6.28.2013

Atheism May Be An Insufficient Basis for Community

Would I like to live in an area where I'd be surrounded by atheists nearly every time I left the home? Sure. I like the idea of being completely open with regard to my thoughts about religion. But realistically, I'd happily settle for being surrounded by people who kept their thoughts on religion to themselves.

If I was going to take a photography class, would I prefer that most of the other students in the class were atheists? No, not really. What I would prefer is that the other students in the class kept their thoughts on religion to themselves since I would expect religion to be thoroughly irrelevant to the subject matter and to the reasons we were taking the class. The only way I'd prefer that the class be full of atheists would be if my only choices were between atheists and religious individuals who were unwilling to keep their religion to themselves.

Suppose that a particular form of political activism was very important to me (e.g., reproductive rights, the environment, feminism) and I wanted to get involved as an activist at the local level. It seems like I'd find plenty of like-minded people in a group devoted to that goal, regardless of whether they were atheists. As long as they could keep their religious beliefs to themselves, it wouldn't matter much how many atheists there were.

6.27.2013

Christian Extremism and Marriage

English: American politician Tony Perkins.
English: American politician Tony Perkins. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For Christian extremists like Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), there was a "bright side" to yesterday's historic ruling in U.S. v. Windsor: it did not legalize same-sex marriage in every state. Evidently, Perkins was pleased that the court did not legislate full marriage equality. Is there any real doubt that this will eventually happen? With public opinion shifting toward support of marriage equality and younger survey respondents wondering what all the fuss is about over people wanting to get married, isn't it just a matter of time before same-sex marriage is legal in every state? While it would have been wonderful for that to happen yesterday, it will happen in the not too distant future.

Perkins, and his fellow Christian extremists, are determined to see this particular form of marriage as less "natural" than the alternative. Maybe they don't feel they have a choice. After all, their 2000+ year old "holy" book condemns homosexuality. But that possibility falls flat the moment one realizes how much of the same book they are perfectly content to ignore. And for growing numbers of Americans, especially the younger generations, same-sex marriage is every bit as natural as any other marriage between two consenting adults.

6.26.2013

Understanding Harassment: A Phenomenological Definition

I wrote a post called Understanding Harassment back in March. It proved to be controversial, largely based on some choosing to ignore the following sentence:
Because of the legal implications of harassment, I believe it makes sense to begin by examining how the law defines harassment. I am not suggesting that we must restrict ourselves to a legal definition, but it at least gives us a place to start.
By ignoring that sentence, some readers managed to convince themselves that I was claiming to provide the final word on how harassment should be defined. I was not. As the post clearly stated, I was examining legal definitions as a starting point. This did not matter to Ophelia Benson or Rebecca Watson, both of whom publicly complained after someone affiliated with the Atheist Alliance International retweeted a link to my post.

A Very Different View of Harassment

smoke
Waters 承燁 韓
In this post, I'd like to do what I had planned to do all along and take a look another definition of harassment. Like I said previously, what I will address in this post is not the final word but merely another step in the process. Also, what I present here is not my definition of harassment any more than the first post was.

Since the first post examined legal definitions of harassment, I wanted to move as far away from that as possible for this post. To do so, I'd like to address a fascinating view of harassment that I will label the phenomenological perspective. It begins with the assumption that there can be no general definition of harassment because its meaning is purely subjective. Harassment can only be understood from the perspective of the person being harassed.

6.24.2013

Fanaticism and the Fact-Proof Screen

All active mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside of it.
- Eric Hoffer (1951), The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

This quote will strike some of you as being relevant to religion, and it certainly is. Much of Hoffer's classic book is relevant to religion even though political fanaticism occupied at least as much of his focus. Unfortunately, fanaticism need not be religious; even secular movements can adopt ideologies that some adherents will approach in a dogmatic and fanatical manner.

