Okay, so I keep hearing recently about how “atheism” has a racism
problem. I kind of overlooked this the first time I saw this argument
because it was just referring to “the Amazing Atheist”, an atheist
youtuber who seems to have a bone to pick with political correctness and
says some racially insensitive things about black people, but it keeps
coming up. Apparently, because of one youtuber, atheism has a problem.
To me, this is stupid and makes no sense.
First of all, all “atheism” is, is a lack of belief in a deity. It could be a strong “there is no deity” type, but there can also be a weaker “we just don’t have a reason to believe in one” type. Most are the latter. That’s what atheism is. I see nothing in there about hating or showing biases against black people.
Honestly, atheism is diverse outside of that lack of belief. While there are common stereotypes about atheists in America that are based toward the kinds of demographics and mindsets atheism appeals to and encourages, it’s kind of nonsensical to claim that “atheism”, is racist, or that we have a racism problem.
First of all, the whole “atheist movement” seems to first and foremost encourage rationality and basing views on reason and evidence. While they can be abrasive in doing this to the point of antagonizing religion and religious people, it’s generally a good movement. Honestly, if we’re going to be racist, most of us should probably be prepared to defend our arguments. And quite frankly, I see racism as largely indefensible, so, yeah. I really want to emphasize this. Atheism is first and foremost about a lack of belief in deities, and the “atheist movement” in America is largely about basing views on evidence.
Now, to be fair, and I think this is what the detractors are getting at, a lot of the atheist community is white. And a lot of them are from the south, which is the location of the Bible belt, and where there are some racist attitudes toward whites. It is highly possible, that some people, like this Amazing Atheist guy, probably have kept some of their negative racial attitudes in deconverting. It’s common among white people. I mean, we’re generally raised in ways where we’re ignorant of the history of racism, and tend to have problems accepting that some of our attitudes, while not explicitly racist in a “black people are inferior beings who should sit in the back of the bus” sort of way, are still implicitly racist. We do have stereotypes, and we don’t understand the other side of the problem. It’s a privilege problem. We’re privileged. We have trouble grasping that we are privileged. And some, like the Amazing Atheist, tend to rail on against the very concept of privilege, thinking it’s “SJW bullcrap” or something.
It’s inevitable, when you’re dealing with whites, especially in the south, that you get some of these attitudes from time to time. However, the atheist community as a whole, at least in my experience, is very open minded, and will accept anything as long as you explain it properly and back it up with evidence. And quite frankly, many many of us are liberal. Very liberal. Way more liberal than the general population. We have very tolerant social attitudes. We’re, in general, more aware of the issues with this country than our Christian counter parts in my opinion. And I think many of us are far more sympathetic toward the problems with the African American community. We don’t have blinders on like Christians do. We are far more willing, on the whole, to grapple with the issues, including ones about racism. Keep in mind, I’m talking averages here. You might be able to find some tolerant southern Christians and some bigoted atheists, but generally speaking, I think the atheist community is far more progressive on the whole than their religious counterparts, and more likely to point out and fight against injustice.
Honestly, I can’t help but feel that attempting to blame the larger atheist community for the actions of one guy, “The Amazing Atheist” is awfully stereotypical and doing the very thing we are being accused of doing. Having racially insensitive negative stereotypes of a whole group of people ignoring the wide variety of nuance within that group, and I think it’s a crappy perspective to have.
So yeah, people need to cool it, the atheist community is, in my opinion, an ally to the black community. It might not be a perfect ally, since let’s face it, the only thing that really unites us is the lack of a deity. And a lot of us are white and are racially insensitive. But honestly? On the whole, we largely strive toward making the world better in my opinion. We’re far more aware and sensitive to racial injustices, past and present, and likely more willing to speak out on them. Atheism isn’t a hive mind, it’s very diverse. A few years ago we even had a branch of atheism dedicated to social justice called atheism+. It has since been embroiled in various controversies, but yeah, I really do want to remind people that not all of us are racist jerks.
