Atheist Etiquette
I stumbled on a compelling new blog a few weeks back, and I’m afraid I must insist that you check it out.
Atheist Etiquette is the blog of “an atheist who’s interested in exploring the ways atheists and agnostics can relate to the rest of society without compromising their own integrity, harming the atheist cause (if there is such a thing) or causing unnecessary and inappropriate harm or discomfort to others.”
He continues: “I’ve learned over the years that getting along with people is a good thing to do when you can manage it, and that etiquette isn’t only (or mainly) about doing the ‘proper’ thing, but often about just showing some consideration for the other people who share the world with you….I’m not particularly interested in the ’cause’ of atheism — promoting atheism as a worldview or taking a big stand for atheists getting the rights and respect they deserve. I think it’s good that there are people doing that, but I’m more interested in the questions that affect ordinary, run-of-the-mill atheists and agnostics as they try to navigate life in a world where most people believe in gods and magic, and often assume that everyone else does as well.”
I wouldn’t have the least interest in this blog if it advocated a kind of indiscriminate respect for religious ideas. The narrower and far more interesting straits explored by Atheist Etiquette are revealed in its subtitle: “How to get along with real people and their imaginary friends.” There’s nuance and wisdom in there. It is possible to treat people well even as you withhold respect for, or actively challenge, their ideas. In fact, this blogger seems to fully grasp that it’s desirable — that we stand a far better chance of getting good people to reconsider bad ideas if we separate the people and their inherent worth from those ideas.
Atheist Etiquette isn’t always consistent on that score — but who is? And I’m not even certain he would quite agree with my own way of looking at this, which is fine. The main thing is that he’s hard at work sorting out this important but under-explored topic.
A few favorite posts to get you started:
Etiquette Rules #1-5 (starts here)
To bow (your head) or not to bow?
“I’ll pray for you”
Third-party insults
Being polite vs. being respectful
The All-American rollercoaster
It’s been one of those rollercoaster weeks for fans of intelligence in the U.S. On Wednesday, we watched a US President deploying bone-crushing intelligence and rhetorical gifts in pursuit of progress in health care policy, one of the most pressing moral issues of our time.
Now there’s this:
New Charles Darwin film is ‘too controversial’ for religious American audiences
Daily Mail Reporter (UK)
12th September 2009A new British film about Charles Darwin has failed to land a distribution deal in the States because his theories on human evolution are too controversial for religious American audiences, according to the film’s producer.
Creation follows the British naturalist’s ‘struggle between faith and reason’ as he wrote his 1859 book, On The Origin Of The Species.
The film, directed by Jon Amielm, was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has now been sold to almost every territory in the world.
But US distributors have turned down the film that could cause uproar in a country that, on the whole, dismisses scientific theories of the way we evolved.
Christian film review website Movieguide.org described Darwin as ‘a racist, a bigot and a 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder.’
The site also stated that his ‘half-baked theory’ influenced Adolf Hitler and led to ‘atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and generic engineering.’
Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.
‘That’s what we’re up against. In 2009. It’s amazing,’ he said.
‘The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.
‘It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There’s still a great belief that He made the world in six days.
‘It’s quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.
‘Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn’t saying “kill all religion”, he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people.’
I suppose it’s time to change the last few seconds of the trailer to “Not coming anytime soon.”
CONSOLATIONS
One of the most beautiful and creative websites I’ve ever seen
A marvelous review by the incomparable Eugenie Scott
Roger Ebert waxes rhapsodic about Darwin
Darwin in five minutes
Big Brothers (2 of 2)
Older siblings can have a strange and scary power over their youngers. So experienced, so judgmental, and so good at pushing buttons.
I was the middle of three, and so both receiver and wielder of that power. I could get my younger brother to completely lose his mind with a well-timed twitch of my eyebrow and rarely missed the chance (sorry, Randy). My older brother could do the same to me.
Ron’s five years older, so I was in kindergarten when he was in fifth grade and therefore automatically an Ewok to his Obi-Wan. By the time I entered junior high, he was halfway through high school. I started college right after he finished. There was just no catching up.
I know Connor (14) has the same effect on his sisters. They try to dismiss his teasing or criticisms, but it’s not easy. He aims, he fires, they fall.
The same is true with his observations about life in general, which are always delivered with the devastating finality of Judge Judy. He tells them how it is; they mutter “nuh uhh,” then collapse into brow-knitted self-doubt.
That dynamic was only one of my concerns when Connor delivered one of these pronouncements a few days ago. From the next room, I heard Delaney (7) sharing a conversation she had with a friend at school. “I told her I didn’t really believe in God, but I was still thinking about it. She said she didn’t know anybody else who…”
“Lane…” Connor said, then sighed with exaggerated patience.
She stopped. “What?”
“Lane, you really shouldn’t talk about religion at school.”
“Why not? It’s interesting.”
