What Christians think of “atheists”

From the Vancouver Sun, we learn what Christians allegedly think about "atheists":

Religious believers distrust atheists more than members of other religious groups, gays and feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers. The only group the study’s participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. That prejudice had a significant impact on what kinds of jobs people said they would hire atheists to do.
The study is titled, "Do You Believe in Atheists? Distrust Is Central to Anti-Atheist Prejudice." I don't believe in any god, but I tend to avoid use of the term "atheist."  I do this because when Christians use the word "atheist," they tend to mean something much different than when non-believers use the term "atheist."   If the subject of religiosity comes up, I describe myself by saying  "I don't believe in god."  If I'm asked whether I'm an "atheist," I say yes, but then further explain that I'm not out to tell other people what to believe in their hearts, and I'm not out to ridicule them for having a personal private belief in a sentient non-physical being.    I explain that in my view it is impossible for there to be a thinking being who who lacks some sort of physical neural network.   If I'm pressed to ask what I think of Jesus, I typically say that I have some doubts that he ever existed, but if he did, I believe he was a human being, nothing more. Based on these sorts of answers, I have almost always been able to have civil conversations and, often friendships, with those who claim to believe in God.   I doubt that many people have ever despised like they would a rapist based on my way of seeing the world. I wonder what the above study would have shown had the it used "non-believer" or "non-religious" or "persons who don't believe in God."   For many Christians, "atheist" has become a word referring to a person who not only doesn't believe in God but who is also hostile to those who do.  That is unfortunate, because many atheists are of the live-and-let-live attitude.  For many Christians, "atheist" has come to represent people who have no set of moral values and for whom "anything goes."  This is especially unfortunate, because that is not how any atheists use the term "atheist." Further, there are many degrees of non-belief and there are many other terms that more precisely describe the type of non-belief.   To lump all of these folks in with the cartoon version of the angry and intolerant atheist (which is the image that many Christians have of "atheists") gives a false view (I believe) of what most Christians think of those who don't believe in god. Notwithstanding anything I've written above, I'm also convinced that American society treats atheists unfairly, oftentimes abyssmally. One especially egregious example is that those who identify themselves as "atheists" are excluded from public office.  I see this as a form of bigotry, especially given (this is my personal guess) that at least 50% of Americans who claim to believe in god don't actually believe in god.  Rather, they believe in the importance of claiming to believe in god, and their actions speak much more loudly than their words. I'll end this post with a wish that someone would re-do the above study using a less inflammatory word to represent those who don't believe in god.  If this were done, I would bet my house that those who "Don't believe in God" would not be seen as less trustworthy than rapists.

Continue ReadingWhat Christians think of “atheists”

How to create money out of nothing

Dennis Kucinich explains how the Federal Reserve created 7.7 TRILLION out of nothing, allowing many big banks to profit while starving ordinary Americans of capital. This is a dramatic illustration of why there are Occupy protests. Kucinich is promoting the "Need Act "to reign in the Fed: "to restore the authority of Congress to create and regulate money, modernize and provide stability for the monetary system of the United States, retire public debt and reduce the cost of public investment, and for other public purposes." Here's a more detailed description of the proposed "Need Act." It attempts to accomplish the following: 􀂾 Puts the Federal Reserve (Fed) into the Department of Treasury (Treasury) to make our monetary policy truly accountable to Congress and the American people. 􀂾 Ends the banks’ special privilege by no longer allowing them to create our money supply when they make loans, through a simple and non-disruptive accounting change. 􀂾 Invests money to renew our crumbling infrastructure, making it fit for the 21st Century; creating real wealth and millions of good jobs at the same time.

Continue ReadingHow to create money out of nothing

Inventor says police are abusing weapons-grade pepper spray

From Democracy Now:

We speak with Kamran Loghman, the expert who developed weapons-grade pepper-spray, who says he was shocked at how police have used the chemical agent on non-violent Occupy Wall Street protesters nationwide — including students at University of California, Davis, female protesters in New York City, and an 84-year old activist in Seattle. “I saw it and the first thing that came to my mind wasn’t police or students, it was my own children sitting down having an opinion and they’re being shot and forced by chemical agents,” says Loghman, who in the 1980s helped the FBI develop weapons-grade pepper -spray, and collaborated with police departments to develop guidelines for its use. “The use was just absolutely out of the ordinary and it was not in accordance with any training or policy of any department that I know of. I personally certified 4,000 police officers in the early ‘80s and ‘90s and I have never seen this before. That’s why I was shocked... I feel is my civic duty to explain to the public that this is not what pepper spray was developed for.”

Continue ReadingInventor says police are abusing weapons-grade pepper spray

The lack of a bad thing is a good thing . . .

Not that I'm feeling down in the dumps, but if I were, I have a method for pulling out of a bad mood. A couple years ago, I wrote a post titled, "I know that I am wealthy when I consider my lack of misfortune." The general idea is that we should appreciate that the lack of misfortune is fortune.  The lack of a bad thing is a good thing. It occurred to me today that we have easy access to vast checklists of misfortune, and that it can make one feel lucky, indeed, to consider all the ways in which one is not medically unlucky.  One example is the type of form you are handed when you go to a doctor for the first time, wherein you are asked whether you have any of the following conditions, followed by things such as cancer, heart attack, diabetes, abscessed tooth, Alzheimer's, hepatitis, pancreatitus, and it goes on and on.   Though I do put a couple of check marks into the boxes, there are thousands of medical conditions that I don't have, which makes me lucky indeed. I'm lucky in other ways, because I don't struggle with any known psychological conditions, and there are hundreds of these too.  For instance, I don't suffer from bipolar disorder, hypochondriasis, kleptomania or any conditions on this long list. I am not required to take anti-depressants.  I'm happy to get out of bed each day.   I don't hate my job, my neighbors or my city.  I'm even appreciative of my country, though things are out of balance.  I appreciate that there are ways to make things better regarding my country. But I'm even luckier.   I don't struggle to keep any addictions in check, and this list is also extensive, including such things as gambling, OCD, drugs, alcoholism, and coin collecting . . . coin collecting???? I appreciate that I don't wake up with an urge to go to a casino or to get drunk.  Really and truly, and I've never had any such urges. I'm also lucky that I'm not unemployed in this bad economy. And though it is 13-years old, my car is working well. And my roof is not leaking.   Hoodlums aren't chasing me down the street at the moment.  I didn't just get bit by a brown recluse spider.  No warmongering superpower is dropping bombs anywhere near my house.  The electrical service is working well, allowing me to use this computer.   My kids are not failing out of school.  My city is not bankrupt.  I am not currently a victim of identity theft.  The pipes in my house are not leaking.  No neighbors are blasting their stereos outside.  I don't worry about hurricanes and earthquakes and tornadoes (though maybe I should worry about the latter two).   The lack of each of these bad things is truly a good thing for which I am thankful. Bottom line is that whatever it is that any of us has to deal with, it could be a lot worse, and a quick review of long lists of disorders and dyfunctions shows us how much worse things could be. Perhaps this post could be said to constitute some sort of skeptics prayer .. .

Continue ReadingThe lack of a bad thing is a good thing . . .