Now Christians, they dance like this, but atheists, THEY dance like this...
About a week ago, my brother-in-law posted a status update to his facebook status, which said something along the lines that 'the atheists that he knows proselytize their beliefs more than the Christians he knows.' I must admit, as a knee-jerk reaction, I was taken aback. Sure, atheists tend to talk about atheism a great deal in online atheist forums (just like Christians talk about Christianity in online Christian forums and Battlestar Galactica fans talk about Battlestar Galactica in online Battlestar Galactica forums) but outside of that, I really don't see a whole lot of atheist proselytizing. I myself write blog posts about atheism maaaaybe four or five times a year, and even then, the posts are not usually proselytizing, they're there to simply 'set things straight' when I see misconceptions about what I believe (such as this post here). In real life, I virtually never talk about my atheism, not because I'm deliberately hiding it, but because I've always maintained that being an atheist is the most boring thing about me. I'd much rather talk about puppets, or dinosaurs or Doctor Who (seriously, don't ask me about Tom Baker unless you have a few hours to spare).
Conversely, on Sunday mornings, I see an enormous cloud of posts on my facebook that say things like "God was with us at Church today on this blessed morning" or "Cornerstone Church had a lovely service"... I'm not complaining about it (if it really bothered me, I would simply hide the statuses) but I do see it quite a bit. My brother-in-law and I have mutual non-believer friends, and I can honestly say that none of us push or promote atheism on other people at all.
Once I calmed down and thought about things a bit, I really looked my brother-in-law's wording, and came to grips with where the misconception may lie. I don't go around talking about atheism all the time, but, just like anyone else, I do promote my beliefs a great deal. I talk about gay rights. I talk about social services and homeless outreach. I talk about critical thinking. I blather incessantly about science education.
I talk about these issues a great deal. I also happen to be an atheist. Does this mean that by proxy these issues are 'atheist beliefs'? People sure like to think so.
One of my friends (and I'm sorry, I'm going to totally mangle this quote) said something along the lines that 'Christians believe that God will take care of people, so they don't rely on social services, but secularists think that since there is no god, they have to be everybody's nanny.' I know that I'm not quoting the line correctly, but the overall gist of it confirms the commonly-held assumption: Christians are all conservative Republicans and non-believers are all liberal Democrats.
But is this really true? Is it even mostly true?
I'll admit that I'm not the best at math, but I'd like to look at numbers for a little bit. Non-believers make up approximately 12-18% of the nation, depending on what poll you look at. Christians make up between 72-80% of the nation (again, depending on the poll). Certainly, the number of people who support things like gay rights, science education and health care reform make up substantially more than 12-18%. This shows that a great deal of people who hold progressive goals are actually theists, and many of those are probably Christians.
Another thing to consider is that, contrary to popular beliefs, being a non-believer does not, by default, make you a liberal. A substantial amount of atheists are actually Libertarian which means that while they will likely vote with Democrats on social issues like gay rights, they are likely to vote with Republicans on issues like environmental policies and health care.
So, as you can see, the demographics are actually pretty complicated. It's true that if you're a socially conservative fiscal Republican you're probably Christian. However, if you're a liberal Democrat, while you could be any religion, chances are you're probably also a Christian (just by merit of the fact that most Americans are Christians). If you're a socially progressive fiscal conservative, you could be a Christian or a non-believer.
Consider that I've also only covered two demographics; Christian and non-believer. There's a small but varied spectrum of other belief systems that I can't even begin to guess the political affiliation of (although I would put money down that most Buddhists and Wiccans are liberal Democrats. Ironically, I'd also bet that fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians vote exactly the same on most issues).
So why does all this matter? It matters because we ourselves are perpetuating stereotypes, and they are stereotypes that hurt almost everyone's cause.
As a progressive atheist, I know that if I had to get my support simply from other non-believers, or even just non-Christians, my goals would be sunk. There simply aren't enough non-Christians in the nation. The worst weapon that I can hand to my political opponents is reinforcement of the idea that liberal policies are automatically atheist policies, and that Christians always vote Republican.
This stereotyping also hurts fiscal conservatives and Libertarians. I like to believe that they have honest concerns to bring to the table, that they have real insight and real input to be considered. Unfortunately, this all gets washed away when fiscal conservatism automatically gets tethered to crazy birthers who go around screaming that Obama's the anti-Christ Muslim Hitler. (One of the things that bothers me most about the Health Care debate is that although I do support Health Care reform and I do support the Public Option, I also want to know more about how the administration intends to make their policy sustainable. Maybe the policy isn't sustainable and needs adjustment, but the debate is dominated so much by screams of "Death panels! Socialism! They're taking our money to kill babies and give to illegals!" that nobody's actually talking about the mechanics of the bill.)
