Agnostic.com

28 9

Being on this site over a year now it has become a part of my life. It occurs to me though that it is the only part of my life in which the faces I see are overwhelmingly white in number.
Feels unnatural to me.
Why is this?
Are we as a site doing what we can to attract a diverse membership?

AmiSue 8 Jan 14
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28 comments

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7

I have noticed in life that people in minority groups seem to be more reluctant to question religion. I could be very off base, but it is a stereotype.
I have always assumed that being white gives me more freedom to go against the establishment with less social consequences.

MsAl Level 8 Jan 14, 2019

Speaking from personal experience (and those of many friends). The underlying problem isn't Stockholm Syndrome. It is fear of being expelled from the community. It is arguably worse than coming out as gay or trans.

There are as many African Americans questioning religion as anywhere. But we are expected to keep quiet about it. Last week, for example, an acquaintance of mine asked to borrow my book "Atheism and the Case Against Christ". He is a church deacon.

7

I've always been confounded by the level of theistic belief among people of color.
I just don't understand why people, who have been habitually abused by white people, would adopt christianity and hold so tightly to it?

I've heard myriad excuses, but no real cogent explanations.

That said, there are a number of members who are not white.
I'm grateful for their presence.

As far as attracting a more diverse membership, I don't believe in trying to bring in more members.
I think people need to seek out where they want to be online, on their own.
I found the site through a facebook add.
I wouldn't have joined if someone else had tried to get me to.

Initially they didn't really have a choice. Most christian slavers beat christianity into them. Christianity was used as a tool to break them and rebuild them in their masters' image. A book called "how to make a negro christian" became a standard manual for slave owners to indoctrinate slaves.

Some of them still practiced their worship of old gods and mixed those beliefs with christianity to become voodoo and santaria but most of them outside New Orleans were eventually forced to bend to the mainstream or fear for their lives. Then after reconstruction the black churches were the only semi-safe space where black folks were allowed to gather, and even those have been targetted quite a few times.

The black churches took a central role in the civil rights movement and gave them some hope because of all the stories of Israelites' redemption from bondage. It was the only place they could organize and discuss politics en masse. I can easily see why it would be an attractive message to a people going through a biblical level of torment. As for why they remain christian today theyre basically still institutionalized and in mental slavery from the generations of abuse.

Religion is also often really important in latino communities, I think because of the Spanish Catholic missions that colonized the minds of natives in the southwest. Now I think many modern immigrants take to christianity and nationalism as a way of speed assimilating, taking the side of conservatives as a form of stockholme syndrome in the hopes that they'll be more accepted, whether consciously or not.

@Wurlitzer I understand the history. I just don't understand why they haven't thrown it all off yet.
Then again, knowing it's all bullshit, I am still confounded by all those who insist on maintaining their delusions.

@KKGator institutionalization is a powerful thing. A lot of black people still hold white standards of beauty to the point that they hate their own characteristics. It was very difficult for me to throw religion off and my cultural identity wasnt defined by it half as much as the black community. I totally see why those getting out are but a slow trickle. It requires an excellent education to see a way out and thats a luxury many still don't have.

@Wurlitzer Yeah, it's definitely not just people of color who have a hard time shaking that bs off.

@KKGator yep and when youre apart of a marginalized community already, sticking together as a family/church becomes a matter of survival. Being able to burn as many bridges as we like and be ourselves unapologetically with few consequences is greatly aided by a bit of white privilege. The only people of color I know who made it out of the church did so because they were gay or bi. That pushed the cost/benefit to the brink enough that they had to get out for their own sanity.

@Wurlitzer You are not wrong.

Another proof that religion is a pillar of tyranny.

5

Ielieve that there is a much lower percentage of agnostics and atheists in the Black community, and that there is a greater fear of being outed among those who are non-believers.

5

I suspect a lot of the imbalance is related to cultural differences. Unfortunately, in much of the world, open dissonance with respect to religion or belief is not allowed or peacefully accepted. I do hope the tide eventually turns toward greater diversity.

How true. The sad aspect is that the vast majority of areas with religious openess happen also to have a white majority, but fortunately not all. Ugandans, for example, are open to non-religious concepts. However, they are not open to sexual deviancy!

4

I don't even think of this situation because I don't tend to see people as different racial or ethnic groups. We are all just people. I might notice what country they are from. I often go about my life not noticing I'm any different, a minority, until someone points that out to me. I'm just some friggin' Canadian!!!

I'm wondering if in some ethnic communities/cultural groups, members don't feel as comfortable being open about being different, including announcing themselves as agnostic/atheist. If they join a site like this, they fear someone in their community might find out and they face strong repercussions. Some minority groups only have small communities in a multicultural immigrant based nation, and to lose what connection they have with other members may make life difficult for their members. They just don't want to take the risk. They remain low-key and under the radar.

I don't know. I'm just speculating. At least it's the case with those from my country of birth and similar. For me, I don't give the slightest "F"!!! I don't even know other people from my particular minority group (except my family and their friends) and I don't hang around with them. I don't care one bit if I "shame" them for choosing not to believe in some imaginary being.

