Singularity

I have been told to not worry about intolerance and discrimination against atheists. To suck it up. That I'm just experiencing the consequence of a bad choice.

NO, THANKS. I will keep b***hing.
Image credit: Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images

by Richard Dawkins and Robyn Blumner

If Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s disparagement of atheists was just the ranting of a tinpot politician turned Fox News bloviator, it could be left without comment or fuss.

Unfortunately, not only does Huckabee have to be taken seriously as a possible P**********l candidate in 2016, but his suggestion that atheists who work for the government (primarily elected officials) be summarily “fired” is an applause line in too many quarters in the United States. That nonbelievers somehow deserve to be discriminated against is a view widely shared, particularly among Christian conservatives who seem to think “religion by the sword” is an oldie but a goodie.

This latest bit of h**e was offered up – where else? – at the 2014 Values V**er Summit in Washington, D.C. The ritual hookup between Christian conservatives and Republican p**********l aspirants is a right wing, Jesus-loves-us debauch of Homophobia, Intolerance and Militarism, a trifecta easily remembered by the acronym “HIM”.

Huckabee, in a tortured metaphor about answering phones “God is ringing,” exhorted his audience to answer the God-call by making sure only people with the right values are hired for jobs in Washington and by making sure those who “refuse to hear … God’s heart” are fired. No joke, Huckabee is suggesting that we should: 1) Find out whether government employees are true believers; 2) Fire those who aren’t.

Yes, that is illegal, which makes the suggestion all the more stunning from someone who expects to be taken seriously on America’s national political stage.

But such warped intolerance toward people who simply don’t subscribe to a deity, is considered a ticket to e*******l success in some parts of the United States. Consider Zach Dasher’s view of nonbelievers – comments he rolled back on Monday after public pressure.

This Republican congressional candidate in Louisiana and nephew of “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson, suggested on his faith-based podcast that atheism contributed to the Sandy Hook massacre of 20 children and six adults in 2012.

Apparently, the premier driver was not the mental illness from which shooter Adam Lanza clearly suffered, nor was it that an unstable man was able legally to amass a stockpile of weapons, thanks to his mother supplying them.

According to Dasher, “the reason why (the Sandy Hook massacre) happened is that we have denied as a culture that man is made in God’s image.” He said the “atheist agenda” reinforces a message that says “you don’t matter … all you are is chemical, all you are is material.”

Had Dasher bothered to find out about atheism, humanism and the nonreligious, he would have come to understand just how precious this community views life.

Unlike Dasher, who believes there is another existence – a better one — outside the temporal, atheists, humanists and freethinkers believe they have one life and one chance to do something meaningful with it. With no supernatural arbiter to fall back on, nonbelievers know it is up to them and them alone to promote justice, compassion and a fair society.

The proof that secular people are good, care for others and build healthy societies is evidenced in cross-national studies. The research of Phil Zuckerman at Pitzer College, demonstrates that secular societies, such as Sweden and Denmark, among others, are more likely to enjoy broadly shared prosperity and a high level of societal health and happiness than traditionally religious ones, and certainly more so than the United States.

Gregory Paul has done a similar comparison, as well as one between states within the US, and found parallel results. Which way the causal arrow goes is an interesting question: does secularism foster healthy caring, or does religiosity die away in societies where people care for one another? Paul himself says, “once a nation’s population becomes prosperous and secure, for example through economic security and universal health care, much of the population loses interest in seeking the aid and protection of supernatural entities.”

Whichever way the causal arrow goes, politicians like Huckabee and Dasher would do well to ponder (if indeed they know the meaning of the word) on Zuckerman’s summation: “(W)hen we consider the fundamental values and moral imperatives contained within the world’s great religions, such as caring for the sick, the infirm, the elderly, the poor, the orphaned, the vulnerable; practicing mercy, charity, and goodwill toward one’s fellow human beings; and fostering generosity, humility, honesty, and communal concern over individual egotism — those traditionally religious values are most successfully established, institutionalized, and put into practice at the societal level in the most irreligious nations in the world today.”

With that reality, one has to wonder what politicians like Huckabee and Dasher really stand for?

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and internationally best-selling author. Robyn Blumner is the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.

mwdegutis Loc: Illinois

First, if you are an atheist, all I can say is…go or it.

