Why Atheists Should Be Angry

[parathalyn]

Okay, last post linking to an awesome post/video/etc that I just found, I promise.

Atheists & Anger: An extremely well-written piece by one Atheist on why she (as an Atheist) is angry, why that anger is valid, and why that anger shouldn't be taken away from Atheists. Just an awesome post, long, but awesome. She hits on so many things that would

Comments

[max_ambiguity]

"So, I likely would have been more "fair" in my first attempt--as some christians critisize her for being critical of only christianity (which actually she wasn't since she mentioned 9/11 and Catholism)."

You do know that Catholicism is a kind of Christianity, right? That sentence reads like it's separate.

[parathalyn]

I tend to view Catholism as separate from the other christian denominations (and all of them as separate religions from each other), and I have Catholic friends who get po'ed when they are lumped together with christians. My main point was that she wasn't critizing just one religion and was doing a pretty good job at being even handed...even though, she really doesn't need to be or even should be.

[max_ambiguity]

Catholicism is pretty different from evangelicalism and such, but if you're going to have an umbrella group called "Christian" it has to be included. Of course there are tons of different Christian denominations. I had a weird experience as a kid where I told someone I was Catholic and he made fun of me for not believing in Jesus.

[parathalyn]

Ideally, it'd be nice to have a good way of separating them without having to deal with a long list. On the other hand, I've heard two people who use the same religious label and have completely different beliefs and/or their beliefs are contradictory to the religion they claim. That makes it very difficult to even talk about individual demoninations. So, you sorta do need to talk about them together or in terms of fundamentalist christian, liberal christian, cultural christian, etc. To me, the main one that can be separated and is very different from the other (has a pope, the Vatican has its own army, etc.) is Catholism. So, that's why I tend to separate it from the Protestant demoninations. I also tend to separate Roman Orthodox and Greek Orthodox for the same reasons. They are jut clearer separations than the Protestant demoninations. Does that make sense. (I'm doing this while tired and after having read why too much today, so I'm not sure if it will make sense.)

[openmindedmale]

Yeah, I classify myself as annoyed rather than angry too, when I think about it at all.. which isn't often, since here in IA, religion isn't generally blatant. I keep quiet and it's pretty much a non-issue. I know several atheists here (or very friendly to atheist sorts), and so it isn't something I deal with on a regular basis. I'm (obviously) aware of the issues though.

Oh, and to make a tangent, at my college there is a very outspoken atheist advocate (see here).. alas, I was planning on taking a class with her this semester, but then life intervened, as you know. I've exchanged a few emails back and forth with her, she seems cool :)

[parathalyn]

She sounds like an awesome prof! Okay, another reason to move out of TX. ^_^

[openmindedmale]

Hehe! Yeah, she likely is! What annoys me (if annoys is the right word), is that I only found out about her (and that she's at my college) just this past spring! darnit!

Heh, you could move to this part of IA... snow can be a pain though.

[xmissdemeanorx]

That is an awesome blog!!!!