If Atheists Want to Change Perceptions, They Need to Stop Acting Like This

[rug]

September 23, 2014 ·
by Kevin Davis

Today started like any other day for me. I got up and got myself and my son ready for the day. I took him to school and I went back home to work. At some point in the morning, a headline caught my attention about a 22-month-old boy, Brayden King, who died by drowning in a baptismal fountain in Alabama. I clicked on the story and read that the toddler’s mother was in church preparing for a prayer meeting and her 13-year-old daughter was put in charge of the boy. After losing track of Brayden, she searched for him and found him unconscious in the baptismal fountain. He drowned.

It’s a tragic story no matter how you slice it. While religious news outlets took the prayer and faith angle, secular sites reported the story plainly with no attempt to make sense of the horrific accident. The bottom line, though, is that a mother lost her baby, and two older sisters lost their little brother. As a father of a 3-year-old, I was saddened as I tried to put myself in her position. I just couldn’t imagine.

Then I read some of the comments about the story in secular Facebook groups I belong to and a mix of emotions came over me. I was disgusted. I was horrified. I was angry. Above all, I was deeply discouraged. Here’s a sample of what I saw on Facebook:











These examples only scratch the surface. There are many more on Facebook, Twitter, and on the news articles themselves. I can only imagine that some of the atheists who wrote these comments are the same who complain about how we’re treated in the media, by government, and by our neighbors, friends and families. It’s likely that these same people feel that atheists are discriminated against, stigmatized, and unfairly prejudged.

http://dividedundergod.com/2014/09/23/if-atheists-want-to-change/

[Wait Wut]

1. Not surprised.

Internet tough guys and assholes live under every rock, no matter how the rock got there.

[Trajan]

2. pffffffttt. ..

[Maedhros]

3. The Internet - you will not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. [n/t]

[rurallib]

4. OK - how does he know these people are atheists?

not trolls saying their atheists or more likely just simply garden variety american assholes. There are millions of them.
And we paint all of atheists with one brush?

[rug]

11. "some of the comments about the story in secular Facebook groups I belong to"

I must admit half the time I wonder if I'm actually arguing with a troll.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Which requires one accept the post at face value.

Can't verify, because the names have been blurred. (We also have no manner of finding out if those posters were rebuked by others)

That said, it is possible, as the internet has a large contingent of assholes of a certain class. For instance, see the highly misogynistic trolls over in the reddit atheist group, which treats women in a manner NOT consistent with the polling data on Atheists for political left-ness.

Sometimes assholes congregate together.

Also, sometimes gallows humor can be pretty dark stuff, and humor IS a defense/coping mechanism.

[rug]

18. This is the author's rebuke.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. Well, at least one other member clicked like within three hours.

So clearly the insensitive posts aren't universally acceptable in that venue.

[okasha]

36. We have at least one poster

who has been tossed out of a number of religion-based blogs for trolling. DU seems to be his last refuge.

[Politicalboi]

5. These assholes are idiots

But Atheist get a bad rap for the most part. The looks we get when we tell "christians" that we don't believe in their god. You can't even run for president without it being the ONLY story they all talk about. The people trust those that deny science and accept what some book says that was written over 2000 years ago all by men. Are Christians going to stand up and say Atheist aren't "evil" and have every right to run for office without all the stigma.

When the people see more Christians speak out about the crazies and denounce them like Pat Robertson, maybe we will believe you are Christians. Petition Pat Robertson off the air. Petition ALL evangelicals off the air. They're ALL snake oil salesmen. Stop going to Catholic church till they tell ALL. Hit them where it hurts. But nope, they continue to keep the pews full, and gawk over the Pope.

Would the law move so slow if an Atheist congregation was accuse of sexual abuse of children. Somehow, I doubt it.

[longship]

6. They don't seem like atheists I know.

They seem more like fucking jerks, or outright trolls. (Not saying that they aren't also atheists.)

But I agree, this behavior does not help the atheist cause.

[rug]

9. I can count on one hand the number of internet atheists who hear any semblance to an actual atheist.

[phil89]

7. Because god doesn't kill people

according to the bible? He commanded the murder of infants...it's right their in their holy book.

[rug]

8. .

[phil89]

39. The cartoon response

isn't convincing. I don't see how it's offensive if it's clearly written in their holy book.

[unblock]

10. hmm, "if blacks want to change perceptions, they need to stop acting like this"

oooh, that sounds a whole lot worse, doesn't it?

[rug]

12. Ok, post the sites where they're chortling over dead babies.

Not that this Group hasn't had its share of dead baby posts.

[unblock]

16. huh?

[arcane1]

13. 1 out of every 5 people is an asshole.

[rug]

14. Hmmm, 10 people have posted in this thread so far.

[arcane1]

15. Uh-oh!

Maybe it's me..?

