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tzikehI see that Gay Pants are the international language of love - a lot of new folks have friended me in the past week. Welcome! And now, an op/ed from your friendly neighborhood atheist (let's see if my theory that differences of opinion do not preclude friendship holds true and you all stick around):
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/opinion/12DENN.html
If you're not a member of the NY Times site, you'll need to register to read it - but registration is free and they neither share information nor spam.
A few paragraphs:
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A 2002 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life suggests that 27 million Americans are atheist or agnostic or have no religious preference. That figure may well be too low, since many nonbelievers are reluctant to admit that their religious observance is more a civic or social duty than a religious one — more a matter of protective coloration than conviction.
Most brights don't play the "aggressive atheist" role. We don't want to turn every conversation into a debate about religion, and we don't want to offend our friends and neighbors, and so we maintain a diplomatic silence.
But the price is political impotence. Politicians don't think they even have to pay us lip service, and leaders who wouldn't be caught dead making religious or ethnic slurs don't hesitate to disparage the "godless" among us.
From the White House down, bright-bashing is seen as a low-risk vote-getter. And, of course, the assault isn't only rhetorical: the Bush administration has advocated changes in government rules and policies to increase the role of religious organizations in daily life, a serious subversion of the Constitution. It is time to halt this erosion and to take a stand: the United States is not a religious state, it is a secular state that tolerates all religions and — yes — all manner of nonreligious ethical beliefs as well.
I recently took part in a conference in Seattle that brought together leading scientists, artists and authors to talk candidly and informally about their lives to a group of very smart high school students. Toward the end of my allotted 15 minutes, I tried a little experiment. I came out as a bright.
Now, my identity would come as no surprise to anybody with the slightest knowledge of my work. Nevertheless, the result was electrifying.
Many students came up to me afterwards to thank me, with considerable passion, for "liberating" them. I hadn't realized how lonely and insecure these thoughtful teenagers felt. They'd never heard a respected adult say, in an entirely matter of fact way, that he didn't believe in God. I had calmly broken a taboo and shown how easy it was.
***
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/opinion/12DENN.html
If you're not a member of the NY Times site, you'll need to register to read it - but registration is free and they neither share information nor spam.
A few paragraphs:
***
A 2002 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life suggests that 27 million Americans are atheist or agnostic or have no religious preference. That figure may well be too low, since many nonbelievers are reluctant to admit that their religious observance is more a civic or social duty than a religious one — more a matter of protective coloration than conviction.
Most brights don't play the "aggressive atheist" role. We don't want to turn every conversation into a debate about religion, and we don't want to offend our friends and neighbors, and so we maintain a diplomatic silence.
But the price is political impotence. Politicians don't think they even have to pay us lip service, and leaders who wouldn't be caught dead making religious or ethnic slurs don't hesitate to disparage the "godless" among us.
From the White House down, bright-bashing is seen as a low-risk vote-getter. And, of course, the assault isn't only rhetorical: the Bush administration has advocated changes in government rules and policies to increase the role of religious organizations in daily life, a serious subversion of the Constitution. It is time to halt this erosion and to take a stand: the United States is not a religious state, it is a secular state that tolerates all religions and — yes — all manner of nonreligious ethical beliefs as well.
I recently took part in a conference in Seattle that brought together leading scientists, artists and authors to talk candidly and informally about their lives to a group of very smart high school students. Toward the end of my allotted 15 minutes, I tried a little experiment. I came out as a bright.
Now, my identity would come as no surprise to anybody with the slightest knowledge of my work. Nevertheless, the result was electrifying.
Many students came up to me afterwards to thank me, with considerable passion, for "liberating" them. I hadn't realized how lonely and insecure these thoughtful teenagers felt. They'd never heard a respected adult say, in an entirely matter of fact way, that he didn't believe in God. I had calmly broken a taboo and shown how easy it was.
***
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Disorganized Non-Religion
Date: 2003-07-15 10:07 am (UTC)I don't particularly like the term 'brights' either. Sounds too much like either Smarters or "Be Right". It doesn't convey an intrinsic meaning to me. Too shiny-happy.
I'm for the higher visibility of agnostics and atheists, and feel strongly that freedom of religion means freedom to choose no religion. However, any discussion of organizing people whose common ground is a non-belief has to have some more defined goals. A fairly good number of agnostics are turned off of religion at least partially because they don't like the way people behave in groups, which doesn't make them good candidates for the basis of a political or social movement. For that matter, a lot of the more ardent supporters of free thought are also ardent supporters of generally leaving other folks alone, and therefore are loss prone to the sort of active indignation and willingness to interfere that characterizes the rabid religious right. We're better at sea-change than storming the gates. Diligently tending our own gardens makes us a bit unprepared when folks come trying to trample through them.
Am now picturing a parade of protesters holding up signs saying "We demand that you make up your own mind!" or "My Personal Viewpoint. Go Get You Own!" and chanting:
What do we want?
*loud chorus of individual replies, indistinguishable but rather enthusiastic*
When do we want it?
*more of the same*
Still, it's always nice to know there's more of us out there. Whoever we are.