Uniting Atheists in Support of Secular Activism

[rug]

March 18, 2017
Posted by Jack Vance

Secular activist, Lee Moore, recently posted "a letter to the atheist community" on Facebook. I'm friends with him on Facebook, so I was able to see the letter. I have since been told that no one who is not friends with him is able to see it because of the way he posted it. I don't understand Facebook well enough to verify this for myself, but that's why I did not try to link to it here. Essentially, Lee calls on atheists to end "the constant internal attacks" and come together to support secular activism.

So lets put aside our petty differences and unite like never before to push back these dark days. As I said in the beginning, I am guilty of attacking my fellow godless allies. No more, I pledge to do everything in my power to pull us back together and I hope you do the same.

Aside from minor quibbles over whether there has been, currently is, or should be an "atheist community" or an "atheist movement" rather than a secular activist community, a progressive atheist movement, or something else, I did not see much in Lee's letter that I expected to provoke strong disagreement. There was one exception, though, and that concerns the partisan political slant it reflected.

Our current president and his band of miscreants have pretty much declared war on the separation of church and state. Those Bush years we all dreaded are back with a vengeance. Our rights are threatened, and we have to stand together to fight for them.

While the stated focus of Lee's letter was on atheists coming together to defend our rights, it is difficult to imagine that your average Trump-supporting atheist (or atheists who supported Bush during his presidency) would feel enthusiastic about signing up. I believe this reflects on ongoing difficulty many liberal atheists have figuring out what to do with conservative atheists. Do we want them in our community only if they abandon their values and adopt ours, or are we willing to treat them as equal partners?

http://www.atheistrev.com/2017/03/uniting-atheists-in-support-of-secular.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AtheistRevolution+%28Atheist+Revolution%29

http://www.skepticink.com/dangeroustalk/2017/03/15/fellow-atheist-united-we-stand/

[Odoreida]

1. There is no atheist "community". Just a fandom pretending to be one.

Not to believe in God is a feature of various philosophies and movements, but atheists are not a "community" just as atheism is not a religion.

There is however an atheist "fandom" (complete with fandom drama) revolving around various figures such as Michael Shermer, Rebecca Watson, DJ Grothe, etc.

[rug]

2. Are there atheists who can legitimately claim to speak for other atheists?

[Odoreida]

4. Not one.

Better to fight against Trumpism on some other basis.

[rug]

5. I agree.

Atheism is a very slim stance - I have no belief in god(s) - to base any political coalition. The stance encompasses nothing beyond that one phrase.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Which is why most of us are already 'united' politically as democrats or progressives.

I don't identify as an atheist when I engage in politics. It adds nothing to the debate. I invest as much time as I have to politics, and couldn't sub out more time by including a band of time I reserve to 'be an atheist', so there's (for me) nothing to unite.

Nor am I going to sit back and ignore atheists that make hardline/rightwing type arguments, or conservative Christian trolls trying to sell a book as an 'atheist'.

When identified as politically left in public, when I add on the qualifier, 'I'm an atheist', it seems conservatives tend to have already factored that into their dismissal of me, as likely being the case.

[caroldansen]

3. There's a saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[rug]

6. The problem is what other things the friend supports or opposes.

Alliances cannot be bilt on single issues.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. A "letter to the atheist community" you have to be an FB friend to see? If that's activism

then I can't see it getting very far.

But I think the idea that concentrating on anti-Trump activism is a good idea for Americans. "Your average Trump-supporting atheist" is pretty much a hopeless case for any kind of worthwhile activism, by definition of being Trump-supporting.

[rug]

8. Yeah, that's not much of a manifesto.