[Arkansas Granny]

20. Are you sure these are atheists or just run of the mill assholes?

Some people say horrible things and their religious beliefs or non-beliefs have nothing to do with it.

[rug]

22. It's really not a binary question.

Atheism does not provide immunity from being an asshole any more - or any less - than belief does.

[procon]

21. Why would anyone assume atheists wrote those comments?

Why not accuse the usual attention seeking opportunists and trolls that are common to all forums? To use the same confrontation title; "If Christians Want to Change Perceptions, They Need to Stop Acting Like This".

As an atheist for the past 60+ years, I am sure I'm repeating the commonly held view that most of us have no particular interest in what anyone chooses to believe or not to believe because it is irrelevant. The writer's uniformed opinion is deliberately inflammatory and only adds to the very real discrimination and prejudge that is unfairly heaped on atheists by those who need an easy scapegoat.

[rug]

23. Why would anyone assume anyone posting on an explicitly atheist site is not?

Have you not heard similar comments in other contexts.

I'm pretty sure the author is not posting from Scotland.

[AtheistCrusader]

24. Nothing on facebook is ever fabricated for any purpose.

[rug]

25. Inconceivable.

No atheist would ever write such things about a dead child.

And that is a funny fb take on WWII.

"Germany is no longer friends with Russia."

(Even though it's off by a year.)

[AtheistCrusader]

27. I give it props for the 'trains run on time' joke being attributed to the correct country.

I agree, some people who are also atheists will say things like that. potentially moreso in a private group.

But it remains, I cannot verify the claim, and I have no ability to see whether they were shouted down, whether the author's rebuke post received a wider approval, what discussion came out of that, etc. AND, I have seen far worse in public comments on news articles, broadcast in FB comments in the clear, from other sources, so it's not like Atheists (or some of them) are in any way alone in the making light of death thing.

[rug]

28. I've seen worse right here.

[AtheistCrusader]

30. I've said worse here, about political foes.

I usually reserve it for the problematic individuals, and not their kids or whatever, though.

Different people approach these things differently.
Someday, George W Bush or Dick Cheney are going to die. General Discussion will be REAL interesting on that day.

[procon]

26. Seriously?

Why do rightwing trolls masquerading as Dems post here on DU? Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming.

Remember, as an atheist I don't care what you believe in, and hopefully you'll accord me the same disinterest. Since no deities exist for atheists, there can be no argument, so as long as you don't want to force me to join in, then everything is copacetic.

[rug]

29. Ah, so a genuine atheist would never type such things.

Capisce.

[djean111]

31. As an atheist,I could give a rat's ass about perception of me being an atheist. A theist's

judgment of me is totally irrelevant, and never ever ever makes me feel bad or outraged or diminished. Ever. Just reflects on the theist.
That being said, those remarks are offensive. So are gleeful remarks that I am going to burn in some hell for eternity. I just disregard that shit.

[aka-chmeee]

32. To paraphrase my religious friends when confronted with the batshit nuttiness propagated proudly by

their fellows,
"But those aren't real atheists!"

[edgineered]

33. Many people here, there, and everywhere

Many people here, there, and everywhere struggle with doubt. Many also worry about things they cannot change, things that make little difference if they are changed, and what others think of them. If it is going to rain you cannot change it. A stop sign get replaced by a traffic signal. Combining the time spent in an entire week of what everyone you know has thought about you would be less than what you have thought of yourself in less than a day.

[link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lady_doth_protest_too_much,_methinks]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks" is a quotation from the 1602 play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. It has been used as a figure of speech, in various phrasings, to indicate that a person's overly frequent or vehement attempts to convince others of something have ironically helped to convince others that the opposite is true, by making the person look insincere and defensive.

In rhetorical terms, the phrase can be thought of as indicating an unintentional apophasis - where the speaker who "protests too much" in favor of some assertion puts into others' minds the idea that the assertion is false, something that they may not have considered before.

This reference exemplifies the cries of many here in their denunciation of belief systems and their adherents. The unresolved internal struggles of shedding ones beliefs are as individual as the person revealing those struggles. The people making the remarks cited in this post have real problems with themselves; atheism is personal, it does not require a friend, a relative, a support group, or an outlet. Those who believe that bashing another for a belief, while themselves dost protest too much, show only that they are still fighting a recurring question of faith within themselves.

[cbayer]

34. I've seen that shit right here on DU.

Juvenile is the least offensive term I can use to describe it.

[3catwoman3]

35. I have heard the "God must have needed another angel"...

...crap from a lot of believers of various stripes, and find it to be an extremely insensitive statement.

[okasha]

37. You can blame Renaissance and Baroque painters for that one.

There's nothing in either the Bible or theology to suggest that humans can become angels. They're not just different species but different genera, as it were.

[edgineered]

38. console, deride, or derogate?

Your best friend doesn't come to your party.

I say, "I'm so sorry that Nelly didn't make it."

How would you take it?