And no smart VC will ever fund founders just because of ethnicity. If they do, you probably don't want to deal with them anyways.
As far as I'm concerned, funding is not just one way evaluation - where VC/Angel decide/determines whether to fund a startup or not based on founder's characters and technical/business abilities.The startup founder also needs to decide whether they think this money is legal or what's the background of this VC/angel who wants to invest.
Also note, taking stand like this might impact your business too! For example, what will do if you came to know customer is saying bad thing about religion ? Do you still want to take money from them?
You can clearly see this individual disrespect a group you identify with.
Regardless of the type of group. You can't have that around.
I've not witnessed ethnic bias in my investor dealings. I'd like to think its all about the Benjamin's.
The alternative is to own your product, build what your customers will pay for. Good, respectful investors will find you & you can pick from them.
If they mock religion in private, or on Facebook or some other stupid thing, whatever. A lot of people have negative feelings about some religions or political groups, but most of us manage to be polite and professional when we go outside.
If I were a VC and you wrote me the above email I would probably respond "I love disruption in everything, it's basically my job; it's hard to disrupt the status quo while holding utmost respect for traditions that go back millennia. as such if this bothers you I may not be a fit. On the other hand, you can believe whatever you want! I would question whether you would be as open-minded as my other founders, if you are dogmatic about your core beliefs - but this will not influence in any way my decision to invest - just prove that you are innovative in business." Then I would look at the email for a few seconds, and delete it rather than send it. Because I can't risk getting into some huge argument over this - being accused of being bigoted, being sued, etc. Plus, who introduced you? If you were introduced to me it would be a different matter.
so, that is how filtering works in the VC world, I think. Please note that I'm not a VC and this is speculation.
I'm not religious myself, but I think there's a clear cut difference between criticizing or scrutinizing an idea (the religion to which you subscribe – or political ideology, for that matter), and "otherizing" its subscribers by way of negative generalizations.
That being said, I agree with others in this thread: People that are unabashedly rude in public might not be the kind of person you'd want to have to deal with on a regular basis.
I leave you with the story of Hattie McDaniels, a black american actress who played the maid in a lot of movies at a time when playing the maid was the only role she was likely to get. She was widely criticized by black americans for taking that role. She rebutted those criticisms with a statement to the effect of "I can play a maid for $700 per week or I can be a maid for $7 per week."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_McDaniel
In short: If you think the money is something you can get and their attitude is not so problematic as to guarantee that it will help destroy your business, I would take the money. If it is such that they will give bad advice, sabotage your business, etc, then walk away.
It's a judgement call.
So if a VC/Angel tweets bad things about your religion then you should seek alternative funding for whatever you are doing. Because it will never work even if you pretend those bad tweets didn't matter.
If they took it as a learning experience and showed a genuine interest in changing, I'd still be comfortable working with them. If they continued being disrespectful, I'd have to part ways with them.
I always like to give people a chance to redeem themselves; I'm sure I've said stupid things that offended others in the past, and I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to learn and grow. Nobody's perfect, we're all human.
For example someone could tweet bad things about the gay rights position of my own religion, and I would consider that to be a good thing.
And why should YOU do the same? Two reasons:
(1) In 20 years, EVERYBODY will make fun of your religion. (And for good reason.) And finally, (2) In 20 years, you'll be rich, and you won't care about what anyone thinks.
So if I were you, I'd take that money.
In fact you might have found yourself doing the same to someone of different beliefs or religion or even atheists.
But because of diversity you have to work with people with different religion, beliefs, atheism, whatever and you can't force your religion and beliefs on them.
Christianity has been spoken out against because of the beliefs on marriage, abortion, etc. You see all kinds of activists attack Christianity because it doesn't believe in abortions, same sex marriage, etc in general, and while there are some versions of Christianity that do believe in those things, social media and news media attacks Christians based on the views of the Fundamentalists.
