10 egregious myths the religious perpetuate about atheists, debunked

[LostOne4Ever]

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TUESDAY, APR 21, 2015 03:15 AM CDT
10 egregious myths the religious perpetuate about atheists, debunked
Nonbelievers do not lack a basic moral code -- despite what the likes of David Brooks might have you believe
AMANDA MARCOTTE, ALTERNET

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In a regular poll conducted by political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell on American political attitudes, atheists recently lost their spot as as the most disliked group in America to the Tea Party. Still, number two is simply way too high in the unpopularity rankings for a group of people who just happen to spend Sunday mornings in bed instead of in church. Polling data shows that nearly half of Americans would disapprove if their child married an atheist and nearly 40 percent of Americans don’t see atheists as sharing their vision of American society, numbers that outstripped similar prejudices toward Muslims and African Americans.

Of course, the real reason atheists are so hated has little to do with jealousy for all their free time, but largely because most Americans are better acquainted with myths than with the realities of atheists’ lives. Unfortunately, atheists often have these myths tossed in their faces, usually by believers who would rather talk about what they heard atheists are like rather than uncomfortable subjects such as the lack of proof for any gods.

These myths do more than hurt atheists. They also harm the basic religious freedoms of all Americans, regardless of their beliefs. Religious freedom and tolerance don’t mean much if they can’t be expanded to include those without religion. With that in mind, here’s 10 of the ugliest myths about atheists, debunked:

[snip...]

3) Atheists are aggressive and rude. This myth has been around in various forms for a long time, but it really took off after the rise of “New Atheism,” which focuses its energy on disproving religious claims instead of merely pleading for tolerance of atheists. This myth only persists because belief is unconsciously privileged over atheism, causing people to believe it’s somehow ruder for an atheist to say, “I don’t believe in God and here’s why” than for a believer to intrude in your personal space with pamphlets, attack people when they’re feeling low with religious claims, knock on your door to proselytize, or force your children to recite religious language in school. Objectively speaking, believers commit transgressions against good manners far more than atheists. But atheist arguments tend to disturb believers more than arguments for God disturb atheists, so atheists get an unfair reputation for being rude, even when they are merely outspoken or unapologetic.


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[bvf]

1. Bullshit attempt to define a bullshit term.

"New atheists" are simply atheists who open their mouths and speak their minds.

No one, so far as I know, is out to "disprove" anything.

Bookmarked.

[mr blur]

2. Good piece, thanks.

And I agree about the "New Atheists" bullshit.

[trotsky]

3. Great article, lots of truth.

#3 nails it. Broadcast your prayers, religious songs, say how wonderful you think god is and how you KNOW it exists, and it's fine. Commendable, even. Say "I don't believe any of that because..." and you're the EVIL BIGOTED HEARTLESS ATHEIST WHO NEEDS TO SHUT UP.

[deucemagnet]

4. K&R

Nothing new here, but the points are made very well.

[Rob H.]

5. I've seen a lot of people here on DU perpetuating those myths

Not really a shock, though, given how obsessed some of them are with trawling the internet to find and repost articles that are even mildly critical of atheists and atheism.

[mr blur]

6. Surely not!? Wow. Just, wow!

And they always seem like such nice, reasonable friendly types, too.

[Rob H.]

8. They're even willing to lie about how noted atheists identify themselves

...just to try to score rhetorical points. Shocking, I know.

[trotsky]

7. I don't see as many of those people anymore.

Thanks, DU Ignore feature!

[beam me up scottie]

10. You mean the whinny(sic) petty little bullshit?

I don't mind seeing their truly Christ-like behaviour when criticism of their religion gets on their last nerve.

[beam me up scottie]

9. These are great.

#3 is spot on, desperate anti-atheists created the straw man "New Atheism" because they needed an easy target.

They've been burning it in effigy for over a decade now but their efforts to malign atheism and atheists are failing. The shrill outrage that follows every perceived slight against religion just alienates more people.


#4 is pretty good too:

4) Atheism is a white dude thing. It’s easy if atheism makes you uncomfortable to write off atheism as the hobbyhorse of a tiny minority of men with overly high opinions of their own intelligence. That men such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins get most of the media attention devoted to atheism only reinforces this myth. If you scratch the surface, however, you’ll see that the ranks of outspoken atheists have far more women that the media would let on. Atheist blogger Jen McCreight grew so tired of this myth that she compiled an extensive list of prominent female atheists such as Susan Jacoby, Rebecca Watson and Lori Lipman Brown. Greta Christina followed up with a list of prominent atheists of color, such as Debbie Goddard, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Hemant Mehta. Women are specially targeted for religious oppression around the world, so of course, many of us will be open to arguments against the legitimacy of religion.

Atheists aren't the ones oppressing women and most of us are intelligent enough to realize that. The apologists who insult women by trying to convince us that atheism has a misogyny problem are especially vile.

Sorry honey, we're not that stupid.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Woohoo, we are number 2.

The most hated group is now the Tea Party????? How come there are so many of them in Congress, but atheist are as scarce as hens' teeth.

[Promethean]

12. The 2nd paragraph on #5

is one of the best examples of that specific rebuttal I've seen earning extra points for simplicity and not being too long.

[MindPilot]

13. #5 is the one I encounter most on DU

That same "atheism-is-just-another-belief-system" meme is usually added to some disparaging comment about atheist organizations, like "why do you need to get together to talk about something you don't believe in?"

Oh and the ever-popular, "I'm way better than you atheists because I don't have a dogmatic belief system...I'M AGNOSTIC!"