How to reconcile anti-racism with atheism (or other religious belief)
In my experience there is a tendency for (most but not all) people of every religious creed to deep down believe that every religious belief except their own is rather obviously wrong, and thus that the followers of other religious beliefs are (to some extent) stupid, delusional, ill-informed, or deliberately obtuse. EDIT: "my experience" is pretty limited, it's been pointed out that some religions have a different dynamic
The most obvious side-effect of this is religious intolerance, but because of the relationship between religion, culture, and race it has strong ties with racism too. If being a member of the "right" creed is associated with innate "goodness" in some way (where "goodness" can be anything from connection to God to rationality), and it just happens that most members of your creed are the same race as you, it's not hard to make the leap to thinking that members of other races are inherently less "good". Also, it's very easy to argue for what are effectively racist policies (since they disproportionately target particular ethnic groups) based on this definition of "goodness".
Atheists are definitely no exception to this, tending to see atheism as the only rational response to the world, and thus a sign of higher rationality.
I used to be on a forum for atheists, and saw a LOT of borderline racist arguments basically calling for the religious freedom of non-atheists (mostly muslims) to be curtailed in the name of "rationality" and a secular society with a "separation of church and state".
But of course these arguments are not rational: the people making them are (for the most part) white citizens of mostly white christian societies, and even though we atheists may consciously be just as opposed to christianity as any other religion we're so immersed in christian culture that we don't notice most of it's effects and so don't oppose them. Other religions, on the other hand, seem strange and less "normal", and so we're more likely to notice their effects (head-scarves for example) and argue against them.
My problem is this: how do we continue to argue for a separation of church and state, and rationality, and other good not-inherently-racist atheist values without supporting racism? Is it inherently bad to say that all religion is dangerous nonsense, or is it ok as long as you argue just as strongly against christianity and other "white" religions?
EDIT: this paragraph says less than flattering things about me, apologies to anyone who finds it offensive. Yeah, I suck :/
For example, I find it really hard not to dismiss the religions of other cultures (especially aboriginal religion) as silly superstition. I know there is a racist subtext to this since I am much less dismissive of the protestantism I grew up with, and not quite as dismissive of other mainstream religious beliefs like catholicism, buddhism, islam etc. I mean I'm very much in favour of religious freedom and letting all religions have an equal footing in principle, but for example deep down just don't take the sacredness of the Swan Brewery site as seriously as St George's cathedral. But when I try to combat this tendency in myself, while I do become somewhat more respectful of less "mainstream" religions, what mainly happens is that I become much less respectful of the more mainstream ones (seeing them as silly superstitions too), and thus in danger of becoming one of those really annoyingly narrow-minded atheists who dismisses all religions as stupid.
And as with most "it's ok I pick on everyone equally!" arguments, even-handedly anti-religious rhetoric which argues that all religion is stupid and harmful and should be opposed on principle, and so that secular societies are a gazilion times better than religious ones, still often ends up having a racist subtext, because (at least in the popular imagination in the west) atheism is so strongly associated with whiteness and western europe.
Of course atheism (or at least secularism) is actually quite widespread in lots of non-white countries like China and India. So perhaps we can still argue for secularism if we make sure to do so in more balanced and informed, less eurocentric way. I don't know.
What do people think? I'm still working through this myself so am 100% open to other people's ideas and corrections. Also I hope I haven't offended anyone :/
NOTE (since religion + race = happy fun time):
This post is about atheism since I'm an atheist. I think many of the same point apply to other religions, and would be interested to hear the thoughts of non-atheists in this regard.
But please note one of the points I'm trying to make: decrying other religions as inherently bad for their lack of religious tolerance is hypocritical and stupid. So don't do it. (and that means non-atheists to avoid picking on atheism, please, unless you have experienced racism from us or whatever in which case fair enough)
Also I'd like to apologise to the mods if this gets crazy. I've been putting off posting for a while but I think it's an important point that needs raising.
EDIT: I think I was punching above my weight with this topic, you guys have much smarter things to say than me :) I will try to reply as soon as possible to comments but may take a while to get my thoughts in order. Also, I realise I didn't make it clear that I actually don't think religion is inherently bad, I think it has a very important, positive role to play both in individuals lives and society a a whole. But the ethics of arguing against religion on principle are an important enough part of the racial problems with atheism that I felt they needed mentioning.
