I don’t know, is a rally of and for non-believers logical in and of itself? It’s certainly a free country and people gather and protest for a whole spectrum of purposes in the U.S. But a Reason Rally this weekend in DC to promote your belief in non-belief? Some participants have touted this weekend as a seminal event, the secular Woodstock – you’ll be forever sorry if you don’t participate. Years from now you’ll be telling little white lies to your friends, claiming you really were there, one among the fortunate.
Two comments that were posted on the Reason Rally’s website are a bit telling:
“As a non-believer, I’d like to get involved. But some atheist groups are just as bad as the religious groups as far as being bullies. Contrary to some atheist’s opinions, not all religious people are ignorant. If only the atheists could set a better example. Otherwise, what’s the point? The last thing we need is another group claiming the moral high ground.”
“There is a big difference between ignorant and stupid. Nobody claimed they (believers) were stupid. Ignorance is ‘not knowing’. However, religious people tend to choose ignorance, they don’t want to know or find out the truth. That’s stupidity. When information is available which you choose to ignore and you still base an opinion and call it fact, that’s stupidity. Ignorance breeds bigotry and hatred. Religion encourages ignorance. I am a freethinking atheist. I took it upon myself to think, therefore I know.”
Woodstock? Wasn’t that about peace and love? Everyone hum along now (with a pardon to Ms. Joni Mitchell):
“By the time we got to DC, we were a few thousand non-believers strong,
And everywhere there was doubt and secularization.
And I dreamed I saw a Hitchens cloud shinning lonely in the sky,
Turning us into zeros throughout the nation.”
I don’t know everything that I believe in. Personally, I’m unconvinced by many of the dogmas sent my way by established churches and well-intentioned para-church ministries. But I know I don’t believe in nothing.
2 comments:
Great post.
There are various stripes of non-believers. It may be a shame that believers overgeneralising about them, but this may descend from their overgeneralising about themselves (never mind us). There seems to be a lot off bird-chirping to assure themselves they are part of a flock, which is nearby, and thinks like they do.
Not all, of course. But it will be interesting for them to get together and find out how much they disagree with each other. In the end "The dwarves are for the dwarves."
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