6/17/2014 12:45 PM PDT
It’s a good thing Ms. Hutchinson isn’t the founder of Elderly Black Female Lesbian Skeptics with Disabilities, because then she would be even *more* disappointed in the issues the majority of Atheists are trying to address.
6/17/2014 2:07 PM PDT
This is just ridiculous on so many levels. All the points related to “racist atheists,” such as white affluence and black dropout rates, are not related to a belief system AT ALL. these are just points related to the two races. The fact that white people are more affluent has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they believe in a god. Secondly, the idea that black atheists must make separatist groups because they are unequal makes NO sense because their inequality doesn’t begin in the community of atheism. In that community, they are treated exactly the same as white people. This article is 100% bogus.
6/17/2014 12:19 PM PDT
Atheism does not have a race problem. I just happen to be white and I happen to be an atheist. If I choose to support atheist organizations it is because they are pursuing things that are related to theism or atheism.
If I wish to support organizations that fight racism I will do this independent of atheism. While many “isms” may be worthy, they should be supported independent of any kind of atheist organizations…. this includes “feminism, racism, environmentalism, vegetarianism” etc, etc, etc…..
Typical atheist political topics might include, separation of church and state, religious tests for political office, teaching religion as science in school. Please notice…. all of these things are related to theism!
Wow. That giant zooming sound was the entire point of the article rushing over their heads.
AtheismAmerica has a big race problem.American atheism has at least its share of that problem, and so far has done much less than its share of fixing it.
Talk about missing the point…their inability to even recognize the point just reinforces the point of the original article.
Like others in the atheist movement, JohnD16 doesn’t recognize how extensively religious belief affects other beliefs. He only sees the direct effects of religious belief. He doesn’t realize that religious beliefs provide tremendous support for the opposition of social justice issues such as marriage equality (or rights for LGBTQI people in general), abortion rights (which is a subset of women’s rights), and even gun rights (for some reason, gundamentalists think its a “god given right” to own guns). On the face of it, these issues don’t appear to be related to religion, but it doesn’t take much digging to see the impact religious beliefs have on these issues. If we remove the religious opposition to same sex marriage, what’s left? If we remove the religious opposition to abortion, what’s left? I don’t think for a second that removing the obstacle of religion will resolve these issues, but without religion, that’s one less source of opposition (and a huge one at that) to social justice issues.
Excellent article.
Part of what makes it such a hard problem is that there is an asymmetry between religion and atheism. Religion not only affects other beliefs, it also motivates charity and outreach work, and in the case of Christianity, virtually mandates that any such work that is done, whether motivated by religion or not, should be used as a way to evangelize. In contrast, when atheists volunteer, they typically don’t see that as motivated by or connected to their atheism, and are likely to do that with existing organizations that lack an explicit skeptical or atheist character.
This is what comes of people thinking atheism is a “movement”.
What comes from people thinking atheism is a movement? Discussions of racism and the degree to which it affects atheists and atheist organizations? Is that supposed to be a bad thing?
I presume the scare quotes around “movement” are meant to indicate disagreement that atheism is a movement. Which I don’t get. I mean, it’s one thing to not want to join the movement. Or disagree with its goals. Or want it to go in a different direction.
But to be in denial that a steadily growing portion of the population who, unlike the majority, don’t subscribe to commonly accepted delusions about the nature of reality, some of whom are organizing to lessen the influence of said delusions constitutes a movement?
It’s just weird.
Privilege is as infected with cognitive dissonance as any other belief system.