EDIT 2: If you are interested in this topic you should check out atheismandrace (via unusualmusic)
The most obvious side-effect of this is religious intolerance, but because of the relationship between religion, culture, and race it has strong ties with racism too. If being a member of the "right" creed is associated with innate "goodness" in some way (where "goodness" can be anything from connection to God to rationality), and it just happens that most members of your creed are the same race as you, it's not hard to make the leap to thinking that members of other races are inherently less "good". Also, it's very easy to argue for what are effectively racist policies (since they disproportionately target particular ethnic groups) based on this definition of "goodness".
Atheists are definitely no exception to this, tending to see atheism as the only rational response to the world, and thus a sign of higher rationality.
I used to be on a forum for atheists, and saw a LOT of borderline racist arguments basically calling for the religious freedom of non-atheists (mostly muslims) to be curtailed in the name of "rationality" and a secular society with a "separation of church and state".
But of course these arguments are not rational: the people making them are (for the most part) white citizens of mostly white christian societies, and even though we atheists may consciously be just as opposed to christianity as any other religion we're so immersed in christian culture that we don't notice most of it's effects and so don't oppose them. Other religions, on the other hand, seem strange and less "normal", and so we're more likely to notice their effects (head-scarves for example) and argue against them.
My problem is this: how do we continue to argue for a separation of church and state, and rationality, and other good not-inherently-racist atheist values without supporting racism? Is it inherently bad to say that all religion is dangerous nonsense, or is it ok as long as you argue just as strongly against christianity and other "white" religions?
EDIT: this paragraph says less than flattering things about me, apologies to anyone who finds it offensive. Yeah, I suck :/
For example, I find it really hard not to dismiss the religions of other cultures (especially aboriginal religion) as silly superstition. I know there is a racist subtext to this since I am much less dismissive of the protestantism I grew up with, and not quite as dismissive of other mainstream religious beliefs like catholicism, buddhism, islam etc. I mean I'm very much in favour of religious freedom and letting all religions have an equal footing in principle, but for example deep down just don't take the sacredness of the Swan Brewery site as seriously as St George's cathedral. But when I try to combat this tendency in myself, while I do become somewhat more respectful of less "mainstream" religions, what mainly happens is that I become much less respectful of the more mainstream ones (seeing them as silly superstitions too), and thus in danger of becoming one of those really annoyingly narrow-minded atheists who dismisses all religions as stupid.
And as with most "it's ok I pick on everyone equally!" arguments, even-handedly anti-religious rhetoric which argues that all religion is stupid and harmful and should be opposed on principle, and so that secular societies are a gazilion times better than religious ones, still often ends up having a racist subtext, because (at least in the popular imagination in the west) atheism is so strongly associated with whiteness and western europe.
Of course atheism (or at least secularism) is actually quite widespread in lots of non-white countries like China and India. So perhaps we can still argue for secularism if we make sure to do so in more balanced and informed, less eurocentric way. I don't know.
What do people think? I'm still working through this myself so am 100% open to other people's ideas and corrections. Also I hope I haven't offended anyone :/
NOTE (since religion + race = happy fun time):
This post is about atheism since I'm an atheist. I think many of the same point apply to other religions, and would be interested to hear the thoughts of non-atheists in this regard.
But please note one of the points I'm trying to make: decrying other religions as inherently bad for their lack of religious tolerance is hypocritical and stupid. So don't do it. (and that means non-atheists to avoid picking on atheism, please, unless you have experienced racism from us or whatever in which case fair enough)
Also I'd like to apologise to the mods if this gets crazy. I've been putting off posting for a while but I think it's an important point that needs raising.
EDIT: I think I was punching above my weight with this topic, you guys have much smarter things to say than me :) I will try to reply as soon as possible to comments but may take a while to get my thoughts in order. Also, I realise I didn't make it clear that I actually don't think religion is inherently bad, I think it has a very important, positive role to play both in individuals lives and society a a whole. But the ethics of arguing against religion on principle are an important enough part of the racial problems with atheism that I felt they needed mentioning.
EDIT 2: If you are interested in this topic you should check out atheismandrace (via unusualmusic)