#American Atheists

[boreal-sea]

there are literally laws on the books in some states that atheists can't hold office but whatever dude

Yeah, and you can't kill Bigfoot in Washington. A weird law is meaningless if it's not enforced, and those laws are not enforced, because guess what?

Atheists are not systemically oppressed in the USA.

Meanwhile, lemme count up the number of Islamophobic hate crimes in the USA since 9/11...

(And yes - I'm atheist too, I'm just not a whiny baby desperate to feel oppressed for some reason)

[queersatanic]

What happened?

One of the co-owners of the Temple claims he’s stepping down as national spokesperson after noted transphobe and longtime reactionary dingus David Silverman was touring The Satanic Temple’s headquarters/art gallery in Salem with Christine Shellska.

Satanic Temple owner Doug “Lucien Greaves” Misicko took a picture with Silverman (and Shellska) in front of TST’s “Baphomet with Children” statue.

Instead of apologizing or even explaining his seeming endorsement of a person now primarily known for being loathsome, Misicko doubled down and blamed everyone criticizing him.

Wait, that’s it?

Yeah, and it’s been tearing The Satanic Temple’s membership apart for the past few days to the extent Misicko is promising (again) to step down as national spokesperson.

OK. Back up. Who is David Silverman? Is he the Nazi lawyer guy?

That’s Marc Randazza you’re thinking of, but it makes sense that you’re confused because there are a lot of these figures. TST is awash in them, and that’s part of the problem.

Continue reading

[atheostic]

[planetofsnarfs]

Alison, Liz, and Rebecca welcome guest Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee and lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign. They discuss the urgent threat that Christian nationalist ideology poses to American democracy, how nonreligious and religious Americans alike can fight back, and Amanda explains the strong historical tradition of supporting state/church separation in the Baptist movement.

Show Notes

Amanda Tyler’s Bio

How to End Christian Nationalism by Amanda Tyler

Baptist Joint Committee 

Respecting Religion Podcast

Roger Williams Symposium: Is This a Christian Nation?

BCJ and FFRF’s joint report “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection” 

Christians Against Christian Nationalism

Previous episode that talks about the Texas chaplain bill

BJC’s "say 'no' to chaplains in public schools"

FFRF’s 2023 Convention Panel on Christian Nationalism 

[kriswager]

Listen to the whispers

As PZ already has covered, there has been some revelations about problems with two former board members of American Atheists. One was Mandisa Thomas, who has been a major voice among Black American atheists, but whose behavior has caused major rifts in that community. I have little knowledge about neither Mandisa Thomas nor the situation, but I firmly support the people who have left Black…

[my-midlife-crisis]

[yoursghouly]

x

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

People, especially USian Protestants, are so weird about assuming everyone believes in god. And they are so weirdly comfortable about assuming their viewpoint is 100% the truth. My coworker felt it was entirely fair and justified to tell a child visiting our station that automation was a problem because it took jobs and "god made us to work."

Like excuse you. You are assuming a whole lot by telling that specifically to a random child you've never met before.

[hybbat]

I do think a good chunk of the 'cringey atheist' stereotype did come from the fact that, especially americans, regardless of their actual religious status are just casually christian and refer to things through a religious filter and that isn't seen for how overwhelming/obnoxious/frustrating it is. Its absense, such as when writing a story and things like "oh god" or other casual references are remove or replaced, is seen as notable the same way people find the cast being all women or queer being 'abnormal'.

And I think more people, especially here on tumblr, should take a moment from ragging on some kid being "cringey" saying god doesn't exist or making atheist jump around like dancing monkeys to establish they're one of the good respectful ones before they ever even begin to talk about their own thoughts, and examine why so much content just inserts god into a conversation that had nothing to do with religion like it's the expected norm, the same way they examine the invasiveness of casual heteronormativity.

[amazingspider-z]

some more ghost rider sketches, version i guess i wanted to draw some bones,

including a partial prototype of whatever the hell the Rider has going on underneath his skin-suit (which might need more leather 'muscles' but. whatever), a theoretical endpoint of how dead Robbie could get in my verse, which. unlikely? extremely. but fun to draw, and a line-up of Robbie, Lisa, and Gabe

in theory, Lisa's sense of style was inspired by @wazzappp 's post of Claire's fashion Lisa, but, well, outfit design eludes me. so. brightly colored vague y2k vibes are. the best i got

[banished-away]

feeling slightly vindicated watching an RAS interview bc keep getting this feeling from the drizzt books that theyre very italian-american (as in, i see a lot of things i recognize from italian culture in it, but influenced and changed by american culture) and he said that he based off the culture of menzo partly on his hometown and then the sopranos/godfather which confirmed it to me

also he pronounces menzoberranzan the way i used to before someone else corrected me JKNDSKJFKDS

[nando161mando]

[sspacegodd]

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that God impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, someone rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the mysterious will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

[atheostic]

Famous Atheists

Mel Brooks

American actor, comedian, & filmmaker.

"If I believed in God, I would thank God every night for giving me [his late wife] Anne Bancroft." Mel Brooks, interviewed by Terry Gross on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, 2021, on the occasion of his 2021 autobiography, All About Mel: My Remarkable Life in Show Business; interview repeated on NPR, 23 November 2022.

[rosalesbeausderholle]

The new wave of liberal disregard for atheism as some kind of 'edgy dramatic emo thing' or an 'edgy man thing like crypto currency' rather than as a deeply held ideological conviction is so weird. Like the thing they claim it's edgy about atheist men is not even edgy it's like "there's no scientific proof of god's existence it's all made up!" that's not edgy dramatic behavior that's what happens when you follow rational thinking where it leads you. Human catholicism (or any religious institution) is flawed precisely because it preys on ignorant people's fear of a doomed afterlife. And that's hurtful, that's manipulative that has killed millions throughout history and it's still starting wars today. How do you see everything that people throughout history have done 'in the name of god' and still come to the conclusion that there must be a good god out there? What evidence do you have for that? How does it not simply make more sense that we're just people and people will always hurt each other for power and made up reasons to do so and intricate mythologies that justify us and/or explain what we don't know? How can you he aware that Greek mythology are just stories, but not your stories that you tell yourself about your god? When you look at all the irreparable harm that's been done in the name of religion, does freeing yourself from its constraints and saying fuck this fuck god or realizing that not of it actually matters because there's no evidence whatsoever that there's any truth to it, how does that not feel like the most liberating and revolutionary truth to you?

[notetaeker]