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New rule, until "new" atheists stop ridiculing, attacking and inciting hatred toward the beliefs of others, idiots have to stop saying that "new" atheists aren’t bigots. A bigot is defined, by the Canadian Oxford English Dictionary, as: a person intolerant of another's beliefs, race, politics, ect.
Hello!
Now, believe it or not, I don’t like talking about new atheists (or fundamentalist atheists, as many are now calling them), it's not even a hobbie, that’s one of the joys of being a believer, it requires so little of your time. You find God in all living things and in the act of creation, in music, science, art, love, beauty, your fellow human ('Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40) ect.; you feel good about yourself without having to dedicate a great portion of your life to insulting and putting other people down just to feel a smug sense of superiority that makes up for your total lack of human decency and complete inability to respect any point of view but your own.
There is a growing trend is this country that needs to be called out, and that is seeing everyone who doesn’t accept the “new” atheist, conformist mindset, as ignorant and somehow lesser human beings than their atheist overlords. These people also like to stereotype everyone, with even the slightest religious leanings, into one group to make them easier to insult. They then focus on anything bad that happens anywhere in the world that is in anyway connected to religion and hold it up as proof that their fear and bigotry is justified. They also live under some sort of delusion that until Abraham and the Jewish people unleashed their religion onto the world that we were all holding hands and skipping happily around this planet of ours; a version of history taken straight out of the always reliable Encyclopedia Moronica. Anyone who blames all the world's violence on religion should really watch the discovery channel sometime.
Now part of the “new” atheists reasoning as to why they aren’t bigots is that it’s not bigotry to be bigoted against bigots and all religious people, and pretty much anyone who has gone to, or lives on the same block as a Church or Temple they haven't vandalised, is a bigot. It’s a dodge, of course, straight out of the grand intellectual tradition of “I know you are but what am I?”
No, no, no, no. It’s not fair that someone can go around hating people, stereotyping them, and inciting hatred and intolerance and not be labelled as a bigot. You may not see yourself as a bigot, but no bigot does. If a bigot knew they were a bigot they would be taking the first step toward acknowledging that it’s their issue. And whether isn’t done in the name of belief or non-belief, you are two sides to the same coin. You don’t get to say that because you can give a reason for your fear and hatred it’s justified; every bigot can give a reason for their fear and hatred—racists, too. And, yes, they all have their well chosen facts.
Now, I don’t care if you don’t believe in God, I really truly don’t. So why do you care so much if I do? It doesn’t affect you in the slightest. We won’t know for certain until we’re dead anyway, and, at that time, if there is no afterlife, I promise you I will be the first to admit I was wrong.
In case you didn’t hear there is yet another book coming out by yet another author, this time Canadian, who is trying to ride the fear and hatred wave all the way to the bank. The book seems to be about how publishers won’t publish books like the one he just had published. New atheists are, apparently, irony challenged.
This author seems to be making himself out to be courageous for trying to keep the hate and paranoia going. Yes, seeing anyone who in anyway shares beliefs that could be seen as common to that of your enemy, in wartime, as a threat to be put under constant scrutany, has always taken courage. Doing that is showing the same kind of bravery as the Canadians who felt Jappanese Canadains were too sympathic toward the Jappanese in WWII. That bit of bravery created a black spot on Canada's history, when tolerence, and sanity, went right out the window. But the ones who put them in camps were being logical and using reason, just not any humanity and therefore missed the big picture. But, when have men ever learned from history?
If you still insist on saying that it’s okay for you to be a bigot, that it’s all right for you to hate me without ever having meet me, to say that I believe in things I don’t believe in, or I don't believe in things I do, to incite hatred against me, then fine. I doubt anything I say would ever matter because when you're a bigot, you never hear the person that you are bigoted against, that you make yourself superior to, you never care about what they have to say or if the things you say, and do, harm to them in anyway. If it does harm them, it was, of course, their own fault. It’s a, they should have ducked, mindset; or they shouldn’t have answered back, sort of thing. The other person is, after all, a lesser being, to be ignored. That’s the joy of stereotyping, you never have to get to know anyone, and you never have to think, question yourself or, for that matter, care. And you always get to feel superior. Now that is a time saver.
Inspired by:
Censorship is alive and dangerous, even in the West
And Bill Maher: Atheism is not a religion.
And, of course, all the fundamentalist athisits whose mocking, ridicule, peddling of negetive stereotypes and inciting hatred has caused me a great deal of totally unecessary grief; though, in all honesty, it has helped me to further my understanding of what it means to suffer for the sins of others.
You did an excellent job describing how a prejudiced person responds when being challenged by someone who is the object of their prejudice.
ReplyDeleteI'm an atheist, and I completely agree with you. I've grown fed up, too. On the internet (and sometimes in person), when I challenge other atheists on their prejudice and stereotypes, I am often ridiculed, dismissed, and ignored. I've learned a bit of empathy for progressive religious people who challenge the bigotry of fundamentalist religious people and are marginalized and ignored.
There are those of us who are challenging new atheists on their prejudices and ill will, but our voices are being drowned out. In my country (the US), it seems that the very real political power of intolerant, conservative Christians has lead to an increasing wave of intolerance from new atheists. The fear, hatred, and prejudice of one group is causing reflexive fear, hatred and prejudice in the other. There is an odd kind of symmetry taking place.
I am saddened that the loudest, most polarizing voices so easily generate loyalty and devotion. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about religion, politics, or brands of tea. Fear, aggression, and insularity are quite effective at forming groups with strong boundaries and high degrees of loyalty. It's a human thing, rather than a religious thing.
-timberwraith
Thanks for the comment. I used the term new atheist as not to paint all atheists with the same brush and get sucked into that same negative stereotyping.
DeleteI agree with everything you said.
I used to be a major critic of the Christian right, and a strictly literal interpretation of the bible, as were most Christians, the world over; then the new atheist movement lumped us all together. It does my head in. When certain scientists talk about theology they sound, to me, every bit as intelligent as when religious leaders talk on matters of science.
They’re two different fields of study.
It’s like what Matrin Luther King Jr. said, “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary. Science keeps religion from sinking into the valley of crippling irrationalism and paralyzing obscurantism. Religion prevents science from falling into the marsh of obsolete materialism and moral nihilism.”
Atheist or believer, we'll find out all too soon what happens after we die, it'd be nice if we could put differences aside and focus on helping everyone make the most out of their life, without trying to control anyone but ourselves.
Who knows, if we’re allow to share our stories without fear of verbal or physical attack, we might actually get to learn about and care for one another as individuals.