fbpx
45.5 F
Spokane
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeCommentaryAskAsk An Atheist: Atheism as a minority

Ask An Atheist: Atheism as a minority

Date:

Related stories

My Journey through Homelessness Part Five: Learning to Live Outside the Box

The value of my homeless experience lies not so much in having learned how to live outside — at least not in the geographical sense. The value of my homeless experience lies in having learned how to live outside the box.

Lost in Translation: Isn’t It Time We Moved Beyond a Fear-Based Repentance?

When I hear the kingdom is at hand, followed immediately by the command to repent, the good news is overshadowed by the fear that I’m not good enough to be part of the kingdom of God.

Inspiring Others: How Our Marriage Turned 50

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years there are so many thoughts and memories going through my head. I have joked about how I don't know how you've put up with me for this long, which is really true in a sense with my Irish enthusiasm and temper.

Taking the Road ‘Less Traveled by’ Has Made ‘All the Difference’

Pete Haug remembers hearing Robert Frost read his poem "The Road not Taken" 65 years ago. It reminded him of his spiritual journey out of the Christianity of his youth into choosing the Baha'i faith as an adult.

Ask an EOC: Can You Confess in Private to God but not in Church Confession and be Forgiven?

Concerning the sacrament of Confession, Christ directly gave the authority to his Church to remit or retain the sins of the penitent. 

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

By Jim Downard

What do you want to Ask an Atheist? Submit your questions online or fill out the form below.

As an atheist you could be considered a member of a minority. 3-part question: (1) What kinds of challenges have you faced in your life as a minority member? (2) Do you hope for a future which inverts the ratio so that ‘believers’ are the minority? (3) Do you consider yourself a ‘militant atheist?’

SPO_House-ad_Ask-an-atheist_04251331. During my working life I generally kept my philosophy to myself, and experienced no direct reaction from the religious apart from the stray personal chats people get into in a working environment. I do not think that experience is typical for those who live in areas where religions are worn more openly on their sleeve, such as in the Bible Belt.

2.  Knowing both the science on how humans construct beliefs, the history of how diversity has played out in our past, and the philosophical need for freedom of conscience, I doubt seriously that most people can get by without embracing some sort of religious frame (which itself does not have to be even slightly true). Previous attempts to eradicate religion (French and Russian revolutions come to mind) were notoriously ineffective in that, along with violating individual freedom of conscience big time, so the issue seems to be moot. It’s like asking would I hope for governments without faction (as the Founding Fathers desired). That ain’t gonna happen. And, given how composers and artists from Bach to Michelangelo generated spectacular art inspired by their faith, I see no cultural utility in circumscribing what floats peoples’ boats as it may.

3. I would consider myself a “militant” defender of reason, evidence, individual freedom and conscience. Stupidity and superstition offends me, as it should all thinking beings, and if standing up against such things qualifies as militancy, so be it. Millions of people draw on their credulous acceptance of religious doctrines to oppose the teaching of evolution in schools, while others are inspired to hack heretics to death with swords. How can such things not warrant standing up for reality and decency and act in opposition to them?

Jim Downard
Jim Downard
Jim Downard is a Spokane native (with a sojourn in Southern California back in the early 1960s) who was raised in a secular family, so says had no personal faith to lose. He's always been a history and science buff (getting a bachelor's in the former area at what was then Eastern Washington University in the early 1970s).

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
spot_img
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x