We do not expect to encounter fanaticism in the atheist community. Many of us came to atheism by way of critical thinking, skepticism, and free inquiry. These things cannot be reconciled with fanaticism except through compartmentalization (i.e., one applies critical thinking, skepticism, and free inquiry elsewhere but not to the ideology about which one is fanatical). Thus, we would expect that most atheists would be at least somewhat inoculated against fanaticism. And yet, fanaticism can be found in certain corners of the atheist community today.

How might we recognize the fanatic in our midst? Perhaps he or she has divorced skepticism, abandoned critical thinking, and can no longer afford free inquiry. Some fanatics are still quite capable of applying these skills outside of the ideology about which they are fanatical, but they do not do so with their ideology. To the fanatic, critical thinking, skepticism, and free inquiry are no longer necessary when it comes to his or her chosen ideology. The issues are settled, and the ideology itself is not merely correct but has become imbued with the force of moral righteousness. Those who question it reveal themselves as flawed beings. It is not just that they are wrong; their disagreement makes them bad people who are now worthy of condemnation.

6.19.2013

The Christians are Listening

University of Oregon
University of Oregon (Photo credit: jjorogen)
No, this one is not about the latest "scandal" about how the NSA may be spying on U.S. citizens (I have scandal in quotes because I think this should be a real scandal, and yet most Americans don't seem to give a damn). Instead, this post is about the fact that some Christians are starting to listen to atheists and advise other Christians to do so too. They see the data showing that young people are finding their religion increasingly less appealing. They would like to stop losing followers, and so some have started asking young atheists why they are leaving religion behind.

Larry Taunton's recent article in The Atlantic describes how a Christian foundation interviewed members of the Secular Student Alliance and freethought societies on college campuses to discover why they had turned their backs on Christianity. What they claimed to have learned from their results included the following:
  • Most of those surveyed had a history of attending Christian churches.
  • Most described the message they heard at their churches in vague terms.
  • Most perceived their churches as having provided superficial answers to life's questions.
  • Most indicated that they had some respect for clergy who took Christian dogma seriously (i.e., the true believers).
  • Most rejected Christianity during the high school years.
  • Most reported that the process of abandoning religion was, at least in part, an emotional one.
  • The Internet was often mentioned as an important catalyst for these atheists in the process of leaving their religion. 

6.14.2013

Why Do You Hate My God? Oversimplification and Irrationality

Error (EP)
Error (EP) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Uninformed Christians are fond of accusing atheists of hating their preferred god. We know this is nonsensical because it assumes that we can somehow hate something in which we do not believe. When some Christians deny our nonbelief in order to keep pushing the myth about how we hate their god, one cannot help wondering if they are trying to protect their faith by convincing themselves that nobody could possibly disagree with them on the god question. If you have spent any time on Twitter, you have almost certainly seen Christians claiming that "atheists do not exist."

I suspect that what we are seeing here is a primitive form of dichotomous thinking where some Christians have divided their world into good people (i.e, those who believe as I do) and bad people (i.e., those who do not believe as I do). The existence of people like us who do not accept the theistic claim in the first place is too troubling for some Christians to acknowledge. It is far easier to cling to the simplistic worldview where everyone is good or bad and where those who are bad hate their god.

Fortunately, not all Christians make this sort of error. Many of those who have spent any time thinking about their beliefs have far more nuanced views. They recognize that the world is far more complex than good and bad. Some are even able to recognize that a person could share their beliefs and still be a bad person, while someone else could not share their beliefs and be a good person.

6.13.2013

We Admire a Principled Stand, But Only to a Point

Civil War monument
Soldier (Photo credit: vjack)
We admire the politician who takes a principled stand, especially when so many others seem to sell out to the highest bidder or change their views to conform to public opinion. We may even admire someone who holds political views with which we do not agree because "at least they stand for something."

In the context of secular activism, we praise the individual who brings the church-state complaint - not only because we consider it important - because we know the social consequences our complainant is likely to face. We know how easy it is to remain silent in the face of injustice.

I think it is safe to say that most people tend to respect someone who is willing to stand up for his or her principles in the face of opposition and pressure to conform. We often refer to individuals who fail to do this when we think they should as "spineless" or worse.

