Atheism as a social cause
Unfortunately, it seems that one of the biggest debates facing atheists online recently has been between those who dislike religion and wish to speak out against it, and those who think those who speak out against it are meanies who need to shut up. Anyway, I just read a recent post in this ‘battle’ from Mixing Memory as well as many of the comments posted there. I certainly think he’s wrong about most of his post, but the one issue that I think deserves further consideration is his classification of the ‘New Atheists’ as white, middle-class ex-Protestants. This implies that atheists are already in priviledged positions, and therefore any comparison with any other social movement is undeserved.
“Are you kidding me?” Watching white, middle-class, mostly ex-Protestant males (the dominant new atheist demographic) compare themselves to feminists, labor movements, gay and civil rights activists, or the members of any other persecuted group fighting for their social, political, and economic lives is just plain surreal. Or worse, as Trinifar notes, it’s just plain manipulative. It does, however, reinforce my armchair psychoanalysis of the new atheists: members of a privileged class who decided to create an identity simply to justify their own persecution complexes.
I’m sorry Chris, but there is real persecution of atheists in this country, though it doesn’t get talked about much.
an atheist girl’s lack of belief was exposed when she refused to join in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. This resulted in lies being promulgated about her in an attempt to get her removed from the basketball team. When her father, Chuck Smalkowski, learned about this, he went to the principle’s house to discuss the matter where the principle then punched him.
These people were harassed relentlessly (by the police, no less!), the daughter was kicked off the basketball team.
Some kid was attacked for putting up posters for Victor Stenger’s lecture at a school.
I remember watching Paula Zahn’s atrocious special about atheism in America and the stories they told. Atheists can get evicted from their apartments, or lose their jobs because of their lack of faith. An ‘out-of-the-closet’ can’t get elected to a high office (perhaps that’ll change now that Pete Stark has come out as an atheist), and atheists are thought of as the least trusted group in the country.
I’ve heard of plenty of persecution, violence and vandelism against atheists. In my opinion, it seems to me that the only reason this doesn’t happen more often is that atheists know how to keep quiet, and keep their lack of belief to themselves, and I think it’s because they are scared. If most kids have this reaction from their parents about being honest about who they are, I can’t blame them.
So, you can rag on the ‘New Atheists’ all you want, but in my opinion, there’s sufficient reason to classify the desire of atheists to be accepted in society as a social cause. And reason enough to fight back against those forces of intolerance that want to keep us in the position of second-class citizens.
Actually, I don’t mean to imply that most or all atheists in general are white, middle-class, ex-Protestant males. Most of the atheists I know are actuall Jewish or recovered Catholics. I’m a recovered Catholic myself, in fact. The “new atheists” (that, by the way, is not my term), however, are a relatively small group that seems to have arisen mostly in the blogosphere, largely in the corners where the fight against creationism is the central topic, and is centered around the Dawkins-Dennett-Harris brands of atheism.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever said that atheists shouldn’t criticize religion. I’ve said they should do so knowledgably, and that they should at least try to be respectful, unless they really feel like there’s no point in actually engaging the religious in dialogue. In my opinion, the new atheist criticisms of religion are neither knowledgeable nor respectful, and that’s why I’ve criticized them — increasingly, because it’s becoming clear that engaging them in dialogue is damn near impossible, my own criticisms of them have been pretty disrespectful.
Chris
April 24th, 2007
11:04 am
Perhaps it would then be a learning experience to understand the New Atheists’ frustration with the religious in light of your own frustrations. You’re so frustrated with the New Atheists that you’re willing to delete comments and use insults (though you did return Larry’s). Imagine the frustrations of those who see their words twisted, and science perverted to promote a hostile, irrational, and inhumane ideology. In that light, I find those such as Myers and Dawkins relatively congenial in their criticisms. I see a bit of hypocrisy in your willingness to insult atheists, yet when atheists insult the beliefs of Christians, they’re not being respectful enough.
Shinka
April 24th, 2007
6:12 pm