If we learned from Brandon Eich and Mozilla, his Christian beliefs to fight gay marriage by donating to a charity for Proposition 8 is what had caused him to resign due to bad PR when his name was released as donating money to it. Laws can quickly change, society can quickly change, you have to think ahead and think how what you do and say will be viewed in the future when things change. You can't always have your way and you have to work with people who don't like your religion but like your product and work ethic.
In IT I learned that having a thin skin and letting things get to you is not the right way to handle things professionally. You will have others attack you because of your religion or beliefs, and you have to work with them. A simple question like are you putting up a Christmas tree will tell them that you are a Christian, and then that is where the rants against Christianity come in, and you have to take it without fighting back and develop a thick skin because you need to get along with people who hold different views and beliefs than you do, and work as a team. You will find that many people are abusive to IT staff when their computer develops a problem and will use swear words and verbally abuse you until it is fixed. In IT one has to develop a thick skin and not let this abuse get to them.
I couldn't handle the abuse and got stressed out because I couldn't manage stress and got sick. I was often attacked because of my religion, even people taking the Lord's name in vain to try and trigger me, making all kinds of degrading comments about Jesus, and all I did was turn the other cheek, and not fight back. If I fought back, I'd be sure to be fired and written up. If I reported them, well management was on their side anyway, and I'd be in trouble.
I don't push my religion or beliefs on others, and I try not to do the same to them that they do to me, I follow the law and keep my mouth shut unless it is about business or IT. I believe in turning the other cheek on issues like this as Jesus taught.
Based on the above comment, if you don't respect a VC/Angel, why would you be interested in taking their money? It seems to me that is the kind of relationship that is doomed from the get go.
EDIT: I see you changed the title a bit and glad the feedback helped. If you don't mind, you should add where you are as there are people from different countries on the board. Also, you should give a bit of an insight to what you are doing but it is entirely up to you..
When you say you respect people who think they came from monkeys, well monkeys and Human Beings are modern creations in evolution and had a 'missing link' that was common that branched one way and then branched another way. Both monkeys and Human Beings evolved from a common ancestor some millions of years ago etc. It isn't correct to say Human beings evolved from Monkeys, but it is correct to say Human Beings and Monkeys evolved from a common ancestor that was a mammal.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/02/darwin-never...
Understanding Evolution better would help you understand the people who believe in it. They don't for example claim other human beings are animals, but that human beings evolved from other forms of life on the planet.
Let me link to Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/her/evolution-an...
I see now that you are from another nation, in the USA and in the west there has been a movement away from religion and into atheism or at least non-practicing religions in the youth. That means some of them criticize any religion including yours for example. Many give up religion in order to focus on their careers or just don't see any evidence of God, etc and lose faith.
You will find all sorts of VCs out there, if you think they won't respect you because of your religion, you don't have to take their money and can find a different VC.
All human beings are equal under the laws in the USA, and we have free speech here were someone can say something that offends you and they have freedom of speech to say it. It doesn't mean you have to agree with them or even like them. Social Media brings this out and people say stuff that they later regret.
A good VC should follow public relations and not speak ill of any group of people. Not be biased in any way. But people speak their opinions on the Internet and sometimes say things that offend others.
Please tell the VC that you don't want their money, since obviously you're too proud to to business.
An atheist doesn't want you to pray for them as they find it offensive. Atheists think instead of pray. They hold people in their thoughts instead of praying for them.
I know that you are trying to adapt and be respectful. That you believe praying for people is respectful. I respect your religion, but you must be careful around people in how you use your words. In the West there are a lot of different types of people to deal with and you have to learn what offends them and try to avoid it.
Just as you hold beliefs, an atheist has different beliefs. They don't believe in God or prayer, they believe in nature and the universe. They are often materialists and skeptics, who don't believe in a super natural or spiritual world. They don't see any scientific evidence for God, for example, and believe in Evolution, the Big Bang Theory, that the universe created itself, etc. You have to respect those beliefs just as much as you respect your own.
