An interesting article on NPR's website yesterday explores why people distrust atheists. It might not be as in-depth as I'd prefer, but it is good to see mainstream media talking about this.
I agree with the closing premise wholeheartedly. We cannot stay in the closet and hide from the world. We need to show the more meek among us that it's ok to be yourself. And I concur with the author that when more atheists are seen as good people with a moral sense and are contributors to society, the "immoral atheist" lie will slowly evaporate.
What do you think? Are there other reasons to distrust atheists we need to discuss? What else can be done to turn this negative feeling around? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Showing posts with label atheist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atheist. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Do Atheists Hate God? Do You Hate Dog?
Here's another claim leveled against atheists - we hate God.
Let's say I am walking through the park and we meet, and we say hi. I ask you what you think of my dog. You tell me you don't see any dog. I counter, no, I am walking my dog. You shake your head and say no, there's no dog here. To that, I assert that the dog is invisible. You then tell me you don't believe I have a dog.
When I then moan, "You hate my dog!", am I making any sense? How can you hate a dog you don't even think exists?
Now, plenty of people hate Barney the Dinosaur or Harry Potter. But you can't actually hate them. They are "real" in the imaginations of a lot of people, but they don't actually exist, like a dog does. What you really hate, or love for that matter, is the idea of Barney or Harry, the fictional universe in which they dwell and their unique place in it, and perhaps in the minds of others who also imagine them to be real. You can't really hate Barney; you can only hate the concept of Barney.
To be fair, the concept of the God of the Bible, as one example, is not very appealing to me. I don't think what's written there about God is particularly flattering. I personally wouldn't like the guy if he was my neighbor. But that's one giant "if".
Because I don't have any motivation or reason to believe this, or any, god is real in any sense outside the imagination of numerous people, I don't have any motivation or reason to hate him or her.
I can't hate your god any more than you can hate the Monster In The Closet your child needs you to check before bed. Closet monsters are a pain in the ass, they are not part of how you wish the growing-up process should be, but there's your kid scared to death of something that you know full well is imaginary, and you have to deal with it.
If you believe your child and agree there might be a monster, you might have reason to hate it. But so long as we do not believe in the imaginary thing which another person is so damn sure exists, we are not capable of hating it.
We can hate that the poor tot can't sleep. We can hate that getting from child to adult has to be so hard. But we cannot hate what we believe is not real.
Let's say I am walking through the park and we meet, and we say hi. I ask you what you think of my dog. You tell me you don't see any dog. I counter, no, I am walking my dog. You shake your head and say no, there's no dog here. To that, I assert that the dog is invisible. You then tell me you don't believe I have a dog.
When I then moan, "You hate my dog!", am I making any sense? How can you hate a dog you don't even think exists?
Now, plenty of people hate Barney the Dinosaur or Harry Potter. But you can't actually hate them. They are "real" in the imaginations of a lot of people, but they don't actually exist, like a dog does. What you really hate, or love for that matter, is the idea of Barney or Harry, the fictional universe in which they dwell and their unique place in it, and perhaps in the minds of others who also imagine them to be real. You can't really hate Barney; you can only hate the concept of Barney.
To be fair, the concept of the God of the Bible, as one example, is not very appealing to me. I don't think what's written there about God is particularly flattering. I personally wouldn't like the guy if he was my neighbor. But that's one giant "if".
Because I don't have any motivation or reason to believe this, or any, god is real in any sense outside the imagination of numerous people, I don't have any motivation or reason to hate him or her.
I can't hate your god any more than you can hate the Monster In The Closet your child needs you to check before bed. Closet monsters are a pain in the ass, they are not part of how you wish the growing-up process should be, but there's your kid scared to death of something that you know full well is imaginary, and you have to deal with it.
If you believe your child and agree there might be a monster, you might have reason to hate it. But so long as we do not believe in the imaginary thing which another person is so damn sure exists, we are not capable of hating it.
We can hate that the poor tot can't sleep. We can hate that getting from child to adult has to be so hard. But we cannot hate what we believe is not real.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Election
What have we learned from the 2012 presidential election?
Fringe people are scary.
Women should not be kept in binders.
Hurricanes have a liberal bias.
120 million people - roughly 80% of the eligible voters - went to the polls. That's 4 1/2 times as many people who go to Six Flags parks in a year.
The Gregory Brothers do a fine job auto-tuning the debates.
Epistemic closure is a real thing, even if you don't believe it is.
The Republicans faltered despite being right about the personal invasiveness of Democratic economics, but they were wrong about the personal invasiveness of their own social views. And people would rather risk economic struggle than submit to social authoritarianism, if there has to be a choice.
All the people who called Obama a Muslim extremist socialist a few days ago have been commenting on the weather and the nice songs they heard on the radio today.
And above all, if you claim you believe that your God intends rape as a means of procreation, you aren't getting elected anymore. People are just beginning to see the sickness in religion. We will see how it goes in the year to come.
We now have a second-term black president who is in favor of gay marriage. Is it too much to hope for groundbreaking changes in society's attitude toward atheists in the next four years?
Because we are not fringe people, really. We are not scary. We're almost exactly like the rest of them.
Fringe people are scary.
Women should not be kept in binders.
Hurricanes have a liberal bias.
120 million people - roughly 80% of the eligible voters - went to the polls. That's 4 1/2 times as many people who go to Six Flags parks in a year.
The Gregory Brothers do a fine job auto-tuning the debates.
Epistemic closure is a real thing, even if you don't believe it is.
The Republicans faltered despite being right about the personal invasiveness of Democratic economics, but they were wrong about the personal invasiveness of their own social views. And people would rather risk economic struggle than submit to social authoritarianism, if there has to be a choice.
All the people who called Obama a Muslim extremist socialist a few days ago have been commenting on the weather and the nice songs they heard on the radio today.
And above all, if you claim you believe that your God intends rape as a means of procreation, you aren't getting elected anymore. People are just beginning to see the sickness in religion. We will see how it goes in the year to come.
We now have a second-term black president who is in favor of gay marriage. Is it too much to hope for groundbreaking changes in society's attitude toward atheists in the next four years?
Because we are not fringe people, really. We are not scary. We're almost exactly like the rest of them.
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