I’m pretty excited because on Saturday I’m going to the Wizard World Comic Book/Sci-Fi convention. This got me thinking about the link between science fiction fans and atheism.
Category Atheism
Wolfe Blitzer infamously asked Rebecca Vitsmun if she “thanked the Lord.” Arizona State Representative Juan Mendez presented a humanist “prayer” during the House prayer time. And all across the nation, whenever atheists put up a billboard (no matter how watered down) it generates media attention and controversy.
A Christian blog I read recently wrote about an old question asked to public intellectuals in 1908 by G.K. Chesterton. The question was, “What is wrong with the world?” Of course I have a very different take on the question than my Christian counterpart, but I think it is an interesting question to explore.
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who are like me and those who are different from me. Those who are different from me can’t be reasoned with because they are different than me on a fundamental level. I believe in inclusion but those that are different from me categorize people into two groups of people. Because they are different from me, they deserve to be belittled and attacked. We need to drive them out of our community and make them social pariahs.
I made a comment on the Huffington Post Religion’s Facebook page the other day that I didn’t believe Jesus actually existed. Now one can debate whether my belief is valid or not, but that isn’t what one Christian chose to do. No, one particular Christian decided to lash out in hate toward me instead.
A few years ago, the now Pope emeritus wanted to create a “dialog” with atheists… who aren’t strident in their lack of belief. Only, “noble atheists” were invited and to the Pope, that means that no atheists who are actually critical of the Catholic Church were welcome. Now Catholic bloggers have taken up a similar call for a “dialog.”
We’ve all heard that the internet is where religions go to die and it’s true. Recently, VJack over at Atheist Revolution published a great post about his struggle to find information on atheism before the internet. It got me thinking about my own struggles in the early days of they called “The World Wide Web.”
Atheists tend to be politically minded people. Most of us care about the world and human progress. We vote and we engage in activism for various causes and yet politicians barely know we exist. We need to change that.
Strictly speaking, atheism is simply a lack of belief in deities. However, being part of the greater community of reason for several years now, I have noticed something. Most active atheists tend to also be humanists… even if they don’t like that term. In this sense there are atheist values.
I was at the mall the other day and I noticed a woman wearing a burqa. I don’t see this…