@NickNakorn Would I notice superficial differences? Yes. But I grew up in a very multicultural and multiethnic community, and to me everyone is essentially the same on the inside. It's not an attitude. It's just the way I see or don't see things due to how I grew up. I said that I don't much think about this situation regarding racial or ethnic differences on here because I don't often notice them. People are just all people to me. I'm not saying there are no systemic and cultural/social forces that may affect or impede certain people's participation in social and economic activities. I did in fact give some possible explanations in my comment why certain people may not participate in this forum.

BTW, I dated a Nigerian Canadian with a strong accent for a year and a half. I also dated a Canadian born person of Chinese descent. And also a Danish Canadian guy who liked wearing cowboy boots. They were just guys to me.

4

"The door is open to everyone"? Lol! So we can stop thinking! Hey, everything is fine! If those ethnic minorities aren't here, it's probably because they are more superstitious!

Ok. But seriously.

The really important question to ask, in my opinion, isn't how do we attract more minorities into this site. I think the more important question, already asked by AmiSue, is "why is this."

It is important not because we are looking to blame anyone or any policies, but it will make us understand ourselves, and the world we live in, a bit more clearly.

I remember seeing the member pictures of a local county bar association taken in 1970's. They were almost exclusively white and male. I think I saw one black and one women. Imagine what your reaction will be if someone told you, when you questioned why that is, "what's the problem. The door is open to everyone." 🙂

Sure. Things have changed since then. But they only changed because people like AmiSue continued to ask questions.

So thank you, AmiSue. 🙂

Correct. To know people we need exposure to them. We moved from a large, very ethnic mix school in the city to all white in the country. I didn't come with, or acquire, the native dislike and distrust of people who are different than me..

4

Probably not. Your observations probably signal an area we need to work upon.

4

These are good questions. I see a few people of color on this site but don't see them often enough really. Some have come and left maybe. We should have diversity where race is concerned and have people from all over the world.

4

How about passing out Agnostic.com cards at church. Just hand them to the people you'd like to attract! Let them know that after only 50,000 points they will get a free shirt!

3

Go to Black Nonbelievers, Inc. [blacknonbelievers.wordpress.com] and introduce yourself to Mandisa Thomas. Mandisa is a great down to Earth person. If she knows about Agnostic.com she will get hundreds more minorities to join.

Buxx Level 7 Jan 17, 2019
3

It is interesting because on the Facebook Atheist pages, there are many more non whites, from all over the world. Not sure why it is virtually all white here, you are right it does not make sense.

3

People from different cultures and ethnicities do different things - it's not about religion or whether we're doing enough to attract a more diverse group. My daughter married a man from Trinidad and his family doesn't blog - they actually leave the house and do sh-t. They're too busy to blog and too tired after doing their sh-t to get online. I have family/friends from a ton of different cultures and skin pigmentations and I don't know of a single one that blogs. I talk to as many as I can - as regularly as I can and the impression I get is they're so over it - they'll watch videos, perhaps a movie on Netflix online and may even listen to some songs - aside from that - they'll browse the net when thinking about making a purchase - but it's not to blog. Particularly not with people that already think like they do.

3

I see diversity. It's predominately white but a lot of folks aren't using their actual pictures for their profile pics and, the pics do not always represent their ethnicity. Once you get to know people you can see beyond their monikers, you will notice it's a colorful group.
I do, however, see your point. Check out the member map.----> [agnostic.com]

3

Yes mostly whites but still thee are people of color too, and great it is.

3

Most (not all) non white people I know are theists. [pewforum.org]

2
  1. There is not many members outside US
  2. In general atheism correlates with better education and life conditions, so if in US whites are majority in this conditions, atheists will be too
  3. In many communities atheism is not well seen, so people just say they are religious but don't give a sh about it.
    In any case it's propaganda, just tell about the site to your non-white friends.
2

It's population density, distribution and statistics. Nothing more, nothing less

@AmiSue Me personally, I do not find relevant people's diversity here. There is always an opportunity to learn something regardless of any profile specifics. Actually I would say we all here belong to the same virtual classification. No minorities, we all are digital.

2

Would it help if Agnostic.com went multilingual? Native French speaker here.

2

Me: light skinned 100% Mexican. If that helps.

2

There are minority groups here. Several Spanish speaking groups. A couple of black or of African decent. But of course as we all know the African.American & Hispanic culture is heavily steeped in religion. Seek & ye shall find. They are not seeking an atheist "dating" site just yet.

2

Good question Ami. Are their statistics that show non-whites are more religious as a whole?

2

I think there are reasons why more men are agnostic than women in the us and why more whites are than blacks. If you looked at northern europe it would look different.

1

I get fairly tanned in the summer

1

I'm white but so were both of my parents so I consider it an accident of birth.

1

This is a good question to ask ourselves. I don't know the answer, but I wish I did.

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