And yet, what I have always found curious about our tendency to admire the principled stance is how quickly and how thoroughly the admiration can turn to loathing. It appears that most people will only value a willingness to stand on principle up to a point. Once this point is crossed, they are quick to condemn the individual for being too idealistic, having unrealistic goals, being too impatient, or some other flaw that was not mentioned previously.

6.12.2013

Vacation Bible School: Indoctrination or Social Skills Training?

Vacation Bible School
Vacation Bible School (Photo credit: heraldpost)

Vacation bible schools are popular with families in many areas of the U.S. They provide children with organized activities and give parents who are used to their children being in school during the day with a bit of a break from them.

One of my co-authors at Mississippi Atheists, Turniphead, recently wrote a post in which he described how he and his wife negotiated over whether they would allow their first-grader to attend a summer vacation bible school with a friend.

Turniphead clearly had some strong feelings about this matter and ended by concluding:

I will not trust my child’s upbringing to people who believe in magic and superstition and teach those things as truth. Yes, my children must know how to navigate the waters. Most of their peers in Mississippi’s public schools will already be indoctrinated, and my children will need to know how to deal with them. That will come. But for now, I’m skipping the indoctrination, thank you.

He and his wife decided that their child would not attend the program.

6.10.2013

Think Twice About Marginalizing Atheist Activists

An old bird-eye map (circa 1889) for Wilkes-Ba...
An old bird-eye map (circa 1889) for Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This post is not about Justin Vacula, but I am going to refer to him here to make a point about activism in the atheist community. I realize this may be asking a bit much, but I'd like to ask that you make an effort to temporarily set aside whatever feelings you may have - positive or negative - toward Justin and not let that get in the way.

If we look at the sort of church-state activism in which Justin has engaged in his Pennsylvania community, I think we can agree that he has done some good work. Justin is doing something about what he perceives to be violations of church-state separation in his community. He's not merely complaining on his blog; he's been out in the street risking his safety and his reputation to make a difference. There was a time, back before "the great rift" when many of us openly admired these efforts.

A recent example of Justin's activism began when he found a banner advertising the National Day of Prayer and promoting an event called "Circle the Square With Prayer" in a public area of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) to report the violation, protested in the public square, explained why he was protesting, and worked with the FFRF to erect a "Nothing Fails Like Prayer" banner in response. Justin has also been documenting his efforts on detail on his blog so that others might learn from his experience.

6.05.2013

The Arrogance of Evangelism

4 days of Evangelism Training in Sout...
4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern California provided by LivingWaters Ministry. Obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone" Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It makes sense to me why an evangelical Christian would evangelize to close friends or family members who did not share his or her beliefs. This could be seen as a way of trying to bring the friends or family members closer, strengthening their relationship through this aspect of a shared worldview. This is not terribly difficult for me to wrap my head around. At the same time, the evangelical Christian who seeks to persuade strangers to adopt his or her beliefs strikes me as quite arrogant.

Most evangelical Christians I've known seem to start with the assumption that nobody can be truly happy without believing in their particular god. It does not seem to matter whether the targets of their evangelism are Christians who believe in the "wrong kind of Christianity," former Christians who knowingly rejected their beliefs previously, or persons raised in an entirely different religious tradition. This basic assumption is the same, and it goes a long way toward explaining how they can live with themselves as they devalue all other belief systems, talk about "false gods," threaten people with hell, and the like.

6.03.2013

The Emptiness of Atheism

empty beach

Atheism is an answer to a very specific question (i.e., the question of whether one believes in gods). As such, it tends to be a rather limited portion of what we might call a worldview. This had led some atheists, correctly I believe, to assert that atheism by itself is rarely sufficient material from which to construct a worldview, a philosophy, an ideology, or anything of the sort.

There is a certain emptiness in atheism in the sense that it provides no answers to many of life's most important questions. For example, atheism tells us nothing about how one should live one's life. On this point, I can find agreement with some of the Atheism+ supporters in that I can see why some people would say, "Great, we're atheists. Now what?" I certainly understand the appeal of wanting to go "beyond atheism."