Atheists should not respect religious beliefs

Atheism: Lack of belief in God. One who believes God does not exist. Religion: Christianity of any denomination (80%+ Americans are Christian). Respect: Esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability (http://dictionary.reference.com...). Faith protects religion from the tentacles of critical thinking. Although we unknowingly suspend our critical thinking without religious faith everyday, religious faith openly celebrates this suspension. Many Christians actually pay someone to tell them not to critically engage a text. There are certain aspects of the Bible that are questioned but only to a certain extent, the extent to which the main characters are never doubted. This is one of the worst forms of credulity. For instance, we are never to suppose that the miracles within the New Testament were fabricated. Such a position is far more probable than the mutilations of the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry that are attested to in the Bible. The unwillingness to doubt key characters and events, therefore, should make Christianity unrespectable. One of the major problems with the Bible is that we have very little extra-biblical documentation that can either confirm or give us an alternate perspective of the events therein. For example, maybe the Roman officers (in a Roman document) say that Jesus tried to preform a miracle and failed. Without these documents, we are left to blindly choose our beliefs. It may come up that there are extra-biblical texts that confirm Jesus' story; however, these sources only prove that a distinct group existed in the Levant during the first and second century and that they believed Jesus to be the Messiah. These texts, in other words, only prove that Christians existed. For example, "At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders" (http://www.westarkchurchofchrist.org...). Notice, aside from the fact that it is small quote from a larger text, that it says, "At this time...". We know that the author is speaking in past tense as if he was not there. We also know that the people believed that Jesus appeared to his disciples. Finally, we know that if Pilate had Jesus crucified, it does not follow that Jesus was resurrected. Plus, history is not always accurate; it's not as scientific as we would like it to be. Historical accounts must also be backed up with science. If a historical account reports that laws of science are broken, it follows that it probably did not occur the way the account claimed. This predicament leaves us with the option of the "leap of faith." We should just believe it. Not only should you just believe it, you should also respect the beliefs of all who believe this. Credulity in any other instance is a vice, not a virtue. Credulity makes Christianity unrespectable.