3.29.2009

To What Degree Is Atheism Voluntary?

rabbit in the grass

Looking out my window, I see grass. It is mostly green and will become greener as spring deepens. Suppose someone were to try to convince me that this grass was not green at all but a bright royal blue. I am not sure any amount of argument, pleading, threats, favors, etc. could persuade me that the grass I see was blue.

Under torture, I would certainly profess that I believed it to be blue, but it is difficult to imagine that I could actually convince myself that it was so. With sufficient rewards, I would certainly agree publicly that the grass was blue, but I would not really believe it. By learning about the science of vision, I could be convinced that the grass was not inherently green but reflected light in such a manner that I perceived it as green. Still, I would not be able to stop believing that I was perceiving it as green. In many respects, this is how the atheist experiences god belief.

3.25.2009

Keep Your Ridiculous Christianspeak to Yourself!

speak
A friend of mine was in an automobile accident a couple days ago. I do not have all the details yet, but I was relieved to hear that everyone involved was okay. She had her children with her, and I am sure they were frightened, but it is good to hear that all were unharmed. It sounds like her car was pretty badly damaged and had to be towed away. Sadly, this unfortunate accident provided an opportunity for a misguided Christian to spew Christianspeak to an audience not particularly interested in hearing it. At least this offered me some insight about another friend.

I learned about the accident when a friend spread the word via social media. She provided a brief account of what had happened and that everyone was okay. In response, one of her other friends with whom I am not acquainted posted a reply crediting some sort of god with the lack of injuries and gushing Christianspeak.

3.22.2009

The 34th Humanist Symposium

The Humanist SymposiumWelcome to the 34th edition of The Humanist Symposium! It is time to replenish your sense of awe, restore your confidence in humanity, and above all else, promote humanism as a viable alternative to superstition and delusion. That's right, the reality-based community has much to offer and this is a great forum for sharing some of it.

Beyond Atheism

Let me say at the outset that I love the idea of promoting atheism. It is something I try to to regularly here at Atheist Revolution. The trouble is, those of us who understand the meaning of atheism (i.e., the lack of theistic belief) recognize that it is not anything that really can be promoted. Promoting atheism is promoting the absence (or at least reduced influence) of something. To promote atheism means little more than to advance the idea that religious belief is irrational and has tremendous destructive potential.

This is a viable starting point, but we need to have something besides just less religion to offer. We need to go beyond atheism. It is not enough to demonstrate the myriad problems associated with religious belief; we must help people find meaningful secular alternatives for meeting many of the needs currently met via religion. Just because we have managed to do this for ourselves does not mean that we will be effective promoters. Greater effort is needed.

This is why I am finding my excitement for The Humanist Symposium renewed. This blog carnival is not about critiquing religion or mocking the superstitious, although my regular readers will know that I occasionally indulge in both. No, this carnival is about promoting humanism. With humanism, we have something that can be celebrated and promoted. Think of it as the yin to atheism's yang. We need both.

To the atheists who oppose humanism (and I've encountered more than a few who are mildly hostile to the humanist philosophy), you may replace it with whatever you like. The point is that you have something real to promote.

The Posts

I am happy to present, in no particular order, the posts from this edition of the carnival:

Restoring a Sense of Awe and Wonder
Celebrating Us
  • I'm an atheist, no matter what Beliefnet says (update: link no longer active) by DC Secularism Examiner
  • Atheists lead philanthropic microfinancing in developing countries (update: link no longer active) by 2[Y]
  • Correct Thanking by Effort Sisyphus
  • We do not throw up our hands at confusion (update: link no longer active) by Bright Jots
  • No God(s)ess(es) required (update: link no longer active) by Mississippi Atheists
Meaning and Humanism
On Religion
Postscript

What these excellent posts demonstrate, at least to me, is that many atheists are already comfortable with the idea of going beyond atheism. They recognize that no gods are necessary and have stripped such superstitions away to find an amazing world. They are well on their way to crafting a meaningful secular identity. To be sure, atheism is a valuable part but it is not the whole.

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If your submission was not included in this carnival, either I did not receive it or I determined that it was not a good fit with the guidelines provided by Daylight Atheism. I did not write these guidelines, but it is my job to enforce them as carnival host.

The next edition of The Humanist Symposium will be held on April 12, 2009, at Psychodiva's Mutterings FCD. To submit a post for consideration, please use the Blog Carnival submission form.

3.20.2009

Baptist Pastor Caught Lying, Impersonating Atheists

If I have anything to say about it, the story of a Baptist pastor impersonating atheists on various blogs in a desperate attempt to confirm bigoted stereotypes will sweep the atheist blogosphere and perhaps extend beyond our little niche. This is an intriguing tale that deserves to be widely read. I only wish I could take credit for writing it, but credit goes to Daniel Florien of Unreasonable Faith for breaking this one wide open.

Daniel's post, "Pastor Gets Caught Lying for Jesus," contains a number of important lessons for Christians and atheists alike. I simply cannot resist highlighting one here. Contrary to popular stereotypes, it appears that atheists are such decent people that someone trying to demonize them has to resort to lies and deceit to do so.

