Nonprofit Groups Step Up Efforts to Promote Atheism

November 18, 2008

Nonprofit Groups Step Up Efforts to Promote Atheism

Nonprofit groups that promote atheism are taking steps to expand their supporters, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, in Madison, Wis., are sponsoring billboards with messages like “Beware of Dogma” in different states, and the Secular Coalition for America, in Washington, recently hired a congressional lobbyist.

Organizers say they are trying to make the public more comfortable with atheism and are mobilizing to repair what they view as breaches of the wall between church and state — such as federal support for religious charities.

Read The Chronicle’s profile of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

(A paid subscription or short-term pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Comments

Strange to me how a group can be against something they claim doesn’t exist. To promote atheism I suggest they open some hospitals, clinics, schools, and other social services to benefit the general public. They might even send out some missionaries to sacrifice their well being for the good of others. Then instead of just dogma we’d see some positive, practical implications of atheism.

— indolawson Nov 18, 02:45 PM #
This is just the kind of thinking these groups are trying to address. Religion DOES exist. The wall between government and church IS breaking down…witness the past 8 years of funding religious organizations and schools or information withheld from government websites because it conflicts with some religious beliefs. And in this last election the candidates had to be vetted as not just christian, but the right kind of christian. Also, you have no idea how many people who serve at soup kitchens, work with Drs. Without Borders, serve in the military, volunteer in refugee camps, etc., may be athiests. Just because one isn’t part of a religion or particular belief system does not mean they do not “sacrifice their well being for the good of others.” This kind of thinking is what these groups are trying to address. In addition, no where does the article suggest anyone is “promoting atheism.” It says they are trying to make the public comfortable with the idea. It’s not wrong, just different from what many folks may believe. Relax, no atheist I’ve ever spoken to has a mission to convert!

— mnolan Nov 18, 03:38 PM #
When you think about it: “Beware of Dogma” is a terrific piece of advice for us Christians, too.

— Tom Nov 18, 04:42 PM #
Someone should tell the Freedom From Religion Foundation that Atheism is a religion. Otherwise the title of this article would read, “Nonprofit Groups Step Up Efforts to Promote Nothing.”

— Kevin Feldman Nov 18, 08:58 PM #
#1 – indolawson,

Atheists are not against religion. Antitheists are. Speaking as an antitheist, I oppose religion, which does indeed exist. I do not oppose god, a hypothetical idea with every bit as much evidence to support it as the tooth fairy.

I oppose religion because I believe it has had a huge deleterious effect on humanity, as evidenced by the huge number of deleted humans. Yes, I know that people would kill people without religion. Yes, I know that Stalin did just that for his ideal of communism, and likely his clinical paranoia.

However, it seems clear to me that, as the old quote goes (and I’ll likely misquote it), bad people will always continue to to bad things. However, for good people to do bad things requires religion.

I’d probably add to the quote that good people may also do bad things for other strong and misguided ideologies.

#4 – Kevin,

Atheism cannot be a religion by any definition. Look it up in your favorite dictionary and get back to me. Here are the definitions of religion that I found. Please tell me which one you believe atheism fits.

re·li·gion (rĭ-lĭj‘ən) Pronunciation Key n.
1.a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
1.b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

Realistically though, religious folks like to claim atheism is a religion because they cannot imagine not having one. So, they simply assume that atheism must be one. Then they usually name Dawkin’s God Delusion as a bible of sorts. The problem is though that there are no rites, no rituals, no dogma, and nothing to take on faith. Question the evidence? That’s fine. Science loves that. Just make sure you have some real data because science loves to pick apart hypotheses that do not fit available data.

Remember, a universe with a god to whom one might pray for temporary suspension of the laws of physics would be very different, and demonstrably so, than the one in which we live. For one thing, the laws of physics would fail left and right. The planets might not revolve predictably, for example.

In short, atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby or like bald is a hair color.

— Misanthropic Scott Nov 18, 10:14 PM #
The Truth of True and false truth. They are confused they do worshup they worshup thenselves but one day it will be too late..We are living the last days It is Written, Fact, Fact, fact you can not see cause you live in darkness.

— bettyable77 Nov 19, 01:29 AM #
bigot (big′ət) noun: “A person who holds blindly and intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.;
a narrow-minded, prejudiced person.”

from: http://www.yourdictionary.com/bigot

Can an atheist be bigoted towards those who do not share their opinions or beliefs?

Obviously, the answer is yes. Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens are the apologists for a group of “angry atheists” who display their intolerance through their neo-Darwinian attacks on Theists.

I find it, well, astonishing that an brilliant Oxford scholar like Dawkins is now speculating that Francis Crick was correct after all in his theory that space aliens were involved in the original “design” of human life.

Dawkins is moving dangerously close to religion definition 1.a. “Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power OR POWERS regarded as creator and governor of the universe.”

You know, I really don’t think I have enough faith to be an atheist. I’ll stick with the more “down to earth” religion of biblical theism.

— Rutledge Nov 19, 10:23 AM #
#7 – Rutledge,

The anger is directed at religion, not the religious individuals. At least in my case, it certainly is.

The Christian equivalent would be “hate the sin; love the sinner.”

For me, it’s “hate religion; be tolerant of the religious.”

However, I can understand how people might see it otherwise as I rail against the blind obedience to dogma that has done nothing but kill people for the last couple of thousand years or more. For those who maintain their blind obedience, it must seem as if I’m attacking them personally. I try my hardest to make it clear that I am not.

However, we have heated political debates all the time. Why not heated debates about religion? Why is religion, dare I say it, sacrosanct? Why can’t we at least question why it is that you believe a god can be created out of nothing but a universe can’t?

Doesn’t god ask more questions than he answers? With god, do we not only get a bizarre inexplicable universe to explain, but also a creature capable of creating them at the rate of one a week? How does that make anything better?

— Misanthropic Scott Nov 21, 07:45 AM #
Rutledge,

Here’s an article detailing some of the many reasons that I oppose religion.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article571206.ece

— Misanthropic Scott Nov 21, 03:41 PM #
I volunteered after 911 to support and counsel first responders. Hundreds of religious groups came and fed, clothed, supported and prayed for the overworked, stressed and traumatized. Not one came from an atheist group.

Every charity hospital in America came from the Judeo-Christian faith background.

The history of atheistic movements like Communists and Nazis murdered millions.

However, even atheist have freedom of bill boards but they will have to show their love and good works to get many followers.

— Gary Sweeten Nov 21, 11:13 PM #
#10 – Gary Sweeten,

I’ll ignore Godwin’s Law for the moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

Last I heard, the Red Cross was not affiliated with any religion.

Communism is an ideology. People have been killed in the name of many ideologies. It was not killing in the name of atheism.

Adolf Hitler was a Catholic with his own version of the bible in which he got rid of the Jewish bits. I don’t know how much was left. Clearly though, the “final solution to the Jewish problem” was heavily influenced by religious intolerance, not atheism.

So, he may not have stayed true to his Catholic roots, but certainly never renounced religion or god, and still maintained an unorthodox Christian view. Certainly, Nazism was not an atheistic movement, whatever else it might have been.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_hitler#Religious_beliefs

— Misanthropic Scott Nov 23, 11:50 PM #

Commenting is closed for this article.

Previous: Nonprofit Groups Win National Medals of the Arts
Next: Charity-Backed News Sites on the Rise