Second, I won’t try to convince you of my beliefs if you won’t try to convince me of yours.

But I digress, I believe in equal opportunity for all. Case in point…some recent headlines concerning intolerance and discrimination against “non-atheists”:

Atheists Threaten to Sue Restaurant for Giving Discounts to Patrons Who Pray Before Meals

Atheists sue to remove ‘Ground Zero Cross’ from 9/11 museum

New Jersey Atheists Sue School District Over 'Under God' In Pledge Of Allegiance

Atheist Group Sues To Remove All Crosses From U.S. Overseas Military Cemeteries

American Atheists Sue Florida Town in Bid to Remove Christian Monument

Atheist Group to Sue Retail Stores over “Happy Holidays”

Atheist group threatens to sue over coach praying with players

School cancels Christmas toy drive for needy children after atheist group threatens to sue

It goes both ways...

CharlesRabb

As for myself I am intolerant of intolerance...period
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

cesspool jones Loc: atlanta

if these 'worldly' atheists keep up their anti-everything rhetoric, then the same saying for poachers will be the same for atheists...the only good poacher iz a....you know the rest.

She Wolf Loc: Currently Georgia

I do not feel anyone should be discriminated against for their beliefs. I think we all search for t***h. If you find your t***h in atheism, then you go girl.

I find my t***h in my religious path. I do not believe my path is the only path. I do not believe my path should be forced upon everyone. Find you t***h, live your t***h and be happy.

son of witless

mwdegutis puts it quite well. You act as if Atheists are just standing around minding their own businesses and out of the blue religious fanatics like Huckabee are sliming them.

Reminds me of the Gay Marriage folks who are not bothering nobody when out of the blue those Christians are attacking them for the virtually nothing act of putting Christian bakeries out of business for refusing to bake Gay Wedding cakes.

There is no intelligent life down here.

Pulfnick Loc: Knoxville, TN

You are making some very incorrect assumptions: 1. Atheism is a religion or like a religion 2. Atheists hold a set of religious beliefs that oppose organized religion or religious activities


Atheists simply do not buy into the concept that there is a god. Period. This is unlike agnostics who aren't convinced there is a god and see no evidence indicating there is a god.

Your numerous examples of outrageous behaviors by activist atheists groups are examples of specific extremist groups, not of atheists. Just like Earth First that in no way represents actual environmentalists, these agitators are in no way representative of atheists. Ridiculous behavior by agitators can not rationally be used to smear an entire class of people.

cesspool jones Loc: atlanta

do you see a corralation (pretty big word) between atheists who commit 'ridiculous' behavior and muslims who do the same? take your time on this.

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

Atheists often claim that their belief is not a religion. This allows them to propagate their beliefs in settings where other religions are banned, but this should not be so.

Contemporary Western Atheism unquestionably has six of the seven dimensions of religion set forth by Smart, and the remaining dimension, ritual, has also started to develop. Thus it’s fallacious to assert, “Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair colour”. Perhaps a better analogy would be calling a shaved head a ‘hairstyle’. Other than the denial of the divine, there is little difference between Atheism and other worldviews typically labeled as religions.

The dichotomy that Atheists try to create between science and religion is false. The conflict is between interpretations of science coming from different religious worldviews.

Atheism shouldn’t be taught or enforced in settings where other religions are banned and shouldn’t be favored by laws which imply a religiously neutral government.

Pulfnick Loc: Knoxville, TN

Correlation??? Come on, that's absurd. Correlation: everyone who ate carrots during the Civil War has died!!

An atheist simply doesn't believe there is a god. Period. Islam is a religion demanding hatred of others. Please think!!

Singularity

If there were no Theists, the term Atheist would be meaningless.

Like ordering "unsweetened tea" in the Southern USA; it must be done because the default method of serving "tea" requires copious amounts of sugar.

Singularity

cesspool jones Loc: atlanta

you are very good. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

cesspool jones Loc: atlanta

think about what? that there is 'individuality' in everyone...even muslims?

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

Okay when that individual comes at you with a knife or ax to cut off your head, will you rethink the logic of allowing them into the US? I do see your point, but to be honest, I do not want even one of them within 3,000 miles to my family. As the old folks say, one rotten apple can spoil the barrel.