3.17.2009

The Skeptical Attitude in Atheism

books on atheism

This is the second post in a multi-part series. The first part was "The Skeptical Attitude in Science." If I was pushed to give only one reason why I am an atheist, the reason I would give would indeed reflect the skeptical attitude: There is insufficient evidence to support the theistic claim that god(s) exist. Believing such an extraordinary claim without sufficient evidence would be undeniably irrational. Thus, reasoned skepticism leads (at least in my case) to atheism.

As we saw in the first post, not all scientists are atheists. Some utilize compartmentalization so as not to apply skepticism to matters of religion. Others are willing to set aside their scientific training completely by doing something scientists are taught never to do. They begin by accepting the conclusion that god(s) must exist and then work backward to piece their case together. Of course, it would be erroneous to consider such a process scientific at all. Such an individual is no longer engaged in science but apologetics.

3.16.2009

We Should Not Ignore Christian Terrorism

I was motivated, at least in part, to start Atheist Revolution because I was becoming increasingly frustrated to see politicians and media in the U.S. obsess over Islamic extremism in the Middle East while ignoring Christian extremism at home. In the couple of years since I have been blogging, little has changed. There is still a tendency in the U.S. to see religious extremism as problematic only as long as one's own religion is exempt from similar examination. Yes, there have been some encouraging signs that people are beginning to wake up, but our work continues.

There is little doubt that Islamic extremism currently poses a serious threat in the world today. Driven by the desire to see a Muslim caliphate and immunized against reason by an ancient religion that offers certainty and opposes critical analysis, Muslim extremists deserve the fearful attention they are receiving around the world.

At the same time, the problem must be recognized as being one of religious extremism which is not necessarily limited to Islam. Right here in the U.S., for example, we endured 8 years under a regime, headed by a Christian extremist, which committed countless human rights abuses, including but not limited to torture. Our civil liberties were rolled back as we were shamelessly manipulated by fear and lies. Science and medicine were damaged, as was our international standing. Our economy continues to reel as the costs of trickle-down economics and lax regulation is felt by a large enough portion of the population that it can no longer escape notice.

Would these abuses have occurred without the influence of Christian extremism? We do not know. What we do know is that they were committed by someone who claimed to receive his marching orders from the Christian god.

The subject of Christian terrorism is not one we hear much about. We know that acts of Christian terrorism occur, but we tend to see them as fairly isolated acts perpetrated by especially deranged individuals and regard them as far less dangerous than their more highly organized, militaristic, and highly funded Islamic counterparts.

To be sure, the lone Christian terrorist deserves our attention. However, there is a different sort of Christian terrorism that is far better organized, far more militaristic, and better funded than even the Islamic versions which we so love to despise. When acts of international terrorism are paid for by U.S. taxpayers, supported by U.S. politicians, and justified by Christian leaders within and without our government, it is difficult not to regard them as acts of Christian terrorism.

Consider the following contenders for the label of Christian terrorism:
  • The Republican war on science
  • Attacks on clinics that provide abortion and other health services to women
  • Attempted church bombings
  • Unjustly invading another country and torturing prisoners while Christian leaders justify it all right along with many Americans
It is not necessary to claim that religion causes terrorism; it is enough to see how much more dangerous religious motivation makes potential terrorists. Christian terrorism should not be ignored.

3.09.2009

Is Homeschooling a Viable Option for Atheist Parents?

Thorpdale primary school
me (w:User:pfctdayelise), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Many Christian parents who homeschool their children do so for the wrong reasons, but I believe that there are good reasons for homeschooling. In fact, the frequency with which Christian proselytizing seems to occur in some public schools makes homeschooling seem like a viable option for atheist parents living in such districts. I see two primary barriers to effective homeschooling, and I would like to hear from atheist parents who have experience with homeschooling about how they have managed them.

I suppose the thing I would most worry about if I were an atheist parent considering homeschooling would be the issue of academic equivalency. As someone who teaches college, I have found that the homeschooled children who end up there are often seriously unprepared to succeed. Granted, this is generally because they have been victims of religious indoctrination instead of education. But I am not sure it is safe to conclude that atheist homeschooling is automatically superior to various Christian versions. One would hope that it would be more reality-based, but I don't know that we can take that for granted.

3.02.2009

Revealing the Atheist Stereotype

Gargamel and AzraelImage via Wikipedia
After Friendly Atheist's recent post in which he asked readers whether they fit "the atheist stereotype," I realized that I was not completely sure what this particular stereotype entailed. Sure, I had some ideas, but I also thought it fairly likely that I was missing some important ingredients.

I posed this question to my readers and received some useful input. Some of what I heard confirmed my hunches, but there were new aspects of the stereotype as well. In this post, I'd like to present the atheist stereotype in the hopes that it will facilitate future discussions of topics such as how atheists are perceived in society, the degree to which atheists fit the stereotype, and the like.

Below I have provided what appear to be components of the atheist stereotype. Please feel free to add to the list.