christian Privilege
Austin Cline's Agnosticism / Atheism Blog entry on christian privilege is very characteristic of what I've seen IRL. This is one of the biggest things that disturb me about discrimination/ostrasizing of Atheists in America. I hear the same complaining from the majority (in this case, and most others, the fundamental christians) that whenever a minority gets equal treatment it has to be special treatment. When the GLBT community asks for the very same rights and privileges of heterosexuals, then those rights and privileges are suddenly labeled as "special treatment". So, why the hell is my marriage to the person I want to spend the rest of my life with a "normal" privilege, and if one of my GLBT friends wants to get married to the one person they want to spend their live with it is asking for "special treatment"? The reproduction argument certainly doesn't hold in this case.
The same thing seems to be happening to Atheists. There are dozens of christian student groups that meet as official clubs on any given university campus and no one bats an eye. But, a group of Atheists and Agnostics meeting gets crap from all sides. (Frankly, I've heard of the same kind of ostrasizing and harassing of Muslim and Hindu student groups, but not quite as bad.) The case that Austin Cline talks about really bothers me. We're not even talking about any rights, privileges, etc. of the Atheists themselves. We're talking about christians being upset that a newspaper published a positive article about local Atheists. Wow, suddenly the newspaper isn't allowed to report on things going on in their local community...well, I guess they are allowed as long as it isn't about any minority groups. So, reporting about the local church picnic is great, normal reporting. But, doing an article about a socially and politically marginized group having a rally is giving that group special treatment. It couldn't just be that the newspaper wanted to report about an important awareness event in their area--an event that the city should be proud of.
In my mind, the treatment of Atheists is becoming a true test/measure of an area's appreciation and valuing of diversity. It makes sense. Atheists have been deemed the most disliked minority group in the United States, so a city that welcomes Atheists has to be doing something right in terms of creating a truely inclusive community. I also cannot see a community being Atheist-friendly and not welcoming/accepting of GLBT, black, Hispanic, etc. individuals.
The same thing seems to be happening to Atheists. There are dozens of christian student groups that meet as official clubs on any given university campus and no one bats an eye. But, a group of Atheists and Agnostics meeting gets crap from all sides. (Frankly, I've heard of the same kind of ostrasizing and harassing of Muslim and Hindu student groups, but not quite as bad.) The case that Austin Cline talks about really bothers me. We're not even talking about any rights, privileges, etc. of the Atheists themselves. We're talking about christians being upset that a newspaper published a positive article about local Atheists. Wow, suddenly the newspaper isn't allowed to report on things going on in their local community...well, I guess they are allowed as long as it isn't about any minority groups. So, reporting about the local church picnic is great, normal reporting. But, doing an article about a socially and politically marginized group having a rally is giving that group special treatment. It couldn't just be that the newspaper wanted to report about an important awareness event in their area--an event that the city should be proud of.
In my mind, the treatment of Atheists is becoming a true test/measure of an area's appreciation and valuing of diversity. It makes sense. Atheists have been deemed the most disliked minority group in the United States, so a city that welcomes Atheists has to be doing something right in terms of creating a truely inclusive community. I also cannot see a community being Atheist-friendly and not welcoming/accepting of GLBT, black, Hispanic, etc. individuals.