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It's going to end badly.
This, so much this. What's the easiest strategy for a government to distract the population away (from the wealthy and major corporations raping them financially)? Blame *insert minority here* and Gays currently are the hot topic. Although I'm sure given another decade or two they'll move on to Atheists, which will be really fun...and by fun I mean absolutely horrible on probably an entirely new level. Because if it's the one group everyone hates the most, it's Atheists. I pray for the day the people wake up to these tricks and stop fighting each other rather than attacking the economic system that handed them their shitty lives.
Uh, no.
I'm from North Carolina. My dad is still down there, and he has taken the issue of the amendment on and has done a fair bit of writing on the topic.
http://www.artonissues.com/2012/04/discrimination-and-amendment-one-a-compilation/
It's my personal belief that A1 will probably pass, and be repealed in a decade or less as the state realizes they are on the losing side of a civil rights issue. But the momentum just isn't there right now, despite my dad, large facebook groups, door to door canvassers, and other people making a huge push at the end to get awareness up. I just don't think there is a manpower or the political drive to stop this from happening.
This will be the worst thing my home state has done since putting Jesse Helms in DC.
And then they move over here, and vote against gay marriage in America.
Not that there's a lot of data on it, but according to the one comprehensive study performed by the University of Minnesota and published in the American Sociological Review, Atheists are more distrusted than homosexuals. linky.
The data is on page 218. Now, it's not a perfect study by any means. It appears they didn't take into account opinions towards same-sex marriage, which is a huge omission. But on the basic question of "Does [this group] Not At All Agree with My Vision of American Society", Athiests take the lion's share of distrust.
Eastern Europe is not exactly known for progressive attitudes on gender issues. I get this is a heavily atheist/agnostic board, but really, religion is not the sole (or even necessary) cause of homophobia. Sexism and homophobia feed on each other. "Corrective rapes" of lesbians in South Africa aren't happening because God said so. In Eastern Europe there's certainly religious conservatism feeding it, but remember the former USSR was militantly and officially atheist, and being a member of a religion doesn't mean devoutly following the tenets of its faith. Anywhere that sees gender roles as rigid and hierarchical is going to have a problem with LGBTs. (We have plenty of this in the US. Think of the guys who are terrified of a gay guy hitting on them.)
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Also it would be very difficult to set up a system that could discriminate against atheists without also discriminating arbitrarily against religions.
"It doesn't mean 'freedom FROM religion'".
Same way as you do it with LGBT people. Mess with the outspoken ones and the others keep quiet.
I was actually thinking of a University of British Columbia study that I'd read about in Skeptic (or was it Skeptical Inquirer?) sometime last year. There are a few other studies with similar results out there - people equate religious belief with morality, and therefore atheists are the worst people.
Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas state constitutions all either prohibit or allow the prohibition of atheists from holding public office.
Even if those are attempted to be enforced, though, what keeps me as an atheist from simply founding the Least Holy Church of the Nonexistant God and claiming membership in it as a religion? How do you separate something like that from non-monotheistic religions like say neopaganism or nontheistic Buddhism?
Hey guys, I've figured out the solution for all this anti-gay stuff.
Or lie about being atheists.
But really, I dont think atheists have it as bad as "the gays" even if theyre trusted less because I dont remember many news stories about bullying, beatings, and killings because the victim was an atheist.
Sure theres more ground to cover, but the climb isnt as steep (or theres less ground to cover, but its steeper?).
There are certainly religions that don't require theistic beliefs, unless your definition of theism is so broad as to be functionally useless and indistinguishable from pantheism.
Really?
That sure is, uhhh.... a viewpoint...... to have.
Is it odd to think that those who are bullied, beat and killed for being themselves have it worse than those who are just mistrusted? Both should be rectified, but Id rather be mistrusted than killed.
There's a lot more open hostility towards atheists than any other group, I'd wager.
People may be homophobic, but most people would hesitate before proudly professing their homophobia to others, lest those people or their family members be gay.
I don't go around with a neon sign professing my atheism, but I've been in many conversations wherein atheists are openly derided and spoken at in a grossly derogatory manner, including many professional settings. I once even had a coworker tell me she was refusing to be assigned to a patient because he was a professed atheist.
Man, what? That is missing the point immensely.
"atheist" doesn't usually get used to refer to people who are opposed to a narrow band of religions sharing a distinct brand of godhead, you goose. No one calls practicing Buddhists "atheists" colloquially unless they're a pedant.
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I suppose there are people who worry about their kids being taught by an atheist teacher, but for some reason that concern doesn't seem to be as prevalent. Who knows; maybe people don't want to trust gays with their kids the same way they don't want to trust atheists with their nukes - it's just too tempting for our evil soulless hearts.
And the great thing about religions is that if you don't find a nontheistic religion you like, just get 10 or 20 other like minded people together and make one the fuck up.
Religion is such a broadly defined and arbitrary category that there's no effective difference between minimal religion and no religion.
Im sure it does, Im just unsure that the amount and level of bullying received by atheists is the same as or greater than the amount and level received by the gay community. But that could just be the result of a lack of media focus on the issue.
Personally, Ive never believed in god but called myself agnostic until about junior year of high school and for the past 9 years Ive considered myself an atheist (in that I dont believe a supreme being exists, but I am open to being proven wrong) and I can only think of two times where it has come up, once in high school where I was told I couldnt be as moral as someone who believed in god (which makes no sense to me) and once when I was in the hospital and we had to go over some in case of death stuff where my mother and grandmother found out I was an atheist (my mother didnt have a problem with it, although my grandmother tried to convince me that I should believe in something, even if it was a doorknob, which I mean, what?). Most of my friends are non-religious and Ive never had it come up at work. However, the experiences of the gay kids in my high school was much different than mine (not that anyone got beat or anything, I dont think it ever went beyond teasing, but I really cant know for certain). Maybe (probably) Im just lucky.
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Well, assuming those parts of the state constitutions were upheld, most of them require some "belief in a Supreme Being," not "you have to be religious."
The legal definition of religion is anything but well-defined. Theoretically that might mean you can have anything you want be a religion (welcome to the Church of McDonalds, the tax-exempt temple of sacred burgers), but in practice it means that anything that doesn't look like a "traditional" religion is going to have a hard time getting the legal benefits of religions. Judges aren't immune to cultural prejudice, and voting populaces don't even have to pretend to be.
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"Wow, you sure are a stupid bitch." I guess that would annoy your mom, though.
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Her friend also thinks that Muslims are gonna take over the US by outbreeding us. It's nice to realize hate is dumb.
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All my gay friends have had to deal with a lifetime of difficulty and harassment. It's not the same at all.
The difference is this: a gay person has to actually seek out members of the same sex, date, etc. If you are around someone who is gay for any length of time, unless they are trying to hide it to the point that they are completely shutting you out of a large segment of their life, it's going to be pretty obvious that they are gay. There's a huge amount of opportunity for discrimination there.
Literally no one really gives a shit about anyone elses religion. I mean sure they give a shit on a global christians vs muslims level, but I've never had anyone at work or school or the like ask me about my religion or even give the slightest amount of interest that they cared. If anyone ever did, all it takes is a simple "I don't really like to get into religious discussions at work" and the topic is dead for 99% of people. It's not like I have to try to get my atheism covered under my health plan, or take my atheism to the christmas party.
Just ask her what her proof is. It's a common argument, but an easily refuted one.
Be warned, however, as in dealing with anyone who has already bought into one unfounded conspiracy, no amount of logic and reason may suffice.