As such, I don’t think atheism has a racism problem. Atheism is merely a lack of belief in gods, and the atheist movement in America seems to preoccupy itself mostly with encouraging people to base their views on reason and evidence. While some atheists are inevitably going to be racially insensitive, it hardly seems fair to blame “atheism” or the atheist community as a whole for the actions of what is, essentially one guy.
First of all, all “atheism” is, is a lack of belief in a deity. It could be a strong “there is no deity” type, but there can also be a weaker “we just don’t have a reason to believe in one” type. Most are the latter. That’s what atheism is. I see nothing in there about hating or showing biases against black people.
Honestly, atheism is diverse outside of that lack of belief. While there are common stereotypes about atheists in America that are based toward the kinds of demographics and mindsets atheism appeals to and encourages, it’s kind of nonsensical to claim that “atheism”, is racist, or that we have a racism problem.
First of all, the whole “atheist movement” seems to first and foremost encourage rationality and basing views on reason and evidence. While they can be abrasive in doing this to the point of antagonizing religion and religious people, it’s generally a good movement. Honestly, if we’re going to be racist, most of us should probably be prepared to defend our arguments. And quite frankly, I see racism as largely indefensible, so, yeah. I really want to emphasize this. Atheism is first and foremost about a lack of belief in deities, and the “atheist movement” in America is largely about basing views on evidence.
Now, to be fair, and I think this is what the detractors are getting at, a lot of the atheist community is white. And a lot of them are from the south, which is the location of the Bible belt, and where there are some racist attitudes toward whites. It is highly possible, that some people, like this Amazing Atheist guy, probably have kept some of their negative racial attitudes in deconverting. It’s common among white people. I mean, we’re generally raised in ways where we’re ignorant of the history of racism, and tend to have problems accepting that some of our attitudes, while not explicitly racist in a “black people are inferior beings who should sit in the back of the bus” sort of way, are still implicitly racist. We do have stereotypes, and we don’t understand the other side of the problem. It’s a privilege problem. We’re privileged. We have trouble grasping that we are privileged. And some, like the Amazing Atheist, tend to rail on against the very concept of privilege, thinking it’s “SJW bullcrap” or something.
It’s inevitable, when you’re dealing with whites, especially in the south, that you get some of these attitudes from time to time. However, the atheist community as a whole, at least in my experience, is very open minded, and will accept anything as long as you explain it properly and back it up with evidence. And quite frankly, many many of us are liberal. Very liberal. Way more liberal than the general population. We have very tolerant social attitudes. We’re, in general, more aware of the issues with this country than our Christian counter parts in my opinion. And I think many of us are far more sympathetic toward the problems with the African American community. We don’t have blinders on like Christians do. We are far more willing, on the whole, to grapple with the issues, including ones about racism. Keep in mind, I’m talking averages here. You might be able to find some tolerant southern Christians and some bigoted atheists, but generally speaking, I think the atheist community is far more progressive on the whole than their religious counterparts, and more likely to point out and fight against injustice.
Honestly, I can’t help but feel that attempting to blame the larger atheist community for the actions of one guy, “The Amazing Atheist” is awfully stereotypical and doing the very thing we are being accused of doing. Having racially insensitive negative stereotypes of a whole group of people ignoring the wide variety of nuance within that group, and I think it’s a crappy perspective to have.
So yeah, people need to cool it, the atheist community is, in my opinion, an ally to the black community. It might not be a perfect ally, since let’s face it, the only thing that really unites us is the lack of a deity. And a lot of us are white and are racially insensitive. But honestly? On the whole, we largely strive toward making the world better in my opinion. We’re far more aware and sensitive to racial injustices, past and present, and likely more willing to speak out on them. Atheism isn’t a hive mind, it’s very diverse. A few years ago we even had a branch of atheism dedicated to social justice called atheism+. It has since been embroiled in various controversies, but yeah, I really do want to remind people that not all of us are racist jerks.
As such, I don’t think atheism has a racism problem. Atheism is merely a lack of belief in gods, and the atheist movement in America seems to preoccupy itself mostly with encouraging people to base their views on reason and evidence. While some atheists are inevitably going to be racially insensitive, it hardly seems fair to blame “atheism” or the atheist community as a whole for the actions of what is, essentially one guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment