Saturday, April 5, 2014

The New Atheist Activism In America

My good friend Darin Anthony sent me the following survey that he developed as part of a project for a social psychology class he is taking. I think it asks some interesting questions and made me articulate my own views on the subject of "atheist activism," to the extent that such a thing exists, and the attempts of Creationists to impose their sectarian viewpoints on society. As the graphic at the bottom of this page indicates, in any event, atheists comprise a very small percentage of Americans. Comments are welcome! 

1. How would you describe your faith life?
I am a person of faith with an active religious life, which includes daily prayer and monthly worship.

2. What is your personal opinion of atheists?
My view of American atheists in general is that they have renounced religion because they have been exposed to too much rather than too little of it. I furthermore believe that many have confused the concepts of "religion" and "God" and that if they understood they could renounce the one while still embracing the other that many might be persons of faith.

3. What is your personal opinion of the atheists you have known?
On par, most atheists I know are more intelligent and better educated than religious people I know. Most appear to have made an intellectual decision to choose atheism and many of them have become atheists after being driven away from religion by extremist family members or negative experiences in fundamentalist congregations. They run the gamut in terms of morality, many being genuinely good people and others being completely amoral.

4. Have you done anything to support your faith or belief system?
Yes. I make myself available talk to people about faith, God, and religion when they want to discuss them or have questions. I do not proselytize in any way because I think it is counterproductive and that other people can make legitimate religious decisions that are completely different than my own.

5. Why do you think atheists become activists against things like creationism being taught in schools?
Under the best of conditions, I believe they are doing so to keep America from becoming a dumbed-down, medievalized, fundamentalist state (i.e., in the way that Iran is often criticized for being). Often, however, I get the impression that they are also being driven by a personal contempt for religion.

6. What impact do you see if any has atheist activism had on our country?
Overall, I believe anything that could be explicitly identified as "atheist activism" has had a negative effect on America, in large part because it has led fundamentalists to believe they are being attacked and to respond accordingly. "Secular humanist activism" or somesuch would come off as much less antagonistic, and not necessarily be incompatible with peoples' religious views. The promise of America is, in any event, that people should be able to have any sorts of beliefs they want and still be able to peacefully and productively coexist with people who have differing or even opposed points of view.

7. What effect do you think creationism is having as it is taught in schools?
Mythology, taught as such, has great value in understanding the universe and our place in it. I believe that teaching myths as if they represent a literal truth diminishes the value of those stories, does not give them the respect they deserve, and has the effect of making people narrow minded and intellectually backward.

8. If atheist activists win their cause how do you think it will affect you personally?
Not sure if anyone will "win" if compromise, mutual respect, and coexistence are not the results. In a sense, atheists and religious people alike both already "won" more than 230 years ago, when America was founded as a secular state that guaranteed freedom of religion. Understanding the collective value of this is what will allow everyone to "win."

9. If atheist activists win their cause how do you think it will affect the nation?
If their goal to is to keep America a nation where religion does not dictate policy but where people can worship as they see fit while respecting the rights of others then it will affect the nation positively. If their goal is to curtail peoples' rights to worship privately or to antagonize religious people then I believe it will have a negative, fragmenting effect on the nation.

10. What do you think will happen if atheist activists lose their battle against creationism being taught in schools?
If creationism is taught in schools then it will severely damage efforts to effectively educate American students. Football and overemphasis on athletic activities that benefit only a few, standardized testing, cutting of arts and humanities programs, etc., have already harmed the true mission of education — to provide students with facts and to teach them how, not what, to think. 


Percentage of atheists and agnostics by region.

1 comment:


  1. I was reading Religion, Politics & Sex and thought I would post my reply to each question with applied objectivity from question 1 to 10

    1, I do not subscribe to what is considered as daily prayer however I do practise unconventional methods of spiritual prayer frequently.

    2 Though I am totally for an unorthodox and unconventional religious faith I do believe that many people are not meant to find religion, so effetely it is all a matter of individual enlightenment rather than the reaching out to the masses.

    3,Most of the atheists I know do not display any particular grasp of exceptional educational skills and I have found that most have been driven away from religion not be extremism or fundamentalism but by personal issues causing lines of moral to become blurred leaving atheism as the only path that will free them of any personal burden or guilt, It is argued by Fredrick Nietzsche that morality is a concept created by inferiors to hold back the superior intellect. I find the lines of morality differ in social situations of circumstance within reason however I avoid the immoral line with common sense and I think atheists on a whole tend not to be any real problem to me it is all a question of circumstance and acceptance, though they would disagree .

    4,I find that the greatest damage to religion is the is the perverting of religious imagery in media, so amongst many things I try the block the misconception of wrong religion representation with cold truth since technology media is now the greatest medium for religious and political information.

    5, Yes I agree their refusal to accept creationism in schools is a move against religious fundamentalism, more specifically eastern monotheism, in a bid to detached themselves from the growing strictness of middle eastern religious appraisal Christ born included and any threat of it engulfing them it seems rational to deny the teachings of creationism in schools, any contempt can vary from what I can see.

    6. I don’t live in America should I then I would be practicing an indigenous religious belief to which no one can truly dispute.


    7, I think in order to understand something a person needs to know of it however that knowledge should be taught objectively since the diversification of religious beliefs are apparent, the choice of specific beliefs outside schools is a purely personal family matter which has been the case in America for a long time.

    8,Why change it? religion will never centralize itself in America regardless of whether they don’t or do.

    10, I don’t know, I would not like to think their brand of extremism would loose it’s grip on reason?

    ReplyDelete