Atheophobia

This thread on Atheophobia (or Atheist phobia) which is the fear or hatred of atheism or atheists. Examples should include both individual, cultural, institutional, and media cases that involve and/or promote discrimination and/or persecution throughout history. The Otherwiki has more info on the subject...[1]

We've had atheism topics before. They either die from lack of interest or attract flaming — mainly directed at religions. I'll open this one but it will be monitored carefully.

I considered making a lengthy post here, and then decided no, I really can't. Avoid flame wars, don't say anything if you can't say something nice, you know, all that Christian/Golden Rule jazz.

Well to kickstart the topic: I find it weird that in order to hold office in certain states in U.S.A., one must acknowledge the existance of an higher being. And I think this practice violates the First Amendmant if you're forcing an atheist to be an hypocrite to their beliefs.

That is cuz' the U.S is weird and/or fucked up.

Article VI, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution, in part: "...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." So there can't be a legal requirement to profess a specific faith in order to qualify for elected office.

If you're talking about "the people won't elect an atheist" then it's a cultural issue rather than an issue of legal rights.

edited 11th Dec '15 12:17:48 PM by Bense

If you're saying "sure, but that's that the Federal level - States can still require a religious test" no, they can't. That was decided by the Supreme Court in Torasco v. Watkins in 1961. The "no religious test" clause of the Constitution applies to the states because of the 14th amendment. It was a unanimous decision too, not any of this 5-4 nonsense.

Or, as I was saying, "The U.S be cray cray"

All this weird ass state stuff.

Some states still have a test on the books, but they've been rendered null and void because of the above ruling.

In short, Federal authorities would fall down on them like a ton of bricks if they tried to enforce it, but they'll never try to enforce it anyway since they wouldn't elect an atheist in the first place.

edited 11th Dec '15 1:25:11 PM by Medinoc

Does anyone want to do the research to find out if any atheists actually have been elected to office in those states since 1961? Or even before the SCOTUS ruling in 1961? I would guess you would find that at least a few have.

The states in question are Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

An initial web search on my part is just turning up a lot of propaganda about how horrible those seven states are, not a lot about whether any elected atheists have actually been prevented from serving office.

If you search yourself, recall that we're talking ANY state elected office, not just governor or state legislature.

Isn't that the bible belt

It is difficult to even enter a race as a professed atheist due to the level of media-abetted persecution one immediately faces.

It remains one of the more socially acceptable prejudices, even though the Constitution would appear to prohibit overt discrimination.

edited 11th Dec '15 2:28:43 PM by Fighteer

It's one of those things where it is written it's not supposed to be a thing (atheophobia) but it happens anyway. But it really is not as common or as bad as it seems, it's not as big anyways.

Doesn't mean it is not important or that it is ok for it to happen but...it's nothing that a thick skin and a critical mind cannot just shrug off, unlike other more severely persecuted religions, beliefs, races or genders.

note that this is only for the U.S, though. In other countries atheism is punishable with death.

I certainly wouldn't want to be an atheist in any Islamic nation. But then I wouldn't really want to be a Christian there either.

Saudi Arabia declares all atheists are terrorists that began in March 2014. [1]

My mother in-law has asked my wife sometimes, in hushed tones, whether I believe in God. She is hardly a devout person, but it disturbs her that I might lack a religious faith. My wife accepts it but asks me not to make a point of it, which I don't.

My son's at the age where he's asking questions about God and religion and seems open to the idea, which concerns me quite a bit. But how is he to distinguish it from any other supernatural idea that he's saturated with in media? If Superman, then Jesus?

Jesus wasn't rebooted into a horrible dark Snyder film :D

As someone who lives in a place where you can face charges for criticizing religion in any way, I find it hard not to antagonize it. My inner darkness tells me you should stop such thoughts in him, but then I have to slap it and remind myself that faith is not a bad thing on principle.

Let him discover his own path. Maybe religion will be a phase, maybe won't. Of course, you'll have to stop him from using it as an excuse to validate toxic ideas, but faith itself can be a positive force too.

Onto the actual topic - I wonder how is atheophobia is structurally different from prejudice against a minority religion? It seems to be the struggle almost always boils down to a single powerful and privileged version of a religion trying to set fire of all the others. What makes prejudice of atheists different from prejudice of muslims?

edited 11th Dec '15 3:11:43 PM by Luminosity

I would tell your son what you believe (or choose not to believe) and why you believe it, but also say that you'll respect whatever decision he makes when he's older and has carefully investigated his options.

Also that if he chooses something other than what you believe that it won't change your love for him.

In a sense, you and your mother-in-law might be Not So Different when it comes to these things (I know nothing about your personal lives, though).

On another note, why do you feel concerned in regards to your son? Is it a fear of him becoming a fundamentalist or an asshole to other people who do not do and say the same things he does?

You can start by saying that there's a general agreement that Jesus (aka Yehuda) was a historic, Real Life figure, as most historians and scholars, both ancient and modern (and both theist, agnostic and atheist) said throughout the years^note unless you happen to believe in the Christ myth theory, which, personally, I find it about as credible as the theory of the world being flat - I'm not gonna debate this, since this is not the thread for it.

That being said, if he's feeling really curious, I suggest letting him explore and know more about it), while providing information on the various faiths and religions spreaded throughout the world (starting with the Abrahamic ones, for a closer point of reference), from a neutral standpoint.

It's best to provide information while not openly deriding his curiosity, otherwise, he'll become more openly defiant against you when it comes to these matters, and will embrace a possible faith within him more intensely (whether this would be a good thing or not, it depends on a lot of factors). Also, it's best to make sure he does not become persuaded by cultish groups or by fundamentalist sects, by pointing out how they deviate or massively contradict the main tenets of the religion (and its moral and philosophical values).

And, ultimately, if he wants to embrace a religion and/or a belief (and does it in a respectful way towards you and others around him), I say accept him and his belief, even if you disagree with said religion and/or belief. By doing so, you would become instantly better than some religious families who kick out or unjustifiably punish their kids for not adhering to their beliefs.

This is what I would do, if a hypothetical child of mine wanted to find another religion other than Christianity or to become an atheist.

/Partially 'd.

edited 11th Dec '15 3:28:45 PM by Quag15

What you need is various fantasy novels that include a history of the world's creation. What will be harder will be finding some that throw in some real historical figures. Then you can easily point out the differences, or lack thereof, with the Bible.

Edit: Wrong pothole.

edited 12th Dec '15 2:32:57 AM by Medinoc

Genesis is all well and good, but is there anything in there that makes it more credible than, say, the Silmarillion?

That's the question to ask.

Genesis? ^note 

edited 12th Dec '15 4:08:28 AM by Greenmantle

Oh, I'm not railroading him into anything, believe me. I would not be so hypocritical. I am, however, doing my best to frame The Bible and religion in general as "a thing people believe in" rather than "The Truth".