Do you feel (new) Atheist culture?

[Pyrrho]

So, for me, there has to be something more than just that someone is an atheist for me to feel a special bond.

I understand completely - there is no guarantee that another atheist has the personality traits and shares the values that are most important to you just because she or he is an atheist.  But that is also true for me and other Germans, and no one would deny that I am a part of a shared German culture. Similarly, as a western English speaking atheist today one likely shares some cultural symbols and knowledge with other atheists and therefore unwittingly is in a shared culture and community of the sort I describe above without necessarily realizing it or striving for it. It may not be so true for you, but I believe it is for many including myself, but I'm not sure which is why I asked the question.

Yes, what you say is consistent with other posts you have written in the past.  You seem to be more social than I am, and more inclined to feel a sense of community with others than I am.

I do not mean for that to seem like either a compliment or an insult.  Just a comment on how things seem to be, not a value judgement about them.

You are certainly correct that I do have some commonalties with other atheists, but that fact does not inspire the same feelings in me that it seems to inspire in you.


Somewhat off topic rambling is hidden:

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When I visited Germany many years ago, I could not speak the language, and I enjoyed going for walks alone in small towns, just looking around, as it is enough different from the U.S. to be interesting, but without being frightening.  The fact that I could not speak the language made it more of an adventure, because although many Germans speak English, many do not, and so if I encountered someone, I would not know in advance if I would be able to effectively speak with the person or not.

I was traveling with three other Americans, two of whom seemed to want things to be more like the U.S. than they were.  To me, the whole point of going to a foreign land is to experience something different from what one experiences at home.  If I wanted the experience of the U.S., I would just have stayed in the U.S.  I also enjoyed speaking with the Germans I met, as I found them engaging and interesting.  Of course, not speaking German at the time, I only really spoke with those who could speak English.  In one small town, I met a young woman because she wanted to practice her English.  I very much enjoyed her company.

The first German I really spoke with in Germany was a young woman of 17.  Her English was superb, with just a very slight accent, just noticeable and which was so slight that it was no impediment to understanding her at all.  I was quite impressed, and told her that she spoke English better than most Americans.  She did not believe me, but I swear it was true.  Her grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation were all superb, like what one would expect from a very well-educated native speaker (other than the very slight German accent).  I met her because my group was temporarily splitting up, and I was traveling with someone who did not speak German.  The  German speaker in my group, who was not going to be going on the train with me, spoke with the conductor of the train, who found the young woman who volunteered to help make sure we switched trains at the right place.  So we had a nice chat on the train, which we would likely not have had if I spoke German.  If I had been smart, I would have tried to get her name and contact information, but I was young and foolish.  (I very much understand the statement, youth is wasted on the young, which I did not appreciate when I was young.)  Anyway, I met other pleasant Germans later, and saw many interesting things, so the trip was a very nice vacation for me.


I enjoyed conversing with Germans partly because of some of the differences between us.  I felt as connected to the people I met there as I generally do to people who live here.  More so than with many people with whom I interact here.  Some things in America are just crazy, whereas at least some of those things are sane in Germany.  For example, the attitude toward alcohol.  I am much more at home with Germans than with Americans when it comes to general attitudes towards alcohol.  And nudity on broadcast TV.  For the most part, with the differences I observed, I preferred the German attitudes over American attitudes.



Getting a little closer to the topic of this thread, I don't feel connected with religious people.  Atheism is pretty much a requirement for me to feel much of a bond with someone, but it is only one of many things that are necessary.  Being generally reasonable is important, as are kindness and honesty.  These characteristics are more important to me than atheism per se, though I don't think theism is a reasonable position, and so it detracts from their reasonableness.  But certain kinds of characteristics can be more enjoyable if they are different.  And that is where the story of my trip to Germany fits in, as I very much liked the foreignness of the place.  Likewise, I enjoyed my trip to Montreal.  The native French speakers I met all seemed to fit into two categories, those who were put off by someone being a native speaker of English (for which I do not blame them, as they are surrounded by English speakers and there was talk a few years back of Canada trying to make everyone speak English), and those who were charming.  I hope to go back some day, but, unfortunately, travel is expensive.  Canada, though, is cheaper for me to visit than Europe, so maybe I will actually get back to Canada again (which I have visited several times, but only once to Quebec).  The foreignness of the place is part of the attraction.  My feelings toward the people are in no way harmed by such dissimilarities to me.

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