11.26.2014

When Shaming and Outrage Drive Away Potential Allies

Warning sign for police brutality.
Warning sign for police brutality. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We live in a world that often seems to be characterized by rampant unfairness. The supply of things that should upset us seems endless. Church-state violations, sexism, efforts to restrict free expression, legal discrimination against LGBT persons, Christian privilege, racism, massive corporations that refuse to provide employees a living wage, police brutality, animal cruelty, and so on. There are plenty of things over which outrage is a perfectly valid reaction.

Unfortunately, none of us can devote equal time, attention, and effort to everything that outrages us. As a result, we have to prioritize. If we cannot prioritize, we burn out and give up. And what happens when we prioritize? The upside is that we become more effective as we focus on our priorities. The downside is that we are inevitably attacked for not having the right priorities.

If I had to select the one thing that most irks me about those I encounter on the Internet who earn the social justice warrior label, it would be their refusal to accept the fact that having different priorities does not make someone a bad person and their willingness to shame and even demonize those who have somewhat different priorities than they do. This behavior serves to undermine social justice, leading people to disengage and stop listening. This is the paradoxical effect of outrage culture - it damages the very agenda the outraged claim to have.

11.20.2014

Political Diversity Among the Religiously Unaffiliated

SVG version of 2008_Democratic_Primaries_Popul...
SVG version of 2008_Democratic_Primaries_Popular_Vote.png. Popular Vote Margins by State, US Democratic Presidential Primaries 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What I am about to say will surprise few of you who have been reading this blog for some time. It bears repeating because there are some out there who still don't seem to get it. Here it is: religiously unaffiliated persons living in the United States (i.e., those referred to as "nones" by many in the news media) are not all politically liberal. Some of them, believe it or not, even vote for Republican candidates.

Take a look at the 2014 exit polls (CNN). You will see that among those without any religious affiliation, 69% voted for Democratic candidates and 29% voted for Republican candidates in House races. These numbers indicate that the majority of religiously unaffiliated voters do tend to vote for Democratic candidates; however, they also show that a significant number (29%) vote for Republicans.

11.17.2014

Symbiotic Relationships and Political Activism

McDonald's arches + U.S flag. Synonymous, symb...
McDonald's arches + U.S flag. Synonymous, symbiotic, patriotic, neurotic. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
From a biological perspective, a symbiotic relationship is one in which organisms of different species living in close proximity can, but does not necessarily, benefit one another. Some forms of symbiosis benefit both species involved (mutualism); others benefit one species while the other is harmed (parasitism) or unaffected (commensalism). Still others confer no clear benefit or adverse impact to either species (i.e., neutralism).

From a sociological perspective, we usually think of symbiosis in simpler terms as involving a high degree of interdependence among individuals or groups of people. For example, I think we could probably say that secular activists have a symbiotic relationship with religious groups that often threaten the separation of church and state. Secular activism would cease to exist without religious overreach. It can largely be understood as a reaction to religious overreach and would be unnecessary without it.

One of the things about symbiotic relationships I have always found fascinating is the manner in which two groups who appear to stand in adamant opposition to one another often seem to derive great benefit from their continued mutual antagonism. The two large political parties in the U.S. come to mind, as do many of the institutions that have emerged around them (e.g., Fox News and MSNBC). But mostly, I am thinking of the countless special interest groups that advocate for particular issues on either side of the political divide.

11.16.2014

If God Is Everywhere...

Going to Sunday school at the Baptist Church. ...
Going to Sunday school at the Baptist Church. Lejunior, Harlan County, Kentucky. - NARA - 541344 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In Sunday school, I was told countless times that some sort of god is "everywhere." It was in and around all of us. Sort of like what Star Wars called "the force," I wondered aloud? No, of course not! Star Wars was fictional; this god is real.

I remember having at least two questions about this idea of god being in and around all of us:

  1. If this god is in me, it would know my every thought. Why I am still told to pray?
  2. If this god is present everywhere, what is the point of building so many churches and spending so much time in them?

Although I never found satisfactory answers to either of these questions, I was able to ignore #1 for the most part. I concluded that the act of prayer was more important for me than it was for any god, and I tried not to think much more about it. I prayed because I was afraid of what might happen if I didn't. Prayer helped to soothe me.

11.10.2014

When No Candidate Represents One's Positions

Giant douche vs turd sandwich

One of the comments left on my recent post, Why Are the Religiously Unaffiliated Less Likely to Vote?, expressed the sort of frustration we have probably all experienced when it comes to voting. I thought it was worth addressing here because I agree with the commenter that it is an important reason why many religiously unaffiliated persons might skip out on voting. I have certainly found myself tempted not to vote because of it.

