evidence. One may bask at the warm fire of faith or choose to live in the bleak uncertainty of reason — but one cannot have both.”

This quote is both illogical and irrationale. Of course a person can think both rationally and with faith.

Further, I’m a Christian because I have faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of Man and came to save us. However, if somebody provided me with unquestioned evidence that Jesus Christ was a fraud...my faith would cease instantly.

I think the belly of laughs is on Heinlein. He seems to reserve a low opinion of the thinking skills of people of Faith, when those opinions should be reserved for himself.