Atheists may be hard-pressed to answer this question, I think, because it involves pointing out our “weaknesses.” And by mentioning that any exist, it’s opening ourselves to receive criticism. But here are some things I wish we would change:
– I wish we could remember (if it’s applicable) how comforted we felt when we were religious and we prayed.
– I wish we could be more proactive about political issues instead of only having to defend ourselves. Atheists only tend to be heard in the media when we are anti-something. Michael Newdow against the Pledge, (the fake idea of) Atheists against Christmas, etc. I know this is easier said than done. Politicians think they can’t support us for political reasons, and it’s hard to round up Atheists in the first place…
– I wish we were better able to meet each other. It’s hard to find others who share our beliefs even though there are so many of us out there (see next point). Atheists on the whole tend to be scared of organized meetings of any sort. We’ve had some bad experiences in that arena.
– I wish Atheist lecturers and debaters would speak some damn English. It’s not hard to explain why we don’t believe in God. Yet, I hear the phrases “Ontological argument,” “Teleological argument,” and “Transcendental argument” all the time. Stop that. If you want to reach more people with your message (that’s everyone, not just Atheists), you must speak in terms EVERYONE understands.
– I wish more of us would come out as Atheists. There seems to be a perception that there are so few of us; however, as the Secular Coalition for America states on their website, there are as just as many Atheists in this country as there are Jews. And there are more Atheists than Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus (http://www.secular.org/constituency.html). And no politician or leader could get away with making a derogatory statement about any of those other groups. Yet it’s always ok to rip on Atheists. That will keep happening until everyone understands there are a lot of us out there. And we vote. That’s when some of the prejudice against us will end.
– I wish we’d stop categorizing all religious people as the same. There are some religious people who feel the same way we do about blind faith and fundamentalism. They have the same evidence we do and simply came to a different conclusion about it.
– I wish more young people would become active about their (non-)belief. They need to report injustices they see again Atheists in school and question what they are told about religion. I would say they should question everything always, but that could get annoying as I learned when my little cousin kept asking me “Why?” to everything I said.
– I wish there were more girls in the Atheist movement… they exist, I’ve been told. But the ratio of girls to guys in any given college Atheist group is often the same as a Star Trek convention.
Editors Note: I reposted this post for Hemant due to technical problems in an earlier post
Comment by: Jim Henderson
1I would like to ask that Christians allow our Athiest colleagues to respond first to Hemants post before adding any of your thoughts.
I’m also praying (sorry, I still do that)that Christians will not exploit the vulnerability that is being exhibited but will rather take a lesson from it and follow Hemants leadership, humility and self reflection.
Comment by: TXatheist
2Hemant nailed it, vulnerability is big. If I make one typo or make one point incorrectly in a debate that idea is beat until not only til the horse is dead but in the glue factory:) Sorry Hemant the guy/girl thing is bad I’ll admit. UU has some hotties and if that doesn’t work out just be gay(j/k). As far as the political thing it is my opinion that atheists see the middle ground and that is a weakness. I don’t want Michael Newdow to change the Pledge to an atheist pledge, one nation under no gods, but when we try to meet halfway and take out under god then the middle ground is moved and we lose. Having under god out is neutral but that isn’t good enough for some xians.
Comment by: TXatheist
3An additional link to view statistics, I looked at the second blue chart.
http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html
but note I could be labeled nonreligious/secular, atheist, humanist, UU or agnostic with little difference to me but that adds up to 14.5% of the population.
Comment by: Paul
4I for one am humbled - not least cos i found myself agreeing with everything Hemant was saying except applying it to christians. Thank you so much Hemant!!! Apart from the male/female ratio, ironically it seems there’s a lot more gals in church than men - hmmm perhaps an awesome reason for more christian/atheist meeting up/conversations and interaction….
Comment by: Megan
5I absolutely agree with every single thing Hermant wrote. I’m involved in a new atheist group and have experienced all of the difficulting involved in finding and “organizing” atheists. For a start, atheists should check out http://www.atheistalliance.org/ to find a group near them. Also there are lots of Humanist groups and Unitarian churches, which are good places to meet others non-believers.
As far as generating good inter-faith dialog, check out this interesting program: http://www.garrison-martineau.com/
Comment by: Siamang
6Oh, make no doubt about it, the cute chicks are at church.
I’m pretty lucky, myself. I’m equally-yoked to an atheist.
(I bet christians hate it when atheists smackdown with some of their inside-lingo like equally-yoked. Not to be disrespectful, but to me this phrase always seemed to mean you can’t marry a Jew or a Muslim or worse, an atheist! ;-) I’ve felt it was used in a bigoted way. :-( )
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
7Two comments. First to Siamang. It not only doesn’t bother me when you use a Biblical principle in your own life. I think it is pretty cool. Not to mention the fact that it illustrates that God’s principles work whenever they are used, regardless of who uses them. But the real irony may be that, having grown up in a Protestant home, I heard that many times. And to me it meant don’t marry a Catholic. ;-) But I never saw it as bigotted. It was always simply a very practical decision making tool. As an adult it has much, much broader implications for me.
