Emotional Underpinnings of Organised Real Militant Atheism

[Seth]

I blame the countless abuse scandals for what is coming. The rise of organised social forms on the web is a reflection of what will be in real life. If Islam as Isis formed out of the webs odds and sods then so will rise a new kind of brutal atheism. The language used here on and everywhere across the secular communities is more and more emotive. Aggression, sublimated for now, is on all atheist forums. A new power is rising. Us. And unlike Isis we have the smarts too. The doorway to the stars is over the bodies of lesser men. How many though? A few million? A hundred million? The billions?

But you don't have the guns...so you're fucked.

[Seth]

But sceptics/rationalists/atheists/freethinkers don't all come with the same shared range of coherent ideas or subscribe to an overall ideology. The 'herding cats' thing comes to mind.

I guess we look to A+ for leadership eh?

It it too soon to remind everyone that trying to organize Atheists is like trying to herd cats?

[cronus]

Cat's are dumb and atheists apparently the most rational of the smartest species our planet has ever known. Atheists should be capable of self-organisation better than any other group. Repeating the mantra about herding cats is sloppy thinking.

[rainbow]

Cat's are dumb and atheists apparently the most rational of the smartest species our planet has ever known. Atheists should be capable of self-organisation better than any other group.

Entropy is working against you.

Repeating the mantra about herding cats is sloppy thinking.

You say this like it's a bad thing?

[Hermit]

Yeah. Atheism is the perfect vehicle for violent militancy.

[cronus]

Yeah. Atheism is the perfect vehicle for violent militancy.

Every small group makes themselves out to be the latest sheep on the block - it's a phase all groupings go through on the path to bloodthirsty world domination wolfdom.

[Hermit]

You're right. In Australia's 2011 census the people who ticked "none" when asked about their religion were the second largest group. Catholics and Anglicans immediately shuttered their churches and hid their favourite altar boys in expectation of being stormed by the unbelievers' Schutzstaffel.

[Seth]

Cat's are dumb and atheists apparently the most rational of the smartest species our planet has ever known. Atheists should be capable of self-organisation better than any other group. Repeating the mantra about herding cats is sloppy thinking.

And yet it's altogether true...

[Seth]

[quote="Hermit"]Yeah. Atheism is the perfect vehicle for violent militancy.

Yes, it is. I got three of yer militant Atheists right here, Sparky:

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Running death toll of militant Atheism: 100,000,000+

[Animavore]

Cat's are dumb and atheists apparently the most rational of the smartest species our planet has ever known. Atheists should be capable of self-organisation better than any other group. Repeating the mantra about herding cats is sloppy thinking.

And yet it's altogether true...

To what end would atheists self-organise? The only point I can see of being in an atheist activist group is if you live in a country in which atheists are persecuted. In those cases, yes, I can see the point of activism and standing up for your rights.
As it is I live in no such country and any things I do stand for positively are not contingent on me being an atheist. From Catholicism, through Buddhism to today my political and social beliefs have barely changed. Only my view of the cosmos has. None of those beliefs are going to be validated by me starting off with the declaration, "As an atheist..."
The only times I got together with other atheists was for Rationalia weekends, which were just weekends of beer and other naughtiness. I only recall talking about god and atheism two or three times in all the weekends I've been on.

[Rum]

The regimes Seth is referring to were essentially societies which had deified their leaders. They replaced fictional gods with deadly killers. They replaced religious dogma with political dogma and they were in effect Theocracies where unorthodoxy was and punishable by death.

Animavore is right. Rational atheism has no need or reason to organise politically except potentially to fight persecution.

[Brian Peacock]

And to fight, for your right, to...

[JimC]

The regimes Seth is referring to were essentially societies which had deified their leaders. They replaced fictional gods with deadly killers. They replaced religious dogma with political dogma and they were in effect Theocracies where unorthodoxy was and punishable by death.

Animavore is right. Rational atheism has no need or reason to organise politically except potentially to fight persecution.

Exactly. The crimes committed by those regimes were not done for the glorification of "No God", they were political acts designed to terrorise opposition to the regime and their leaders...

Plenty of other examples exist where the violent acts were (and still are) openly justified by an appeal to faith...

[klr]

You're right. In Australia's 2011 census the people who ticked "none" when asked about their religion were the second largest group. Catholics and Anglicans immediately shuttered their churches and hid their favourite altar boys in expectation of being stormed by the unbelievers' Schutzstaffel.

That should indeed make the altar boys nervous ...

And on a more serious note: How many times have we been over this ground? Throughout history, many dictatorships have had cults of personality, and most of them were also religious in nature. In fact, they used religion to prop themselves up. Think absolute monarchies and the Divine Right of Kings.

[Hermit]

Yeah. Atheism is the perfect vehicle for violent militancy.

Yes, it is. I got three of yer militant Atheists right here, Sparky:

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Running death toll of militant Atheism: 100,000,000+

O noes. That old canard again. Sure, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao were motivated by atheism. I'm surprised you did not continue with "because without God you can't have moral values" Sparky.