nirvnail

Hello Infidels,

I am a new user of IIDB. I joined primarily for advice on becoming politically/socially active in helping spread the nontheistic philosophy. I just turned twenty and also just began my career in activism. Recently I have been visiting some liberal activism centers in hopes of finding a worthy cause but have been discouraged by the "political-correctness" given towards religions.
To be specific, I watched a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and participated in a discussion afterwards. No one at the meeting mentioned that the justification for Islamic terrorism and the Israeli conquest of Palestine could be readily found in their respective "holy books". The film had mentioned that some israeli settlers used a biblical justification for their conquest, so I asked the other viewers how we could expect to change the situation without changing the religion.
Their response was that the extremists had misinterpretted their own "holy books". Having read the bible, I know that it directly states that Israelites are the chosen race of God and that they are divinely commanded to conquest the holy land (and have little to no mercy on it's gentile inhabitants). I kept my mouth shut however, since I knew that every person in the room had a strong opinion in favor of not offending any religion -- Many were Jewish, and each person was at least 20 years older than me.
I feel like the only cause I can find fulfilling is spreading the truth about religion. I want to be effective though, not just offensive--
Any advice?
----Also I am looking for people in Maine with similar beliefs that are active or interested in becoming active----

Toto

Welcome, nirvnail.

The Secular Web has an Activism Page but it doesn't seem to have exactly what you are looking for.

Depending on you style, you might find one of these organizations to be compatible:

Atheist Alliance International

American Atheists

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Council for Secular Humanism

Freedom From Religion Foundation

If you are a student, there is Secular Students Alliance


There is a Maine Atheists Union listed on the organizations page, but the web site is down: http://www.maineatheistsunion.com/

Keep checking this forum. People list various issues and events here.

You are right that the liberal point of view is very pro-religion, and sees every aspect of religious violence as not the "true" religion. This tendency is so deep it will be hard to combat.

Incidentally, I have been told that New England has the fewest freethought organizations. No one was sure why.

Tyler A DiPietro

Well, hello

I too get frustrated with the "political-corectness" given towards religions by the left (of course I'm not a leftist, I'm a libertarian). Perhaps you should look into organizations like the Freedom from Religion Foundation

Well, I live in Maine (Portland to be exact). However, I have a lot of commitments right now. There is the Maine Atheist Union, although I don't know the address of their website, you should probably check them out.

-Tyler-

capsaicin67

I agree that one of the core problems with resolving the ME problem is that most sectors treat the religious issue with kid gloves. It is difficult to advocate for progress, science, tolerance, non-theocratic government whilst simultaneously endorsing superstition, religious extremism/fundamentalism, and turning ablind eye to mere ideas that are treated as sacred or absolute.

I don't think it's realistic that there will be any sweeping de-conversion by the bulk of humankind during my lifetime, and I feel that people have the right to dabble in the religion of their choice, or none at all [as along as the general rule of law is respected by their cult/group], but I think that there is nonetheless much to be done to work for steady, incremental, improvement for future generations. If the different metaphysical perspectives could find some common ground and better ways of living together it would be a tremendous start.

So, that being said, I think it would be good if nontheists work toward presenting a more positive and effective message to those in other camps, and to build a widespread and accessible infrastructure and resources to allow those seeking a nontheist path to join-up with minimal penalty and maximum benefit and ease.

I think that advocacy for the benefits to all of protecting and fostering liberty of thought and secular govt is critical, too. If opinion/political leaders could simply acknowledge that there isn't any one path to a god[s], and that it's a top priority to facilitate tolerance and working together it would be tremendous progress. That would perhaps buy the world time to allow the population to hopefully work toward greater appreciation of reason and moving away from superstition gradually in the future.

Another vehicle for the cause that you might check out is the Campus Freethought Alliance. Supporting the expansion of support for the next generations of professionals entering society strikes me as a great leverage point for impacting the situation.

Otherwise, careers in law, multimedia, writing/journalism, etc etc could be avenues for activism, impacting culture, and generally advancing the cause of reason....?

Perhaps in time you might even be inspired to start an NPO of your very own to advance a particular aspect of the cause that you feel is neglected otherwise, too....?

If your area does not have a freethought group, perhaps you would be interested in starting one....?

Good luck.

Richard1366

I believe that atheist activism starts with you. Don't be hesitant to admit to others that you are an atheist, remember many people have heard about those evil atheists but have never actually met an atheist. Even if you are one of the shades of freethinker (atheist, humanist, weak atheist, agnostic, weak agnostic, etc., etc.) just say you are an atheist, don't try to explain to someone what the various shades mean, lest their eyes glaze over.

Try wearing your atheism on your sleeve. Wear an atheist t-shirt, wouldn't recommend the II t-shirt, the "memes" thing will simply be lost on the overwhelming majority of people and they won't ask you what it means. Wear something such as:
"Religion stops a thinking mind" that even the dumbest of fundy's can comprehend.

Arm yourself with knowledge about the origins of the bible, the koran and the book of mormon, etc. Since christianity is based on the bible, if the bible is discredited, christianity is discredited. It's allright to show inconsistencies, but don't use quotes from the bible in your discussions, instead, use quotes from some other book, even Aesops Fables or Mother Goose (not kidding) to make your points.

