Freaky view of atheism in America

2 out of 3 theists on Paual Zahn's panel say,

Atheists shut up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHnXrU5JzU

I have not personally encountered too many people with such an attitude. So I have a question. Does anyone else, atheists only, actually encounter people like this and have to put up with this kind of attitude in your daily life? Or did Paula Zahn just scrape up the bottom of the barrel?

Personally I think the two ladies are victims of an extremely poor education.

I was going to say something, but then I threw up in my mouth just a little bit.

Personally I find it extremely amusing that a sports analyst is more educated and tolerant on the subject than an author...and whoever that blonde was. I seriously thought that we were passed the whole "The US is a Christian Nation" load of absolute crap.

I have only encountered a few people like that, and sadly they were all from my mother's church. Lucky for me, my in-laws are intelligent, well read, staunch atheists. Have to have some respite somewhere.

I encounter it daily with chain emails sent to us by in-laws. They usually are of the severely-slanted politically kind trying to prove that the sky is falling with how Christians are being attacked in the U.S.



Then they end the emails with some sort of call to prayer on our part.



What delicious irony.



IMO, I think this kind of attitude is more prevalent than most would be willing to admit. To first declare that atheists are the "most hated" of all minorities is one thing. To justify that hatred opens up a whole new can of worms.




Peace,
Mystic

MaddLlama said:

I have only encountered a few people like that, and sadly they were all from my mother's church. Lucky for me, my in-laws are intelligent, well read, staunch atheists. Have to have some respite somewhere.

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That's what I'm interested in. Having lived in the South my whole life I rarely encountered such attitudes personally. Of course, I was a member of a Southern Baptist church growing up but even among my peers it was known that my faith then was very shaky. I should have posted the link to the first part of the segment Paula had:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiyJzWy3CDQ

In this very quick segment she highlights an atheist family that literally has to move around because of the discrimination against them. In my town, I cannot see this happening. I think Paula did a poor job in presentation which brings me to another forum topic on the popular media and it's inability to be objective.

There are unfortunately extremes on boths sides viciously tearing into said can of worms. If the media were interested in the more moderate of approaches, rather than the extemes all the time, I think the problem may not be so bad. But, the media isn't interested in "normal", it doesn't sell. They want the Pat Roberson, and Richard Dawkins types, and it leads people to believe that all Christians and all Atheists are just like them, and sets us up in a battle that really doesn't need to be waged.

Then again, I could be wrong and there are far more people of the extreme variety than I know of.

I saw the show when it aired on Friday night (?) and was somewhat appalled by the round robin between these three freaks of nature. I was more aghast that they did not think to have a real live atheist on the panel. I was shocked when one, I caution to use the word "lady" said that people who don't believe in Gawd should just "Shut up!" One wonders when she will hear her own words. I was horrified when no one picked her up on the comment. Talk about self-righteous arrogance.

Why is it that people thinking they are right just because other little lemmings go along with their mistaken and dare I say “shallow” or superficial view of reality? Heck, most young children believe in Santa Claus and that doesn't make Ol' Saint Nick "real", outside of the minds of those children that is. I really don't see the "Gawd" argument as being much different.

I get more crap than atheists because people don't understand what I believe. Strange, isn't it?

I feel very ill. The very idea that (and I have to say, this kind of attitude is very American-centric) that atheism is wrong or immoral is sickening. I find it laughable that so many of the Christian, and Muslim, and in fact almost all religions, who damn athiesm also claim to promote love and brotherhood. It astonishes me that people can recount the parable of the good samaritan and not realise that the message is - it doesn't matter what you believe, if you are a good person, you are a good person. I feel glad that this kind of attitude just doesn't seem to exist on a large scale in the UK (yet), and that when (as has happened) a fundementalist christian tells me or another non-believer that we are going to hell, and that we are evil, they are generally laughed at. The idea that you should be allowed to impose your beliefs on others is sick, and I don't want any part of it. Don't take prayer out of schools, but don't make kids do it either. It should always be a choice, they should be allowed to choose.

You should always be allowed to choose.

I don't want to say ALL Christians are idiots, but alot are...

Peace to them.

If this stupidity could be harnessed to power automobiles, America wouldn't be fighting in the Middle-east today. *sigh*

eudaimonia said:

If this stupidity could be harnessed to power automobiles, America wouldn't be fighting in the Middle-east today. *sigh*

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well put

gnomon said:

That's what I'm interested in. Having lived in the South my whole life I rarely encountered such attitudes personally.

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I've lived here for 21 one years, and occasionally encounter it.

It's like the racist things you hear when you're only among white people, because they assume that naturally you're gonna think like they do. :sarcastic

The same thing has happened to me a few times, when a group of theists (who didn't know me that well) assumed that since I could quote the Bible I must be "their kind of" Christian, would then say equally ignorant things about atheists. It's one thing to be irreligious and "unsaved" -- but to have consciously chosen atheism is on a par with devil-worship to some. Go figure.

