LINK Atheism in America: misunderstandings, explained - Vox
FTA: While the Christian majority has occasionally welcomed atheism into the public square, often our presence has been met with ridicule, anger, and derision. Displays have been torn down, school groups have faced hostility by teachers and administrators, and board members have occasionally left a meeting room rather than listen to an atheist invocation. Incurring that kind of disrespect is a risk of standing up for what you believe in, or, in our case, standing up for what you don’t believe in. But that’s okay; we atheists tend to have thick skin. We have been putting up with this kind of treatment for a long time, and our numbers are still rising. In the future, I may still be a little sad, but atheism as a whole will likely become a loud, mainstream, and inescapable force in American public life.
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5 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I hope atheism becomes more acceptable in America but my greatest fear is most atheist are extremely left wing. Hell the Christain’s are a lot more acceptable to me than a lot of the left wing Trump bashing people on this website.
Trajan61
Level 8
June 21, 2019
1
My greatest fear is that the USA will fall into a Fascist Theocracy led by a semi literate BUFFOON!
Maybe you should find a few Christian sites to spend your time on. I'm sure you'll find a lot of tRump lovers there.
My greatest fear is that the USA will fall into a Fascist Theocracy led by a semi literate BUFFOON!
If I may re-print your exact words, I also have this fear and the buffoon has it as a "hope."
“The government cannot promote atheism over religion, that’s true. But that doesn’t mean the government cannot do things in public schools and elsewhere that happen to be inconsistent with what some religious people believe.” (quote from article)
In all my school years in Alabama not once did I experience a teacher trying to promote a religious point of view in a classroom.
But I took a course in the philosophy of religion once, and the professor was a radical, zealous atheist who used almost all the class time to preach his opinion in a very emotional way. The guy would not listen to any dissenting opinion, cutting you off in mid sentence with a barrage of invective. Needless to say, we students learned very little about the philosophy of religion.
In my experience, schools are heavily invested in promoting, not so much atheism, but a shallow materialistic world view based on scientism. Of course if you believe that reality consists only of matter moving in space and time, you are also an atheist by default, but that gets swept under the rug.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
June 20, 2019
2
I've been a teacher for 15 years, 7 years of college before that, and 13 years of public school before that. My experience has been exactly the opposite, with only one openly atheist professor (in college), and dozens of openly Christian teachers--one of whom told a class it was going to hell if they didn't shape up.
@greyeyed123 Maybe it’s different in different places. We did have a morning prayer, said over the intercom, but the instruction was purely secular.
@WilliamFleming A school-wide prayer over the school intercom is now illegal (has been for about 50 years). I live in the reddest part of a blue state. (Also, in the last school at which I taught, teachers/administrators often used the phrase "come to Jesus moment" to describe a very serious conversation with students to demand they understand how horrible their behavior and/or current path in life is, and instead choose a better one. One such teacher at that school used to teach a lesson about how great Dennis Hastert was because he had been a high school wrestling coach and made it all the way to Speaker of the House. I thought that lesson was creepy even before all his child molestation crimes came to light.)
@greyeyed123 Consider moving to Alabama.
Oh wait—We have Roy Moore.
@WilliamFleming As it should be and must be per the Constitution.
@jlynn37 What is as it should be and must be?
@WilliamFleming "the instruction was purely secular."
@jlynn37 I agree 100%.
@TheMiddleWay That would be Constitutional and acceptable in my opinion.
Isn't Vox great? For $25,000 - 50,000 you can get an article about whatever you want. Has anyone read any of Jay Wexler's books by any chance?
Happy_Killbot
Level 7
June 20, 2019
2
Great article which I shared on FB with my over 3600 acquaintances. I added the following as an intro: "I have identified as an atheist all my adult life. I know many people are uncomfortable with that kind of statement so I hope this article will be helpful to those who feel that way. I was very proud to read the atheist invocation given by a lady for a city meeting because she definitely espoused my feelings about community. Ms Stephens said " When we work together to move our town forward in a spirit of mutual respect and common decency, we showcase what is best about our community, our state, and our nation.” I would be remiss if I did not mention how much I appreciate my many Christian friends who accept and love me as I love them."
Lorajay
Level 9
June 20, 2019
3
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