I know I’ve been writing a lot about social media recently, specifically Twitter, and I promise I’ll make a move away from discussing the perils of those platforms but I wanted to add one more post; This is about being an atheist on social media. There are a lot of atheists on the various platforms, in fact, several that I have followed on Twitter are on almost every one that exists. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but I wonder, and have for a long time, what good it does?
Should atheists be a protected class? So far, two cities, Madison, WI, and Portland OR have voted in favor of just that. It seems a bit silly to me, and I hope this doesn’t somehow become a trend. Are atheists discriminated against? Well, as far as I know, I’ve never experienced any, at least not openly, but that doesn’t mean it does not occur, just as there are still those that are denied bank loans and mortgages based on their race. It’s not an openly hostile environment, as it can’t be by law, but there’s always that subtle discrimination that niggles at the edge of society that is still a concern for many.
One thing I hear from Christians more often than anything else is why atheists always seem to focus on their religious belief and not others, particularly Islam. First, at least in the West, Christianity is the dominant religious belief and in the U.S. alone, some 71% identify with the Christian belief. That doesn’t mean that those same people are actual practicing Christians, it’s just that at least here, the influence of Christianity vastly outweighs that of any other religious belief.
For some reason, being an atheist is no longer sufficient for some. Even organizations like American Atheists have gone fully into the spectrum of social justice. Maybe because membership is declining (I don’t have any data on this) that they think they have to expand their charter to attract and younger, more activist, demographic. It’s no longer acceptable to just being an atheist, and those of us that are, are sometimes referred to as dinosaurs because being an atheist, att least to the few of us that remain, simply means a non-belief in god(s) and nothing else.
Whenever the smallest thing goes right for a Christian, they give Glory to God, or they thank Jesus. Think of all of those professional athletes in any sport that hit a home run, score a touchdown, or a goal in soccer: many of them will look to the sky, maybe kiss their fingers, and point toward that same sky. Why is it they give glory to some invisible being to celebrate that it is they who’ve worked since early childhood, to become the player they are today? As a former evangelical, I can understand this reaction.
Conservative Skeptic 