Ridiculous…
July 29, 2007
You want to know what I think the real problem is with most atheists? Apathy. Some of you are so complacent in your lives and have absolutely no desire to stand up for what you believe (or do not believe) in.
Just an example: We here at TJM held a simple writing contest to get to know some of our readers; fellow atheists. Hell, we even put up a bit of contest money just to make it fun. (Granted, we were only able to raise a total of $20 out of the goal of $100, but that is really besides the point. The winners still would have received $14, $4, and $2 respectively. Not bad, for a simple exercise in self expression.) Guess how many submissions we received? NOT A ONE. Not one person felt a desire to simply take the time to express themselves. I would bet any of you $1,000 that if it had been a contest for theists to submit a simple essay on why they DO believe in their favorite deity that we would have easily had 50 submissions.
Do I feel that all atheists should be “evangelical” about their beliefs? Damn straight I do! Do I honestly feel that all are capable? No. Unfortunately, some of you feel like it is easier to be openly gay than openly atheist and that is just sad. (No, this isn’t a “gay bash.” For My personal feelings regarding homosexuality, please see this post. Oh, and be sure to read the comments as a Muslim calls for death to all homosexuals and bisexuals.)
This makes me wonder about other, more important issues. Like, how many of you have followed up or even know about the bill know as WRFA (Workplace Religious Freedom Act)? How many of you that knew about it actually wrote to your Senators or called them up?
Here’s the deal: you say that you are tired of all the religious fundies and zealots getting their agendas written into the laws of our Great Nation? You say that you are tired of being in the minority? Getting fed up with concealing YOUR beliefs just so that you don’t cause hurt feelings and conflict? CHANGE IT! The old saying still holds truth today, “YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU ACCEPT!“
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Ouch.
Mobilizing Atheists is like herding cats.
Screw it. Let’s roll the pot over to our resident authors. We all know THEY have something to say.
Yes, it IS like herding cats, but the effort should not wane. The benefits of success far outweigh the disheartening of defeat.
With any theists, we would be able to call it a crisis of faith… Actually, TJM, I’ll go ahead and call it a crisis of faith anyway, and it’s something I’ve run headfirst into as well: we’re our own worst enemies much of the time. It often seems that most atheists (or maybe it’s just the most vocal atheists) are more concerned with opposing efforts to organize atheists than they are about (far more successful) efforts to organize theists.
Just try bringing up the idea of an atheist church, you’ll see what I mean.
Yes, I think we ought to evangelize, too. When people are at their most vulnerable to the persuasion of religious fanatics, they are pulled by their own social nature towards organizations, with the comfort of people who seem so sure, with their leaders who seem to stand above the crowd. No wonder more folks don’t end up atheists - because nobody’s waiting for them, telling them that they have everything they need for inner peace already inside them. Nobody’s passing out Chick tracts telling folks that they have every right to make their own choices, without the made-up threats of hell and sin and guilt. Nobody’s advertising that critical thinking is more important than blind faith.
And no wonder that Intelligent Design gets designated as science curriculum by school boards, because the only people who care enough to show up and protest and do something about it are the ones that think god told them to be there.
So when someone finally lights a fire under their collective butts and atheists finally decide to take their place as moral and ethical leaders, as pillars of the community, and as religion as well (even if it doesn’t operate by the same rules as other religions), then you can look around for me and my Zippo.
Sorry dude.
I get what your saying, a guy I know actually complete contributes his lack of religion to the fact that he doesn’t care enough.
You the whole nation wide apathy thing? Where nobody really cares about anything anymore? Maybe thats spreading into faith. And while it won’t make atheists more adamant about their beliefs, we’ll have less evangelicals running around.
It’s not that the whole nation is apathetic, it’s that a lot of people are apathetic about the wrong things. So while you can hope that the apathy spreads from atheists and young voters to Christians, they still have the advantages of organization and indoctrination, of numbers and Jesus camps. They don’t fear apathy - even if half the kids they put through the Sunday-school grinder “lose their way,” they still have a whole new generation.
And meanwhile, there aren’t enough atheist organizations - hell, there are barely any at all. Every town should have one. We have the numbers for that, too, just like they do, but very few have the will to form or join such organizations. They’re just afraid that… well, I’m still not sure what they’re afraid of. Hannah, you were one of the vocal opponents against an atheist church - what is it, precisely, that so scares atheists about organization and cooperation?
How many more Smallkowskis are we going to need?
I would have written in if there weren’t a cash prize.
Also, I recall when this site started up. Not too long ago, how many members do you have really?
Ah, it is too bad that you did not choose to write; you know, in spite of the prize.
No, we did not start all that long ago. I have owned the name for 1.5 years but only started up this past February after choosing Wordpress as the platform. If you must know, there are 3 admins, 3 contributers (those that write here and there), 6 authors (those that write more frequently) and over 20 subscribers (those that have registered on the site).
I’ve settled on this name now. I’ve used Beelzebub elsewhere and have no desire to be associated with the name for now. Especially as the name sees frequent usage.
Actually, I really wanted to write it, but I didn’t know if there was any way of voiding the cash prize. I absolutely refuse to get involved with money on the internet.
Sorry if that seems a tad weird.