I love this blogger.

[chibi_evil]

http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2008/12/how-to-be-an-ally-with-atheists.html

she puts words on the page in funny and informative order.  And says stuff that needs to be shouted from the

Comments

[passer_hedera]

...(obviously, you win on the existence of god, common in one way or another to all religions, but then, I can win the same weight on the uncertainty or disbelief in god, common in one way or another to all atheists) you think you know, I can name you a sect that doesn't believe it, including the seemingly fundamental idea that Christ was God's son). You cannot both say that atheists have no set definitions and then say that atheists are open to spirituality and believe in religious tolerance and cannot be fundamentalists about their beliefs--because those are all means of defining the group.

The point is, any time you start make these arguments, in these terms, in a society like ours, about a group of people so incredibly diverse, you undermine yourself by people's personal experience. Because I can name at least 20 Christians who took that class with me who have Laura as a direct contradiction to everything those articles (the blog and its link) said, and Laura isn't alone in this world. Perhaps it is one of the unfortunate side effects of having so much ignorance and intolerance out there, but there are people drawn to those stereotypes who embrace them and embody them and while they would be perhaps better termed "Anti-Religious" than "Atheist" (and certainly I would be comfortable calling them that), that's not what they're calling themselves. And that may suck, and you certainly don't want other people associating you with them, that puts you in the position of anyone else who identifies as something (because no matter how diverse a group might be, the minute you start identifying as a group--which you do when you include yourselves among the ranks of opressed minorities, no matter how legitimate that inclusion is--you are going to face to critiques of that group as a group) that certain morons also identify with (albeit in a totally different way--see Christian fundamentalists and people like Theresa Mason, who's Christianity, passionate defense of religious freedom, and love and respect for all people cannot be denied or separated).

Now, I do fully acknowledge that there is a great deal of harm to be done in dividing and conquering, and that if your split between "good" atheists and "bad" atheists is about volume or passion, that's a very, very bad thing. But I think there's also a very big risk in taking such a diverse group, making sweeping statements about what they're like (which this blogger does to a fault, as much as I agree with her that this is what most are like), and then refer to the one's that aren't like that as "myths."...