http://www.atheistempire.com/reference/news/index.html ATHEIST BASHING AS A NEW NATIONAL PASTIME? SURVEYS, CELEBRITY SLURS AND LET'S NOT FORGET ANN COULTER... Web Posted: April 28, 2006 What, "in God's name," is going on? According to a recent study from the University of Minnesota, Atheists have become the ultimate social outcasts. Researchers working with the American Mosaic Project which monitors popular attitudes about minorities reported, "Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of American society.' Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry." Then came a spike of public statements be celebrities defaming Atheists. Outgoing "Today Show" host Katie Couric opened a recent program segment about military policy and religiosity by repeating the old canard, "There are no Atheists in foxholes." Charlie Sheen, whose career has spanned everything from Hollywood awards to encounters with Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss was discussing his current divorce spat with estranged wife Denise Richards. Waxing emotionally about his two children, he told ET's Mark Steines: "They represent the real gifts and treasures of this life. Anybody that doesn't believe in God hasn't looked into the eyes of their child." monthly special There is also the latest Newsweek column by Rabbi Marc Gellman, "Trying to Understand Angry Atheists." Gellman, who holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University and was ordained by the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, is senior rabbi of Temple Beth Torah, and past President of the New York Board of Rabbis. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, People Magazine and Time. Gellman has authored and co-authored a number of books including "Lost and Found: A Kid's Book of Living Through Loss," and "Religion For Dummies." He has also attracted a devoted throng of fans through a cable television program he co-hosts, "The God Squad." His latest piece for the MSNBC/Newsweek web site asks, "Why do nonbelievers seem to be threatened by the idea of God?" Gellman is more gracious than other critics of non-belief, admitting "I don't think they need to be religious to be good, kind and charitable people..." He suggests, though, "Perhaps their atheism was the result of a tragic death of a loved one, or an angry degrading sermon, or an insensitive eulogy, or an unfeeling castigation of lifestyle choices or perhaps something worse." Lurking behind Gellman's genteel, soothing, even conciliatory tone, though, is a mix of condescension and ignorance of what it is that angers many Atheists. He urges us, his "atheist brothers and sisters to see things as Spinoza urged, sub specie aeternitatis -- 'under the perspective of eternity.' "Atheism, of course, emphasizes the "here the now," this life for that is, and as far as we know, all that is. We reject the promise of an eternal afterlife, or that we somehow fit in as bit players in some cosmic stage production put on by and for the benefit of an all-powerful deity. What angers the Atheist, though, is the arrogance of those faithful who are determined to impose their religious dogmas onto what should be a free, open and secular society. We are "angry" when government tells us when and how to pray; when politicians drape themselves in the mantle of religiosity as a credential for public office; when the state demands that we subsidize the faithful and their clerical-social institution as President Bush and others would have us under the faith-based initiative. Rabbi Gellman simply does not understand either Atheism or Atheists. Conservative belligerent Ann Coulter thinks she does, however, or at least those who might identify with the term "Godless." "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" is the title of Coulter's latest bombastic tome which has already created major media buzz, and according to the Drudge Report generated "one of the largest advances paid to a conservative author for the manuscript." One description of "Godless" says that Coulter "holds nothing back in detailing liberalism's war on religion and yes, God." Chapter titles reportedly include such witty gems as "On the Seventh Day God Rested and Liberals Schemed" and "The Holiest Sacrament: Abortion." It is, opines another pundit, a "completely original and thoroughly controversial work." Coulter has kept unusually mum about the message in "Godless," and even danced around pointed questions from Fox News talking head Neil Cavuto. She made much out of the fact that her new work is due for release on June 6, 2006 (6-6-6 or 666 -- the "Sign of the Beast"), telling Cavuto this was her "little tribute to liberals, to have it come out on 6/6/06." "It's probably not a coincidence," said the Fox correspondent. Coulter has insisted, "Liberals love to boast that they are not 'religious,' which is what one would expect to hear from the