This post is in english, as I recently joined a quaint little community on facebook called "Atheists". As an atheist and democrat, I have thus found out that a lot of people have very disturbing views on atheism and religion. That is, some atheists have some really big issues with religion, and vice versa. I want to show some of the stuff I've seen, and then just present my own opinions about it.
First off, all atheists claim to be followers of reason. Of course, just calling yourself atheist does not make you automatically always reasoning. There are several examples, which I will show, that proves different. Those who do have these... morally askew perspective on atheism and religion, also tend to wear it on their sleeve. They make atheism a lifestyle akin to such groups where conformity is more important than individuality, which atheists generally disapprove of.
Firs off, a little youtube link that someone posted on the Athist wall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDQrvObop3E&feature=player_embedded
This is really something. The reporter, with no qualms about speaking as if its the official truth coming out of his mouth, speaks of how growing islamization is a threat. The proof? A hidden camera filming a street filled with muslims. The reporter says it is a hidden camera from a man who claims the Muslims fill up the streets. The mental image is that there are kneeling people at every street in Paris, which we can quickly rationalize as a fucking lie, or, at best, an insulting exaggeration. These popele, in return, say that they are on the streets because they can't fit in the mosque. This is pretty believable, which leads me to think that the "video evidence" is of just one street, at one time each day or so, filmed by a lying rascist schmuck. Second proof. A series of sci-fi books where the Muslims, in the future, has taken over society. Well fuck me, then it MUST be true! Just like scientology! Hey, atheist dumb-ass-who-posted-this, know who else base their belief in a book? Yeah, thats right...
I do not even want to call this kind of people atheist, or rather, I do not want to call myself that either. My belief is strong, and I have come to peace with a world without a god, where we die and there will be an eternity of nothing. This also means that I do not have to conform to what other people think. I am safe in my own beliefs, and reason (true reason) is the only thing I need to guide me through life. Do I need to brand myself as an atheist? Not really. Others will, but I do not, as this would put me in league of people of the kind I just talked about. I do not want people to think I'm a hypocritical hater.
I do not "like" religion, in fact, I do believe we'd handle it pretty good if we were to get rid of it. But it is naive to even think about that. What I DO like, however, or even LOVE, is our democratic rights, our human rights, and our chance to actually live our lives in any way we choose. That is a wonderful thing! You want to wear a Burkha? Hell, I wont force you to take it off! "But they are forced to wear it because of their patronizing men". Some, yes, but that doesn't mean we can make laws that forbid something that a great deal of people actually choose to do. "But Islam has anti-female traditions. To make these traditions and cultural outlets illegal would stop this". Say what? Listen to that argument. We must make everything that stands for inequality, injustices and discrimination, illegal. Right. That means laws should also regulate working places so we have a perfect male-female ratio. We must stop giving money to research breast-cancer, and we must illegalize BDSM-sex. We should also make all kinds of child sports illegal (who can tell if the children do it for themselves or for their parents?). There is a numbe rof complications that arise. But all these are bleak in comparison to one thing: Forbidding religious and cultural life, would mean going against the human rights.
A person who thinks this is a good thing, is not worthy of being a part of human rights. If we cannot stand for this, then we shouldn't partake in it either. You have two choices here: Either commit to being a racist, or commit to being stupid.
Another thing that I react to, is the slander that frequently erupts. "Priests are childmolesters and muslims are jihad". yeah, it might be said jokingly, but it is also NOT TRUE. As it is NOT TRUE, it is not a reasonable thing to say, which contradicts the fact that so many claim to "follow reason". Following reason has become nothing more than a group mantra!
Another user on the Athist wall put up a link to an article claiming that "intelligent people are less likely to be religious" which also made me react. Comments on this article also made it clear what people think. Elitist views on ones own superiority. Another thing that constitutes group-thinking and conformity! Tribalist views like this never leads to anything good. "We are clearly superior, and THEY are less intelligent". Well, fuck you, thats what Hitler also said...
It has nothing to do with intelligence. Reason states that following a religious group is not a thing of intelligence at all. If it was, people would actually go "Hm, I have thought about it a long time, and I have reached the conclusion that God exists! Lets find a church!". Yeah, i can't see that happening. Most often, it is an emotional thing. It can be group-pressure, depression, or any other non-intelligent-related issues. It could even be based on emotional intelligence, that is, empathy or emotional understanding. Which would mean that some people just have more EQ than IQ, which doesnt make then any more stupid than the elitist atheist who many times have no clue about what reason is. NOTE: The report about intelligence and religion was also heavily criticized by other scientists. This fact, however, was not taken into account by ANY of the so called "followers of reason", which states that they actually chose to believe in what was stated first and that most corelated with their own world-view.
So, lets conclude this.
1. Reason is but a word, and nothing that should be taken seriously. This is not what I am saying, it is what these poeple have shown through their actions.
2. This group and its views are more important than that of the global community and even human rights.
3. These groups also stand for an elitist approach to life, and takes every chance they get to profile themselves as intelligent and reasoning, and all otehrs as stupid and simple.
These tendencies are nothing to joke about, as it is this kind of tribalism warfare that leads to conflicts and that never has anything good come out of them. Conflicts that are not based on "higher goals" or that, if won, will change anything! These conflicts are mental ghosts of the groups who are a part of them. Choosing some info and ignoring other, ignoring self-contradictions, slandering the "others" at every turn, and propagating ones own superiority, are all trademarks of fascism. If you want to delve deeper on this, read Jonathan Glovers book "Humanity; A moral history of the twentieth century", which deals with tribalism, conflicts of this kind, and the psychology and moral behind them. Do this, and you will why it is NOT reason that these individuals adhere to, it is blind love for something that makes them feel good about themselves. And that is NOT reason, and it is also the exact same thing that they claim to hate so much about religious people. Contradictory and non-reasoning. I will have no part of it.
NOTE: This is all aimed at the people who act like this and spread this kind of propaganda, and NOT the general atheist community members, who actually ARE reasonable and understanding, etc. As such, do not take this as an attack on atheism itself. It is not. I am atheist myself, but I just wanted to point out that what the people I describe stand for, is NOT something that we other members of the atheist community should condone,
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