RE: General perception of atheists?
October 28, 2015 at 9:13 am
(This post was last modified: October 28, 2015 at 9:15 am by I_am_not_mafia.)
People have been pussy footing around theists for hundreds of years. People stop believing when they choose to critically examine what they are conditioned to believe. What we can do though is to help stop the infection from spreading to the younger generation. So while Satanists do not stop people from believing, stopping prayer at the start of city council sessions will help make religion less in your face. This means that people can be more confident about coming out as not being religious and this means that others will be more willing to question what they are being taught.
Also be aware that the OP is specifically referring to America here. In Europe I go round assuming that everyone is either an atheist or doesn't particularly care about religion. Less than 10% of the population are regular church going Christians here in the UK. About the same percentage that are gay or left handed. That may help you understand people like Ricky Gervais and Richard Dawkins. They have that confidence to be out as an atheist because they were born in a country that allowed that confidence.
Compare this to being gay just 20 years ago. Things have changed dramatically because we reached a tipping point where people could be out and proud of who they were and suddenly homosexuality stopped being seen as something you had to be ashamed of. This meant that more people came out rather than hid in the closet. Then it became normal. It will be exactly the same for atheism in somewhere like the US.
But it didn't happen without people preparing to fight for it and be completely outspoken.
Also be aware that the OP is specifically referring to America here. In Europe I go round assuming that everyone is either an atheist or doesn't particularly care about religion. Less than 10% of the population are regular church going Christians here in the UK. About the same percentage that are gay or left handed. That may help you understand people like Ricky Gervais and Richard Dawkins. They have that confidence to be out as an atheist because they were born in a country that allowed that confidence.
Compare this to being gay just 20 years ago. Things have changed dramatically because we reached a tipping point where people could be out and proud of who they were and suddenly homosexuality stopped being seen as something you had to be ashamed of. This meant that more people came out rather than hid in the closet. Then it became normal. It will be exactly the same for atheism in somewhere like the US.
But it didn't happen without people preparing to fight for it and be completely outspoken.