This stereotyping even hurts Christian fundamentalists, because they're bullied into thinking that they can only think one way, or vote one way, or feel one way about issues, and if they deviate from that then they aren't true Christians. How many Christians secretly feel completely different from their pastor, but suppress it because they've been told that considering other sides will hurt their salvation, when in reality, Christians have a wide spectrum of positions on all kinds of social issues, from the teaching of evolution, to gay marriage, to who should receive health care.
Why limit yourself?
In short, I still maintain that I don't go around talking about my atheism all that much - but my pinko, socialist, tree-hugging, gay-friendly, dirty-hippie-ism? I talk about that a lot. And you know what? I know I've got millions of Christians on my side.
Conversely, on Sunday mornings, I see an enormous cloud of posts on my facebook that say things like "God was with us at Church today on this blessed morning" or "Cornerstone Church had a lovely service"... I'm not complaining about it (if it really bothered me, I would simply hide the statuses) but I do see it quite a bit. My brother-in-law and I have mutual non-believer friends, and I can honestly say that none of us push or promote atheism on other people at all.
Once I calmed down and thought about things a bit, I really looked my brother-in-law's wording, and came to grips with where the misconception may lie. I don't go around talking about atheism all the time, but, just like anyone else, I do promote my beliefs a great deal. I talk about gay rights. I talk about social services and homeless outreach. I talk about critical thinking. I blather incessantly about science education.
I talk about these issues a great deal. I also happen to be an atheist. Does this mean that by proxy these issues are 'atheist beliefs'? People sure like to think so.
One of my friends (and I'm sorry, I'm going to totally mangle this quote) said something along the lines that 'Christians believe that God will take care of people, so they don't rely on social services, but secularists think that since there is no god, they have to be everybody's nanny.' I know that I'm not quoting the line correctly, but the overall gist of it confirms the commonly-held assumption: Christians are all conservative Republicans and non-believers are all liberal Democrats.
But is this really true? Is it even mostly true?
I'll admit that I'm not the best at math, but I'd like to look at numbers for a little bit. Non-believers make up approximately 12-18% of the nation, depending on what poll you look at. Christians make up between 72-80% of the nation (again, depending on the poll). Certainly, the number of people who support things like gay rights, science education and health care reform make up substantially more than 12-18%. This shows that a great deal of people who hold progressive goals are actually theists, and many of those are probably Christians.
Another thing to consider is that, contrary to popular beliefs, being a non-believer does not, by default, make you a liberal. A substantial amount of atheists are actually Libertarian which means that while they will likely vote with Democrats on social issues like gay rights, they are likely to vote with Republicans on issues like environmental policies and health care.
So, as you can see, the demographics are actually pretty complicated. It's true that if you're a socially conservative fiscal Republican you're probably Christian. However, if you're a liberal Democrat, while you could be any religion, chances are you're probably also a Christian (just by merit of the fact that most Americans are Christians). If you're a socially progressive fiscal conservative, you could be a Christian or a non-believer.
Consider that I've also only covered two demographics; Christian and non-believer. There's a small but varied spectrum of other belief systems that I can't even begin to guess the political affiliation of (although I would put money down that most Buddhists and Wiccans are liberal Democrats. Ironically, I'd also bet that fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians vote exactly the same on most issues).
So why does all this matter? It matters because we ourselves are perpetuating stereotypes, and they are stereotypes that hurt almost everyone's cause.
As a progressive atheist, I know that if I had to get my support simply from other non-believers, or even just non-Christians, my goals would be sunk. There simply aren't enough non-Christians in the nation. The worst weapon that I can hand to my political opponents is reinforcement of the idea that liberal policies are automatically atheist policies, and that Christians always vote Republican.
This stereotyping also hurts fiscal conservatives and Libertarians. I like to believe that they have honest concerns to bring to the table, that they have real insight and real input to be considered. Unfortunately, this all gets washed away when fiscal conservatism automatically gets tethered to crazy birthers who go around screaming that Obama's the anti-Christ Muslim Hitler. (One of the things that bothers me most about the Health Care debate is that although I do support Health Care reform and I do support the Public Option, I also want to know more about how the administration intends to make their policy sustainable. Maybe the policy isn't sustainable and needs adjustment, but the debate is dominated so much by screams of "Death panels! Socialism! They're taking our money to kill babies and give to illegals!" that nobody's actually talking about the mechanics of the bill.)
This stereotyping even hurts Christian fundamentalists, because they're bullied into thinking that they can only think one way, or vote one way, or feel one way about issues, and if they deviate from that then they aren't true Christians. How many Christians secretly feel completely different from their pastor, but suppress it because they've been told that considering other sides will hurt their salvation, when in reality, Christians have a wide spectrum of positions on all kinds of social issues, from the teaching of evolution, to gay marriage, to who should receive health care.
Why limit yourself?
In short, I still maintain that I don't go around talking about my atheism all that much - but my pinko, socialist, tree-hugging, gay-friendly, dirty-hippie-ism? I talk about that a lot. And you know what? I know I've got millions of Christians on my side.