Then for Hemant. I resonate strongly with many of the points you make. You about atheists, I about Christians. One of my big pet peeves is your 4th point about speaking English. For a very funny illustration of this point check out . If you know it, this is a link to a description of the “Retroincabulator.” If you aren’t familiar with it, prepare for a laugh.
But I get nuts over Christian jargon applied in mixed-audience settings. I don’t even like it in Christian settings because I think it encourages sloppy thinking.
And I totally think your points 6, 7, and 8 apply to Christians as well as atheists. Of course, as someone noted already, point 9 doesn’t apply. We’ve got the chicks! ;-)
But, in all seriousness, this raises an interesting point. It has been said by lots of folks that women are more “relational” than men, and men are more “logical” than women. Do you think that your observation could be related to that generalization?
Tom in Sacramento
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
8That link didn’t appear above. Let’s try this:
http://tinyurl.com/e2rmn
Tom in Sacramento
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
9That link doesn’t work for me. Let’s try this:
http://allowe.cillix.nl/Humor/video/Retroincabulator.wmv
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
10Okay, just Google “retroincabulator” if you’re interested and take the link above. It’ll take you to a page where the link to the video is about 1/3 of the way down the scroll bar.
Tom in Sacramento
Comment by: Siamang
11Thanks, Tom.
Yeah, I thought by dropping that equally-yoked phrase I would be making y’all feel we were spying on you.
I specifically didn’t like the phrase when I was growing up. My girlfriend was a particularly strong brand of Christian, from a stalwart Christian family. They were an insular community. I was solidly disapproved of for being a lesser brand of (nondemonimational, slightly new-age) Christian.
It was quite firmly expressed that we shouldn’t get serious about each other, because God didn’t want her to be unequally-yoked to me.
What kind of message is that to young folks? Okay, kids, play around and be in love. But DON’T consider marriage!!!
They must have known I’d become an atheist!
Comment by: Paul
12ah the yokes on all of us (ha ha) - but great call out of insider christianspeak siamang - who cares what the context/illustration means that underlies it when people don’t bother explaining it but instead use it as a way of division/abuse/seperating/belittling etc.
I’m sorry you got offended by it and grateful for having it highlighted to challenge me with what i say!
Comment by: fran
13I’m a baby boomer and an athiest for sure. I have been all of my life . The problem with the term athiest as I see it is that in the 50s and 60s it was associated with communism. The catholic church used the word communism as a marketing ploy and church enrollment skyrocketed because of the widespread fear generated by the media depicting nuclear annihilation. Russia was without religion and it was said that more than anything they wanted to take religion away from the western people . The Krucschev remark “We will bury you” was played up really big and struck fear into the hearts of the ignorant and feeble minded.Communication in those days was minimal so the government and church had no problem manipulating whatever they felt necessary. It was a constant war of words. The fear tactic energized the masses and pretend god was again villified and lifted up.
Comment by: Siamang
14Tom, that video is funny.
Ooops, I forgot. You’re probably still at Disneyland!
Comment by: S
15I hope you don’t mind a Canadian getting involved in your discussion!
I am an atheist who was raised in religion, and I wanted to say that I totally agree with your first point. I think a lot of atheists are frustrated by Christianity’s encroachment in politics and seeing that affect our personal lives even though we don’t agree (ie abortion, gay marriage, right to die). It’s so easy to let that anger cloud how we view religious people. Whenever I speak about my experiences being raised in religion and why I no longer attend church, I can’t stress enough how kind and caring many of those people were and how truly good they really are. I can understand why they believe what they do and the meaning it has in their lives. I always need to remind myself that my problem with religion does not lie in individuals.
Other than that, I’m lucky to live in a pretty liberal part of Canada and encounter a lot of atheists, so I was surprised by the rest of your points, especially the gender gap. I’m female and know a lot of female atheists!
I’m very impressed by this website, especially how intelligent and respectful everyone is. Thanks!
Comment by: Bonifacius
16Great article. I am just sad I dont know how to reply properly, though, since I want to show my appreciation like many other.
Comment by: Roxanna
17I am a young Catholic female living in Sacramento - I think “Equally Yoked” Christian dating group is just a front to lure hard working people in to pay outrageous membership fees!
Also, they don’t act like Christians. They are very rude, and inconsiderate! I work in the same complex and am running into members constantly in the foyer of the building (I have a first hand account of rude behavior, unfortunately).
I think it’s a very religiously discriminating and distasteful company (my opinion only). I think Atheists and other religions should be more boisterous about this.
If Equally Yoked represents Christians serving other Christians, they need better representatives working there!
Comment by: Siamang
18I wasn’t speaking of the company, but the biblical phrase. But wow, those people sound strange!
Welcome, Roxanna.
Please join us in the current conversation on the message board.
http://off-the-map.org/ebayatheist/index.php?sid=0552c880a62b2401ba7b90cdb5c35552
Comment by: Roxanna
19Thank you for the welcome, Siamang -
I will check out the link above!
Take care,
Roxanna