You can find the comment here, but I think it can be effectively paraphrased as follows:
If none of the candidates running in a particular race come close to representing my positions on the issues, it is difficult to want to vote for any of them.
I imagine we can all understand this dilemma. I can certainly relate to it. I can't recall ever finding a candidate who fit more than 50-60% of my positions on the issues, and even that seems rare these days. Nearly all the candidates that show up on the ballot here in Mississippi spend much of their time pandering to Christians, and most actually seem to oppose the separation of church and state. Again and again, I am faced with the task of trying to figure out which is the lesser evil: a giant douche or a turd sandwich.

11.09.2014

Go to Church...or Else

Go to church...
"Go to church..." by The Pug Father - Flickr: Go to church.... Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

I love this picture, as it captures something important about how children are indoctrinated into evangelical fundamentalist Christianity in the United States. The message is clear: do something you probably won't enjoy or you will be punished.

According to Wikipedia, the picture was taken in Alabama. That sounds about right, but I think it could be at home throughout much of the U.S. I would not be surprised to see it here in Mississippi, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see it in many of the states I've lived in that are far outside the Bible Belt.

I imagine that the simple message of this billboard is not just for children and that it could be effective for plenty of Christian adults. Many of those driving past it will undoubtedly feel a smug sense of self-satisfaction that they are "saved" while we heathens are headed for the hell they imagine. Others will feel a twinge of guilt as they realize that it has been awhile since they wasted a perfectly good Sunday morning in church.

11.07.2014

Why Are the Religiously Unaffiliated Less Likely to Vote?

4 U.S. Presidents. Former President Jimmy Cart...
4 U.S. Presidents. Former President Jimmy Carter (right), walks with, from left, George H.W. Bush (far left), George W. Bush (second from left) and Bill Clinton (center) during the dedication of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, November 18, 2004 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sarah Posner (Religion Dispatches) recently summarized data from a Pew poll conducted after the midterm election showing that White evangelicals made up 26% of those who voted as compared with the religiously unaffiliated (i.e., the "nones") who made up only 12%. So what? Aren't there far more of them than there are of us? Nope.

According to a piece for The Guardian Posner wrote in 2012, our numbers are roughly equivalent. By some reports, there may even be more of us. White evangelicals make up about 19% of the U.S. population, as do religiously unaffiliated persons. White evangelicals are over-represented among persons who vote; religiously unaffiliated persons are underrepresented among persons who vote. Why are the religiously unaffiliated less likely to vote, and what can we do to change this behavior?

For this post, I'll set aside the question of what we might be able to do about increasing voting among the religiously unaffiliated and focus only on the first question. That is, why do we see such a sharp difference between White evangelicals and religiously unaffiliated persons in voter turnout?

11.04.2014

Ancient Aliens: A Secular God of the Gaps

Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island
Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the most concise ways to think about the "god of the gaps" (or argument from ignorance) concept would be something like the following (via Iron Chariots):

  1. I don't understand how X could have happened.
  2. Anything I don't understand is caused by God.
  3. Therefore, God caused X.
We have all encountered this flawed line of argument many times from religious believers seeking to promote their preferred gods. Most of us have a reasonably clear idea of the many problems associated with it. We recognize, for example, that premise #1 makes the mistake of assuming that just because I don't understand something nobody else understands it either. And we certainly recognize premise #2 as being thoroughly absurd. As a result, we find the entire "god of the gaps" notion far from persuasive.

A variation of this argument is not as uncommon among non-religious persons as we might think. I have heard variations of it from atheists who believe in ghosts, hauntings, souls, and ancient aliens visiting early human civilizations.

11.01.2014

364 Days Until JesusWeen

I'm Not Going Back Outside Till November!
I'm Not Going Back Outside Till November! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

November 1 is always such a sad day, as the realization that we must wait a whole year for the return of JesusWeen sets in. You'd think I would have it out of my system by now, but that never seems to happen.

In the chaotic run-up to JesusWeen this year (deciding which white outfit I would wear and where I could grab a bag of cheap bibles), I missed Maxwell Grant's post at Religion Dispatches, "Trick or...Bible: Christians Coping with Halloween." I'm not familiar with Grant, but he is identified as a United Church of Christ pastor in Connecticut.

In his post, he describes evangelical Christians' long-running fear and dislike for Halloween and reviews some of the ways they have attempted to deal with the holiday. To my delight, these included JesusWeen.

The idea is simple: instead of wearing a costume, wear white (the color of righteousness); when someone greets you with “Trick or treat,” respond with “Jesus Loves You”; and if you want to drop candy in the bag, feel free, but drop a small Bible in that bag while you’re at it.

So, it is okay to hand out candy with the bibles? Damn! I wish I had known that before last night. Just giving out bibles did not go over so well.