state-sanctioned religion. Of course liberalism is a religion. It has its own cosmology, its own miracles, its own beliefs in the supernatural, its own church, its own high priests, its own saints, its own total worldview, and its own explanation of the existence of the universe. In other words, liberalism contains all the attributes of what is generally known as 'religion.'" IFRAME: http://www.atheists.org/convention/clockiframe.html This may be news to some "liberals" and other secularists. But we should ask, "What is Ann Coulter up to, anyway?" If we are to reject what she defines as "liberalism" because it is an ersatz religion with all of the external trappings of faith, why embrace her brand of mainstream religion? It may well be that Ms. Coulter's latest screed to the right is less reasoned argument than another polemic salvo designed to stereotype "godlessness" and anything else which does not smack of orthodox religiosity. As for 666, what better way to demonize ideological adversaries than to brand them as modern-day Anti-Christs? Finally, there is the description of "most Atheists" as "whackjobs" by freelance writer and blogger Melinda Barton. A self-described "bi-racial Jewish lesbian from the South's working class," Ms. Barton has generally enunciated a sharp but insightful progressive tone in her commentaries. Her recent column on the Raw Story website (via Pharyngula) was off the mark, however. "First, what is a secular whackjob? The term secular for the purposes of this article will refer to those who disbelieve all religious and spiritual claims, not to those who merely support a separation of church and state. Although all secular (by this definition) extremists are atheists, not all atheists are secular extremists..." Philosophical and linguistic errors abound in Ms. Barton's essay, but perhaps the most egregious offense is the use of "whackjob" as an umbrella term for the godless. Austin Cline, moderator of the About.com Atheism website charges that Barton "seems to believe that atheists are a threat to liberalism and democratic liberty," and fabricates false, inaccurate definitions of terms like Atheism. He also points out, "Theism may be a matter of faith; atheism is not," a critical distinction both Barton and Ann Coulter overlook. His critique can be found at http://atheism.about.com/b/a/257416.htm?nl=1 . ATHEISM AS A TARGET? If the University of Minnesota study is correct, Atheists have now assumed the role of the ultimate "other" or social villain once played by more traditional social bogeymen -- Jews, Communists, even Roman Catholics. We are, in the perceptions of many, "a symbolic moral boundary to membership in American society." "The reaction to atheists has long been used as an index of political and social tolerance," note the U. of MN. researchers." Ironically, this comes as rates of general levels of tolerance and acceptance are on the rise. Voters, for instance, seem more willing to accept Catholic, Jewish and even gay political candidates as credible officeholders. Atheists remain at the bottom of that and other rosters, however. Americans are increasingly willing to tolerate diverse faiths; those of "no faith" or no religion, however, linger outside the parameters of respectable society. [email.gif]-Submit "We've noted a spike in the animus directed at Atheists," says Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists. "It's still permissible for major media and entertainment figures to engage in cheap-shot 'Atheist bashing," and make statements they would never utter about any other group." Johnson sees a silver lining, though, in this dark cloud. "There's improvement on two fronts," Johnson told AANEWS. "Atheists are slowly gaining some degree of social acceptance, and over the long term more Americans are willing to consider Atheists for public office." She also sees improvement when it comes to Atheists asserting their civil rights and looking for ways to influence the debate over public policy. "We've got lobbyists in Washington, we've got a political action committee, and whenever media pundits, politicians or celebrities, or celebrities say something disparaging about Atheists, a lot of us are speaking out. "We're the last sizeable minority to be included as authentic Americans," Johnson said. "It's just a matter of time."
Athiests the 'ultimate social outcasts' Well now they are equal to thiests 'The burners of free thinkers.' Occam
wow, that is quite a shock to hear. here in the UK, it seems people with a religious belief or just a belief in God, are the ones who get 'bullied' and harrassed. nobody i know really takes religion too seriously, which i do not mind, as I am not the biggest fan of organized religion. sorry to hear that it the other way around for where you are peace
Then u are living in a free society that has been built on the dead burnt tortured bodies of the victamised. Occam