Diversity is a good thing, because it means different people think and observe in different ways and can find problems when nobody else can and fix them before they happen.
I studied global management and international business, and it is hard to fit into a new nation with different people who believe or don't believe different stuff. It would be just as hard for an atheist to fit into his nation, as he has trying to fit into our nation. Remember that this is happening globally as other nations get into tech startups and they aren't aware that they are offending people. It takes some getting used to and you have to forgive him because he is new to our culture and way of life. He has to make some changes to adapt and fit in.
He seems to have a difficult time understanding Evolution, said something like humans evolved from monkeys, some people think other humans are animals. It seems to be some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe in his country they don't teach evolution but something else? He seems to lack understanding of western culture and science, and I think we should help him out.
But I agree his words do insult atheists, but he doesn't mean to insult anyone, he doesn't know any better because he might never have met an atheist before. He hasn't learned how to phrase his words to be more accepting of others who don't share his belief system. He is still learning English and I think we should help him understand that praying for an atheist is an insult to an atheist, and might lead to a series of conflicts.
Our culture and nation is a bit alien to him, and he's still trying to learn it. Got some myths about Evolution he needs to work out. Needs to learn how to get along with others who don't share his religious beliefs. Needs to learn how to phrase his words better to avoid offending people.
Who knows, he could be the Steve Jobs of his nation and not be ready for it yet. I recall Steve Jobs followed Buddhism that believed people should find their own path, I recall Steve Jobs struggling in 1985 and leaving Apple to start over again. Steve Jobs had to learn from his failures to get back with Apple in order to save it. So too must this person learn form their failures and mistakes to fit into western culture and get along with atheists, etc.
The term denotes the lack of belief in deities, and exactly this and nothing else. This also means that it is not based on "faith" at all, as it does not posit any assumptions.
Humanism, on the other hand, can be described as a belief system.
Not to start the ball rolling in a religious debate or anything.
I'm saying that the claim that atheism is a "belief system" that makes the same kinds of assumptions as religions is intellectually dishonest at best.
This is my point:
There is a difference between a belief that something does not exist (what you're talking about, and a false equivalence), and a lack of belief in that same something (what the term actually means).
Also, not all assumptions are equal: neither "New" Atheists nor taxi drivers go around believing every assumption they hear that has not been disproven.
"I don't believe in god" is not the same as "I believe god doesn't exist".
The latter statement is of atheists. As an agnostic, I think agnosticism is the only actual "lack" of a belief system, since I don't hold a belief either way (for/against god's existence).
I've touched upon this in a reply, but atheism asserts the former - not the latter.
Additionally, atheism itself does not posit any assumptions, so I don't understand what this alleged system of beliefs would consist of. I'd really like to hear a sound argument for the assertion that it is, though.
Atheism is not an alternative to religion, so much as a rejection of religious claims – absence of belief. It might, for instance, be formulated in one personal case as something like "These claims are dubious and unsubstantiated, so I see no reason to believe in them."
This would be an atheist concluding that they do not believe in (a) god, by way of atheism (the lack of belief).
A tired analogy would be that of a lack of belief in unicorns or pixies; neither of which would constitute a "belief system".
Agnosticism states [4-6] that it is unknown (and perhaps unknowable) whether or not the supernatural exists – so one could argue that agnosticism is not really a lack of a belief system, but a lack of taking a stance or excluding any supposition.
In my own case, I'm an agnostic atheist – in the sense that I don't think that many religious claims can be tested (by their nature). I also don't think that this is a sign of a good argument, or that they should therefore be taken at face value.
[1]: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/atheism
[2]: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atheism
[3]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atheism
[4]: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/agnosti...
(no of course not, but what is he saying, it might have some validity.. "bad things" is subjective you know? Ask him about it!)
People that put religion before business are not making profitable choices.