No Place for Racism in the Atheist Community

[rug]

July 11, 2016 by Adam Lee

I wish I didn’t have to write posts like this, but they’re still sadly necessary.

Recently, my Patheos colleague Martin Hughes at Barrier Breaker had an interaction with an unpleasant fellow who calls himself “The Amazing Atheist”. TAA is the archetype of the smugly arrogant white-guy atheist who thinks that because he’s seen through this whole religion thing, he doesn’t ever need to learn anything else.

His perspective reflects all the toxic ignorance and casual cruelty you’d expect from a life steeped in unexamined privilege. He hates feminism, calls black culture a “victim cult”, violently threatened a rape survivor, and is an all-around awful human being in most every other way. (See RationalWiki for the whole rundown.) In spite of all this, he ranks as one of the most popular atheists on YouTube.

TAA came to Hughes’ attention when he posted a video that was like a compendium of every racist trope, arguing that racism would be solved if only people of color would stop complaining about it.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/2016/07/no-place-for-racism-in-the-atheist-community/#sthash.T2xqHt92.dpuf

[LongtimeAZDem]

1. As much as I agree with the sentiment, there is no "atheist community"

As we constantly have to tell people, atheism is nothing more than a lack of belief in a deity.

If we in any way claim that it stands for something other than that, we invite the "atheism is a religion" criticism, especially if we attempt to promote standards of behavior.

[rug]

2. Thatis a naive view.

http://www.atheists.org/community

https://www.atheistalliance.org/

http://atheistnexus.org/

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/12/why_i_m_quitting_the_online_atheism_community.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1230

[LongtimeAZDem]

3. The fact that people congregate does not mean we have an ideology

you're encouraging tribalism, which is counter to the rational arguments of atheism.

[rug]

4. It means you have a community, which you denied.

And as a community, ideology develops and splinters, which is what the article is about. It's also about the privilege that exists in some of these groups.

[LongtimeAZDem]

5. OK, fair enough, but that doesn't mean we have entry requirements

Like it or not, the "Amazing Atheist" is just as much an atheist as I am, and presumably you are, if he doesn't believe in a god.

Imposing character standards for something that is a rational conclusion is ridiculous; it's like saying you have to be a feminist to accept global warming.

[rug]

6. No it doesn't. Yet it can take on the characteristcs of any other group.

Nonbelief does not exempt people from basic sociology.

That said, there is nothing about atheism that promotes, or prevents, racism.

[LongtimeAZDem]

7. No there isn't, and I certainly understand and share your frustration (nt)