Really want to be an activist, go picket a church with a sign saying the same as above, won't take long, maybe 20 minutes before one of the services starts, on the public sidewalk at the entrance to the church parking lot.

In your face activism isn't bad its a good thing.

Good Luck

dangin

Buy an Internet Infidels T-shirt, and wear it proudly in public.

Or any other atheist T-shirt.

Interestingly, I was watching some footage from the GAMOW, and I saw a guy with a shirt that read "Jesus is a Cunt".

I think this is counterproductive. First of all, it immediately makes others defensive. Second of all, it's not accurate. Jesus is a Myth may be accurate, but the information about jesus (whether accurate or not) that is available does not seem to demonstrate that the word cunt describes him based on any of it's meanings that I can think of.

So, if you want to be an activist, work to gain power for secular groups, or work to increase awareness of secular issues, or even gently try to sway people to our way of thought. But alienation doesn't seem to be productive.

Shake

Both dangin and Richard1366 have chimed in with some very sound advice, IMHO. I'd like to echo some of their senitments and add some of my own experience.

I'm still working on being more open about my own atheism, but I've yet to encounter any hostility. It was helped a few weeks ago by my wife, who outed me in front of her mother and grandmother. Grandma was going on about some other family members who are more dysfunctional and saying that they don't believe in God. My wife says, "Grandma, Ric doesn't believe in God, and he's a good man."

I've also read about other II members who were also met with some surprise when they outed themselves to family, friends, or co-workers. Simply being a good atheistic person isn't by itself going to win any deconverts or solve our C-SS problems, but it will help put us in a better light to those around us who think they don't know any atheists and are maybe following the stereotype of "immoral, communist atheists."

PS. I just ordered my II shirt recently and am awaiting its arrival!

DMB

I agree that statements like "Jesus is a cunt" simply make one look stupid and will serve to confirm all the worst ideas that believers have of atheism.

Basically if people choose to believe that the moon is made of green cheese or that there are fairies at the bottom of their garden, the belief itself doesn't directly hurt anyone. The trouble arises when they seek to impose their whacky beliefs on others or when they persecute those who don't share them.

I think you have to concede people's right to believe junk. No need to attack it directly. Fight instead for tolerance of others, decent education and separation of church/mosque/synagogue and state. With regard to the Middle East, many people are worried about the adoption of the Shari'a as state law in muslim countries without realising that a parallel situation exists in Israel. Although many Israelis are non-believers, a great deal of judaism is imposed by law.

Jacobus Altus

nirvnail:

Interesting question. ‘...advice on becoming politically/socially active in helping spread the nontheistic philosophy.’

My advice would be to just express your views when some theist tries to trample on your rights or publicly espouses a non-rational position. That is: be reactive rather than aggressive in your philosophy. I do not think that evangelical atheism is an appropriate position for several reasons.

1) It smacks of imposing one’s views on others, as many theists attempt to do by co-opting the authority or resources of the state. I would much prefer that theists come to accept our view by reason and critical thinking, rather than by ‘spreading the truth about religion’ by aggressive means. Do you intend to emulate the Jehovah Witnesses? Forums, like this Web site, are more than sufficient to satisfy theist doubters in a non-aggressive manner.

2) The imposition of atheism by several societies since the French Revolution has failed miserably. Only the long-term acquisition of knowledge and its consequent raising of doubt among theists seem to have effect. Atheistic activism does not work.

Many Western societies are, or will be, approaching a point in the next few decades where the majority of the populace will be non-Christian, the antithesis of theist pronouncements. See http://www.religioustolerance.org.

It has been maybe 35,000 years since the gods, goddesses, and the priestly class have dominated the activities of humans. We are now only beginning to shrug off the influence of religion. If this happens over a few decades, should we not just celebrate the triumph of rationalism over superstition, and consider that we live in a time that can only be considered epochal in the rise of human civilization?

Best, Jacobus Altus

Shake

It will take a while though, Jacobus. Europe seems to be further ahead in this respect than the US (despite the fact of the existance of national religions). The older generations (no offense meant towards our not-so-young infidels) will perhaps resist the hardest since to them it's been tradition for so many years. What I've noticed among seniors is the extremes: they either realize they don't have much time left and feel the need to get 'closer to God,' or they realize it's been a huge waste of time. A few just become indifferent.

But it'll take more than just time. Others have mentioned that the more that science can tell us about our world, the more primitive and just obsolete religion seems. Some, of course, see that we are just getting closer to learning about the 'nature of God.'

The current apparent trend towards apathy among today's (US) youth seems to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they're indifferent about religion, and have no set feelings, so it's easy to show them the folly of religion. On the other hand, with the proper sort of moving presentation that many churches are now trying, they can easily be swayed into religion as well. Of course, it would remain to be seen how well either side would stick. If they've been given a strong background of critical thinking and reason, religion would probably lose out in the end.

Disclaimer: I am making broad generalizations here. I understand that there are going to be exceptions (some sizeable, even).