Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights: the right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities, provided only that he does not try to inflict them upon others by force; he has the right to argue for them as eloquently as he can. But he has no right to be protected from the criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge.
H.L. Mencken
Given that religious persons feel motivated to save our souls by their own beliefs, and thus evangelize us, are they morally wrong, in following what they truly believe, an in trying to "help" us?
By the same line of reasoning, those of us who feel that some religious systems promote and induce unethical behavior, intolerance, ignorance, anti-scientific and anti-intellectual attitudes, theocratic tendencies, etc., may be ethically motivated to try to argue against these systems, or at least to reasonably present our alternatives to those willing to listen. Are we, therefore, evangelical atheists? Are we wrong, in following what we see as the truth?
Brian Flemming, of The God Who Wasn't There, is now behind a campaign to plant his DVDs, and generally anti-Christian materials, in churches for their Easter services. The aim appears to be to "hide" these things within churches so that worshippers on Easter Sunday will discover them, and hopefully watch/read them. This appraoch, in my opinion, crosses the line of ethical behavior and decency. Standing out in the parking lot, holding a sign like this one, however, I think is completely innocuous.
What are your thoughts on the balance between promoting a worldview and "going too far" in "evangelizing"?
Read this interesting take on positive atheism.
Gator Freethought is a registered student organization at UF that provides freethinkers of any religious background the opportunity to discuss religion and nonreligion alike.
I agree with your attitude here. We piss certain religious (and even non-religious!) folk off just by referring to ourselves as "atheists". I really like the guy with the sign. That's a great idea--AAFSA should do some similarly friendly-but-atheistic signs in Turlington. Godless heathens always need good press.
ReplyDeleteThe guy with the videos at Easter... man, I admire his balls, but it can only do more harm than good. All it does is piss off the opposition. It's not like it's a matter of cosmic significance to us whether people believe, the way it is for them. I think we can win the PR war strictly by being better people than the religionites.
I agree with pretty much everything you said.
ReplyDeleteMan, we have too many mum-mouthed AAFSA peeps.