Some subcultures have more of this than others. In the Baha'i community, I rub shoulders with people from all sorts of backgrounds. It's very typical when in some group discussion I mention that I was an atheist, during the next break some of the black members of the group will come up and ask me questions, not at all rudely, but mostly because they're just terribly curious about someone could actually actively not believe in God. It's just so obvious to them, they can't understand why it could not be obvious to someone.

I've done a couple of informal talks like "How not to talk to an athiest" at people's request. It's really basic stuff like "asking an atheist to pray for guidance is akn to asking him to talk to himself -- please don't." Stuff like that.

Booko said:

I've done a couple of informal talks like "How not to talk to an athiest" at people's request. It's really basic stuff like "asking an atheist to pray for guidance is akn to asking him to talk to himself -- please don't." Stuff like that.

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Do you have any of these talks in written form, Sharon. I would love to see them!

Katzpur said:

Do you have any of these talks in written form, Sharon. I would love to see them!

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Oh, goodness no -- I've always just winged it!

It would make a cool thread for us atheists and ex-atheists to put our heads together on something like that though, eh?

It could be most instructional... :yes:

We could even turn it into an RF article.

I don't get so much grief over it and I am out to about 99 % of the people I know. Austin is a very educated city though. If I lived elsewhere I don't think that would be the case. Both my day job and my night job are christian work enviorments. They pray at office meetings and at other times and such but never ask me to partipate or suggest I am mistaken about the whole "no-god thing."

My brother went to college as an atheist in waco but was quiet about it. They use to have people scream at biology professors and the students (at Baylor univerisity) about the evil/satanic system of evolution and its war on christianty. I remember christian organizations protesting at Texas State University (where I went to college) over science classes and over sex-ed classes but that didn't get much momentum. christians and muslims more so than others, due to their open idea of aggression as a means of conversion can be very intruding with their ideas. At least a pagan who wants to educate you about their religion is most likey a pacifists and it wouldn't occur to the pagan to use coehsion or threats of damnation or other silly meathods to attempt to educate you about their faith.

I think atheism education might be more threating to many of anti-atheist more than atheist rights. The idea of someone suggesting or stating that there is eitehr (a) no god or (b) no evidence or reason to believe in a God seems to be a raw nerve more than the atheist right idea.

Booko said:

Oh, goodness no -- I've always just winged it!

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I'm impressed. I'm no good at winging it. I have to have my thoughts down on paper in order to speak coherently.

It would make a cool thread for us atheists and ex-atheists to put our heads together on something like that though, eh?

It could be most instructional... :yes:

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Yes, it absolutely would! I'm serious. I really like the idea. I think the reverse -- how to talk to theists -- would be good, too. I'm just really pro anything that brings about religious tolerance. So many people don't know how to talk to each other. We so often offend or simply fail to communicate our thoughts because of the words we choose. I have always really believed that if a person sincerely wants to understand (not necessarily accept) even a point of view that is in direct opposition to his own, he can do so with effort. Being educated as to how to go about having such a dialogue would just help immensely.

We could even turn it into an RF article.

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Yes, why not!

Katzpur said:

Yes, it absolutely would! I'm serious. I really like the idea. I think the reverse -- how to talk to theists -- would be good, too. I'm just really pro anything that brings about religious tolerance.

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That sounds like a good idea!

Frankly, the blonde chick offended me most with her comments on Europe. Apparently, atheism leads to Islam which is of course even worse! :sarcastic

MaddLlama said:

Personally I find it extremely amusing that a sports analyst is more educated and tolerant on the subject than an author...and whoever that blonde was. I seriously thought that we were passed the whole "The US is a Christian Nation" load of absolute crap.

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You took the words out of my mouth...actually you cleaned up the words that came out of my mouth...lol...I swear these are the people that make me hate christians. America is a stonger country than Europe because of its strong christians...I can't comment any further without offending the hell out of the christians...I typed three different sentences and deleted them all...

I was disappointed that out of the "supposed" one million atheist people not one was available to be on the panel.

Look,i can't speak for all atheist... but i don't want "In God we trust" taken off the currency in the US. If the pledge is being said... i don't have to participate. If I stand it's for the flag and my country and what it means to be part of it.

The blonde that kept saying she was jewish and realizes that this is a christian country hasn't really met a lot of people in this country.

At least the guy put up some sort of defense for the atheist that could not make it to the studio...hhahhahhahha....:jiggy:

The other lady that said "Athiest should shut" up was just ignorant. She seemed to take offense the most. She seemed to loose her chain of RANT when she started talking about how she whish they didn't take prayer out of schools.

I thought she said that you could pick an athiest out of a crowd. if that is what she said then she is a true idiot. the couple that gave their interview had lready stated that the people in her town didn't even know they were atheist until after she told her landlord.

I don't really experience the problems because most people don't even know i'm an athiest. it's not important for me to blast it. if they ask me then i'll tell them. i don't ask if they are christian or jewish. I don't care if they are LDS, JW, or Catholic...