It has been many months since the last update of Secular Discrimination Report.  I have had to focus on other things in my life and SDR fell by the wayside.  Most recently, I was going through New Jersey Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) school and riding as a first aider on my local first aid squad.  EMT school is now finished and I am soon taking the test for state certification.  The end of class leaves me more time for other things, such as this.  Bigotry and discrimination against the nonreligious certainly has not gone away, and I have continued to monitor it as best I can.

To tell you the truth, it’s getting harder to deal with the horrible things said about us, though.  This is especially true as the attacks against us have been growing steadily in the past few years.  It’s frankly infuriating, but I will do my best to continue to monitor religious bigotry, especially against the nonreligious, and present it to you.  There is a bright side: the bigots are more vocal against us because we are being more vocal.  That is bound to happen.  Many nonreligious are no longer scared to speak out, nor are we scared to simply acknowledge that we exist.  In that sense, we are continuing to gain ground.

To those of you who have written to me during this absence, I have not ignored you.  Expect responses soon.

Now on to the promised links:

Christian Bus Ads Fire Back (KCCI.com)

Christian ministry “Covenant of Love” is has their own pro-Christian ads on buses on Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority buses this month.  It is reportedly in response to the recent atheist ads that have been on buses throughout the country.  From what I have seen, the article title seems misleading.  The ads don’t appear confrontational in any way; I would hardly say that they “fire back.”  They simply express their own positive view of Christianity, and that’s a great thing.  This is what we need, dialogue, which we have been essentially excluded from for too long.  We get our say and the religious get theirs.  Religious ads have existed since long before the atheist ads, though.  One could argue the religious already more than had their chance, and in fact dominated the discussion.  This is more confirmation that we are making headway.  We are a threat.  Despite the long history of unopposed religiosity, they feel that they need to respond to us.

Atheist group takes message to Lakeland via billboard (Tampa Bay Online – TBO.com)

Talking about ads, another atheist group has put up a billboard, this time by the Atheists of Florida.  As with the rest, there is nothing offensive unless one chooses to be offended.  It’s a message to other like-minded people that they are not alone, just as with other billboards that have gone up: “Don’t Believe in God?  You are not alone.”

Of course, the website’s comments display the same bigotry and irrational thought we have come to expect from bigots whenever atheists dare even display that we exist.  For example:

Posted by ( zgolf1 ) on 11/02/2009 at 01:53 pm.

I think that the people behind this billboard should stand on a street corner in Polk county and spread their word directly to the people. I am fairly certain that before the day was out that their beliefs would change once that were loaded onto bayflight.

Threatening members of the Atheists of Florida with physical violence because they state that atheists exist?  That’s not very Christian.

This video is going around the atheist blogosphere, and it’s so good I have to jump on the bandwagon.  Enjoy:

Just when you think the anti-atheist bigots have blamed atheists for everything under the sun, they manage to outdo themselves.  Star Tribune columnist David Lebedoff is claiming that, get this, atheists are responsible for the economic downturn.  Here we see one of the numerous examples of bigots making claims against atheists that are so ridiculous they make themselves look foolish.  Sure, his commentary is a bigoted and hateful screed against a significant population of people of which I am a member, but it’s so ludicrous I can’t even bring myself to feel the least bit peeved about it.

As for the actual content, the article is based around the same basic tired old attack bigots always levy against the nonreligious: there is no other basis for morality than religious belief, and therefore those without religion are immoral, being able to do whatever they like without any conscience.  That’s news to me and the many others like me who have no religious faith, yet have quite a strong sense of right and wrong.

From the article:

If you only go around once, then the main thing is to have fun. If you start by admitting that from cradle to tomb it isn’t that long of a stay, then life is a cabaret, old chum, and so, by the way, is Wall Street. There is a bumper sticker favored by some of the recently rich that proclaims “he who dies with the most toys wins.” This is indeed the moral philosophy of those who believe that death is the final closing bell. Materialism, hedonism and Stairmasters are what people do until the clock stops ticking.

I’m not going to go through a whole debunking of this claim.  The entire history of the fields of ethical studies, philosophy, and reality show this claim to be untrue on its face – morality is not the exclusive domain of religion by any means.  To then take this argument and use it to claim we are therefore responsible for the economic collapse – without one shred of evidence to show that a large percentage of those in economic fields who are responsible are actually atheist – is ignorant, hateful, ridiculous, but also quite sad.
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I have to post this because it made me laugh.  I was going through the logs and saw this gem.  Someone got here through a Google search of the term “aethists are ignorant.”  I don’t know what an “aethist” is, but if they are ignorant I’m glad not to be one!  To be fair, atheist can be a tricky word to spell.  You rarely see an “i” after an “e” when not after c or making the sound “ay” (I’m sure you remember the old rhyme we all learned in elementary school, “i before e, except after c….”).  This is just not even trying or caring.  Even then, I could see accidentally putting the “e” before the “th” if typing fast.  Pointing out the irony, though, of such a misspelling in a search term decrying atheists as ignorant is too good to pass up.

