Posted by Siamang on: 08.17.2007 /
People often complain about the “public faces” of atheism. We have our Dawkins and our Hitchens and our Harris…
Not exactly three friendly faces. The more I think about it, the more I want a “soccer mom” atheist. Someone closer to the atheists I know to be a public face… my wife’s an atheist, my friends who are atheists are warm, funny and down-to-earth people… not pundits, not authors of diatribes against religion and its adherants. Just wonderful people living wonderful lives. That’s why I’m grateful for Julia Sweeney.
Julia Sweeney will be on CBS Sunday Morning this week, and I think that’s great. Here’s a wonderful excerpt from her show, Letting Go of God, which she is currently in the process of making into a concert film:
Comment by: Mike O
1What a great communicator! I really liked it.
Comment by: Ir (Helen)
2I haven’t watched this yet (I have listened to Julia Sweeney in the past because of your recommendation - she’s great!) but I wanted to comment on this:
These were the atheists who influenced me when I was posting on IIDB and wanting to learn “How can I manage life without God?”
I didn’t care about debates or arguments. I wanted role-models of wonderful people living wonderful lives - without God. I found some there and they were very helpful to me.
Comment by: Siamang
3I like it because she speaks with EMPATHY. She doesn’t believe what the Mormon missionaries believe, but she doesn’t use that difference as a weapon against them… rather she winds up using that difference as a beginning step to thinking about herself and her beliefs.
Comment by: Ir (Helen)
4I just watched it…that was awesome! Thanks for posting the clip. She’s fun to watch - she looks very friendly. That wasn’t something I could pick up on the same way listening to her on a podcast.
I like how she reflects on her reaction to what the Mormons said and realizes that Catholic theology would sound equally strange to someone who had never heard it before.
I thought her final comment was fascinating: the part where she said she very clearly felt God’s love - but she wasn’t so sure she believed what she so clearly felt.
Comment by: Matt casper
5I always tell people Hawkins, et al, are not “public faces of atheism.” Rather, they are public faces of anti-theism.
After all, their books are all about how believing in God is wrong, not about how not believing has made a positive difference in their lives…
What do they have to say about living life as atheists and how it has made them happy? Very little.
I told Jim that a follow up to Jim & Casper for yours truly may be called “The Joy of Atheism.” Because it’s about time atheists had someone speaking FOR something.
Comment by: Ir (Helen)
6Matt, the nontheist discussion board I used to post on a lot, iidb.org, has a forum on it called ‘positive atheism (and secular activism)’. I think there are many atheists who want to share what’s positive about atheism. When I wrote The Heart of the Matter for the newspaper dialog I’m having with a local retired minister, that was my attempt to share what’s positive about where I am now, rather than only saying what I doubt or disagree with.
Comment by: Karen
7That’s an absolutely excellent distinction, thank you!
Comment by: Rachel
8That’s a brilliant distinction, Matt! And I do think that Dawkins and the other anti-theists probably are distorting the image of non-theists in general. None of the atheist, agnostic, or non-religious people I know, work with, have friendships with have ever told me that my religion was stupid or tried to pressure me to change my world view. (I did experience some of that from a couple of militant atheists back in high school but I was rather obnoxious with my own views back then as well.)
I think that the public conflict between religious fundamentalists and militant anti-theists obscures the reality in our society. And that is that there are multitudes of non-theists and people of faith who work, play, dialogue and do life together in friendship and respect, without ever insulting one anothers’ world view or trying to convert or deconvert the other.
Comment by: Jim Henderson
9One of the things that drew me to work with Matt was the fact that he was not a militant atheist. And he had a job and kids and wants to be a rock star- just a normal atheist -
Comment by: Laura M.
10I’ve been using the term anti-theist in my own mind recently to distinguish what I believe about God, religion, theism, etc. from what seems to be most folks perception of an atheist.
I think it would be the best word to adopt to help theists understand the atheist viewpoint, and to help break down those stereotypes.
Thanks for bringing that up, Matt.
Comment by: Rachel
11I agree, Laura. I think that distinguishing between anti-theists and non-theists is very helpful, just as distinguishing between religious fundamentalists and religious progressives is helpful.
And of course, being in the more moderate groups doesn’t mean that we don’t have strong convictions or that we wouldn’t be pleased if more people came to share our views. It simply means that we can live with others in tolerance and respect.
And this is probably going to sound like a dumb question - but why is that so hard for so many people?