From the Kansas City Star comes an excellent article praising atheists. With headings like:
Atheists are well-behaved.
Atheists make good neighbors.
Atheists will not infringe upon your life uninvited.
You know you are in for some good reading. I particularly liked the ending statement:
Right-wing Christianity shook the atheist community out of its complacency with its relentless rhetorical badgering and attempts to co-opt the country.
There’s truth and irony in that, the more the right-wing fundies bleat and moan, or attempt to force their ideals on the rest of society, the more the atheist community is likely to speak out against them.
Thanks to PossumMomma for the heads-up.
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What a neat article! Thanks for posting it – I think I might have missed it otherwise. It does make me wonder what will happen to the atheist movement if the Christian right becomes less visible for a time.
Great article. Thanks for the link. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have found this one on my own.
Thanks for the article! I especially liked the comments where the atheists were civil but the religious were militant.
Wow, thanks for sharing that. It’s good to see a positive look on atheists in the media. I think I’ll reference this later when I get around to compiling a post on atheism in the mainstream.
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well gosh i am glad to have this information.
I mean well duh?!?!!?
who knew that people with no agenda wouldn’t try to push an agenda on me!
😉
I’m sometimes unsure if I should just re-post what others have discussed, but I guess we all have different blogs we read and different readers on our blogs. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for the link. The article does over-generalise I guess, but a lot more accurately than the negative stereotypes of atheists!
Yes, that was an interesting article, I agree with the flaw of extreme right Christians. I would also like to point out the extreme of any belief or non-belief, views, opinions or what not is a danger to society.
as for the comments Athiests are well-behaved, make good neighbors…etc. that maybe true,but it doesn’t mean that just because one is an athiest that it would imply they are good people. Weather a person believes in God or not, wouldn’t keep a person from being a thorn in societies side due to a skewed mindset.
I wasn’t aware that there were atheists in Kansas City. That in itself is encouraging. The article, too was interesting.
“(Want to talk marginalized? How many atheists have there ever been in Congress or the White House?)”
*sigh*
I would also like to point out the extreme of any belief or non-belief, views, opinions or what not is a danger to society.
I half-agree. I can’t see how it is possible to be “extreme” in one’s non-belief, or what kind of danger that could pose to society. But extremism about one’s beliefs–be they religious, or political, or whatever–can be problematic, especially if they are not justified.
Athiests are well-behaved, make good neighbors…etc. that maybe true,but it doesn’t mean that just because one is an athiest that it would imply they are good people.
You’re right. But the article is responding to the belief that being an atheist implies that one is not a good person.
AV,
You’re right, It was a slip up caused by haste. Reason being,I commented during my last minutes at work. I was meaning believers and non-believers, but your comment on extremism, pretty much, sums up what I was trying to say.
arthur- I think that is the thing that bothered me most about the article-it seemed to make the assumption that all atheists are bad neighbors and that all theists believe that to be true. If you are a kind and respectful person then I believe that you are a good person.
I’m not sure all atheists would be comfortable with linda stereotyping them into such a narrow (and righteous!) definition. Similarly, don’t bother thinking that the label “Christian” makes us all the same. 0.4 percent atheist–a pretty noisy minority i must say! http://pauljub.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/yes-im-still-speaking-to-atheists/
vjack- I don’t think it will make much difference to atheists if the xian right in the USA becomes less visible- over here in the UK we don’t have the same level ofevangelism or religionstas / fundamentalists- yet we still have lots to fight andprotest about