Every now and again something happens that brings joy into the heart of a nonreligious activist: a bigot is proven as the hypocritical fool he/she is.  Even better when this person is supposed to be a pillar or morality in the religious community, such as Pastor Chris Fox of North Carolina’s Kendalls Baptist Church.  He was caught and then admitted to posting inflammatory rhetoric on the atheist blog unreasonablefaith while claiming to be an atheist.  It was immediately clear that he was no atheist, as his posts consisted of the most stereotypical caricature of the “immoral atheist.”

For instance:

If a man wants to make a women his b****, so be it? So what if you don’t like it, what if I do?

If I want to do something, and my conscience is cool with it, then I can do it. If it’s feed a homeless person, so be it. If it’s kill my neighbor, so be it. I am not bound to any morals.

The preceding comment is so transparently written by someone trying to make atheists look bad I actually laughed a little when I first read it. Pastor Fox only hurt his cause.  Contrary to his original purpose, he proved the point that the stereotypical claims anti-atheist bigots make about the general character of atheists is a lie perpetuated only by the religious that see us as a threat.  If we really thought this way he wouldn’t have to lie and post such comments, would he?  He could just point to one of us.  He couldn’t, because he presumably knows that the truth is that we are no less moral than anyone else, religious or not.

Pastor Fox seems to have forgotten the ninth commandment,  “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20.13)¹?  He also has certainly not read Proverbs recently:

Six things the lord hates;
Seven are an abomination to Him:
A haughty bearing,
A lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A mind that hatches evil plots,
Feet quick to run to evil,
A false witness testifying lies,
And one who incites brother to quarrel. (6.16-20)

I think claiming to be someone you’re not certainly falls into the category of hatching evil plots.  This is one of those times it certainly helps me as an activist for atheist rights to be a scholar of religion.  What is better when attacked by religious bigots than to throw their own scripture in their faces after they are exposed as the hypocrites they are.  And people questioned the usefulness of my degree!

I recently wrote a very long comment to a post on an anti-atheist bigot’s hissy fit insulting atheists, “Atheism is for Fifth Graders“.  It would be fine if he just expressed his opposition to atheism, that’s a valid opposite viewpoint.  From even his title, he insulted all atheists.  That’s the hallmark of someone who has nothing of substance to say, of someone who can’t intelligently defend one’s position – straight bashing.

Feel free to read it if you’re a masochist, but it’s just the standard tripe: atheists are “smug fuck[s],” “childish,” and he even threw in a claim that we “casually drop [our] beliefs in the middle of a conversation to look cool.”  That’s a new one; I wasn’t aware being atheist was cool now.  All the apparent bigotry against us sure fooled me!  I guess we should just shut up like good little heathens.  Only the religious have the right to have opinions.

My Response

I figure the comment I left him would be useful here.  It covers many important points as to atheists demanding our place is the marketplace of ideas, and tears down his dubious “scientific” (and I use that term loosely) logic.  But more to the point of this blog, as he unsuccessful tries to claim atheists are intolerant, it points out his own bigotry.  I show that he, while criticizing atheists, is the one using ad hominem attacks – attacking the people instead of the ideas.  It’s not surprising though, when he has nothing of substance to say.

I don’t expect my comment to have any effect, he’ll just ignore it as bigots do no matter how valid the points made are, or he’ll use it as an excuse to bash me, a “smug fuck” atheist.  It was just somewhere to write it before I brought it here, and sort of a – since he likes profanity – fuck you, being an atheist expressing my views which he despises oh so much.  My comment from his blog follows (edited a bit for SDR):
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Daniel Florien over at unreasonable faith pointed out this comic.  I liked it, so I’ll shamelessly steal his idea and share it with you.

I will, when I cannot write a detailed post, show some examples of bigotry against the nonreligious on the internet. I am still recovering from a recent medical issue, so this is as good a time as any. Many of these could just be trolls when written anonymously, but many people disgustingly see nothing wrong with expressing such hatred and will do it under their own name! Even when anonymous, many times it allows those who are not simply trolling to express the hate they wouldn’t otherwise.

I ask you, would these sorts of statements, lies, and mean-spirited generalizations be acceptable if they were levied against any religious or minority group other than atheists? Of course not. Yet we, who lack belief in a supernatural deity, are protected by our very first constitutional amendment, just as the religious are. Where is the outrage by those of all faiths and philosophical viewpoints?

I feel the need to say one more important thing before I show some recent examples.  I am bringing this to light simply because everyone should know what kind of bigotry is pervasive in culture, specifically American.  Despite the disgust I feel towards these statements, everyone has the right to freedom of speech and should be able to say whatever they want without censorship.  This doesn’t mean, though, that our culture as a whole should tolerate it, but that we should speak up against these people and fight for our place in the marketplace of ideas.

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