“You shouldn’t talk about it because you gain nothing and it gets all your friends to hate you.”
Unquote.
Pause.
“Nuh uhh.”
“Yes. It does, Lane.”
It took every bit of my strength to stay in my chair.
I had at least three reasons to be concerned about this. First, I wanted to know if he was speaking from painful experience. If not, I wanted to be sure Delaney completely disregarded his advice, since these astonishing conversations are a big part of her unique engagement with the world. And if it WAS something he experienced, I might need to revisit the advice I give to parents around the country — to encourage their kids (and themselves) to discuss belief and disbelief openly in hopes of moving us toward that world in which differences in belief are no big deal. The whole idea of engaged coexistence turns on questions like this.
I waited until after dinner, then told Connor I’d heard their conversation. I said this was something I needed to know the truth about because parents come to me for advice on these issues, and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. Had this ever happened to him? Had he ever had friends begin to hate him because of religious differences or conversations?
“Well…no,” he said. “Not anymore. But younger kids do that.”
“Someone stopped being your friend when you were younger?”
“Well…no. But one time this kid freaked out because I told him I didn’t think God was real.”
“And he hated you from then on?”
“No, I guess not. He just freaked out for a minute, you know, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you don’t believe in God, how can you not believe in God?’ blah blah. Then everything was fine. We were still friends and everything.”
I was relieved. This is exactly what I’ve heard from countless parents–the vast majority of the time, kids engage, they freak out, they move on. I asked Connor not to discourage Laney from talking about these things with friends, and he agreed.
At bedtime I asked Laney what she thought about Connor’s advice. She shrugged. “It’s not true. My friends don’t hate me. They think it’s interesting.”
I told her that I’d chatted with him and found out that it had never happened to him. I encouraged her to keep it up as long as she found it interesting.
“I know. It doesn’t bother me when he says things like that,” she assured me. “I just think…” She shook her head dismissively and sighed. “…brothers.”
Science from Giants
A big dino-roar to Kate Miller of Charlie’s Playhouse for tipping me off to an unbearably cool new thing for kids–a CD/DVD by the brilliant and unpredictable band They Might Be Giants called HERE COMES SCIENCE. The tracks:
1. Science Is Real
2. Meet the Elements
3. I Am a Paleontologist
4. The Bloodmobile
5. Electric Car
6. My Brother the Ape
7. What Is a Shooting Star?
8. How Many Planets?
9. Why Does the Sun Shine?
10. Why Does the Sun Really Shine?
11. Roy G. Biv
12. Put It to the Test
13. Photosynthesis
14. Cells
15. Speed and Velocity
16. Computer Assisted Design
17. Solid Liquid Gas
18. Here Comes Science Bonus Track
19. The Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)
19 tracks of music on the CD, and animated music videos for each of them on the DVD.
Preorder now — releases on September 8.
Preview the music video for Science is Real. Be sure to enjoy the comment thread on Amazon below the video.
Oh, you beautiful people
The Foundation Beyond Belief Fund Drive finished gorgeously. Including direct contributions outside of the ChipIn system, we came within two percent of our goal, raising an astonishing $8590 from 194 contributors in two weeks.
It’s one thing to hear people expressing casual interest in a new idea and quite another to see them digging into their resources — especially during the current economic unpleasantness — to make it happen. And that’s just what you did.
There’s something startling and moving about the realization that this is money freely given in support of an idea. It’s one thing to give to an organization with a track record, but there’s something special — overwhelming, really — about seeing this kind of support in advance.
So a heartfelt thank you from the Board, our volunteer staff, and me. We’ve had plenty of willing feet on the pedal. Now, thanks to our donors’ generous support, we have gas in the tank to finish out 2009 and launch on time.
What’s that you say? You missed the drive? Or you want to donate again? No worries. A brand-new widget seems to have grown in the sidebar for ongoing donations to help us pay for logo design, bookkeeping, and all sorts of other necessary things both sexy and unsexy. Thanks for considering it when you can.
Last Day — let’s bring it home!
We’re in the final hours of the Foundation Beyond Belief fund drive. As of 10AM noon 8PM on this the final day, we’ve raised an amazing 81 percent 85 percent 90 percent of the funds we need to see us through to January 1!
It’s getting exciting now. The Board has selected two of the featured causes for the launch and will announcing them (and the rest) beginning in October. Both the website and brand new logo are under construction. And our publicist is feverishly working on a promotional campaign that will swell the ranks of our membership.
Thousands of atheists and humanists coming together to make a positive change in countless lives around the world–THAT’S the vision we’re building here. And it’s working because of your generosity in this fund drive.
If you haven’t chipped in yet, I hope you’ll help us reach the goal. Click on the ChipIn! button in the sidebar to give whatever you can manage. Thanks for your support and encouragement.
Dale
(NOTE: The widget says the drive ends Sept 2 — that means midnight tonight.)