The United States is a largely religious yet somewhat secular nation. We give large tax breaks and benefits to religious groups, and they wield a lot of power in the government, but in terms of specific laws, judgements etc there is a seperation between church and state. In practice a lot of our current law is informed by some specific sects of christian belief.
There is a growing atheist movement in the US, largely among wealthy and white liberal men, but more and more across the spectrum of politics, race, gender, and age. Popular bloggers, writer, public speakers, and activists organize these atheists across the country. Gradually, even as atheists have more specifically defined their viewpoints, they've also become a larger, more mainstream group.
As an atheist, I read some of these blogs, though I've never been to any events, and I don't find my identity particularly informed by my atheism. But one thing I've really found interesting is a recent development within the atheist movement in the direction of secular humanism. This development is called Atheism+ and is looking to define itself both within atheism and externally. Taken as a whole, it encapsulates elements of gender equality, LGBTQ rights, anti-racism, anti-classism, and social justice. Atheism+ is specifically involved in political issues in a way that Atheism is not.
I think these people always existed in the atheist movement, but only recently have been moved to develop their own title and organization. I also think this is a natural development from the changing demographics of atheists. For a long time, Atheism in america was mostly a movement comprised of rich white dudes. For whatever reason (more civil rights, more literacy, the internet, etc) the movement has gotten more and more diverse. This is broken down, I think into the inclusion of people who aren't cisgendered males and the inclusion of people who aren't rich/white.
It doesn't surprise me that LGBTQ folk and women would become a big portion of the atheist movement, actually. Even if this isn't true with many churches today, some churches (and most, historically) have stood in the way of increased LGBTQ and women's rights. Religion was often used as a tool of the patriarchy, and moving away from that I think has caused people to re-evaluate their personal religious philosophies. This isn't, of course, to say that there haven't been churches that were on the side of social justice movements (in fact, religion is prominent on both sides), just that for those congregations who were against it probably alienated some members from their groups.
When it was a somewhat homogenous movement, atheism didn't really need to grapple with ideas of gender and equity. But as it diversified, problems started to pop up. Some Atheist conferences and events found, for example, that they had either no sexual harassment policy, or their policy was out of date or poorly enforced. Prominent female speakers (or just regular attendees) reported harassment, and the movement shuddered violently as it tried to deal with the problem. Some atheists claimed the problem was the women for speaking out against the harassment, whereas others said the harassment was the problem. A lot of deliberation and arguing was done via the internet. There were threats of violence, murder, and rape. Overall, it was a new experience for a movement that suddenly found it isn't just a bunch of dudes any more.
This probably isn't a good place to bring it up, but I need to mention the concept of privilege in this post. Privilege is not knowing what you're missing. Privilege is like, in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, having a need that's always well-met; you don't even think about it.
A classic example of this is that as a dude, I feel comfortable walking at night alone. I mean, I'm vaguely worried about getting robbed, but I'm also pretty sure I won't get sexually assaulted. It never even occurred to me that just walking a couple miles back on dark roads through the city might be a dangerous experience until I was walking back from dinner with my sister and realized I was afraid for her. I'm sure there's other forms of male privilege I experience without even realizing it.
Another example of this, from the other side, is that as a half-Persian dude I look decidedly not-white. I probably look Middle Eastern or Hispanic to someone who's not paying too much attention. As a result, I'm always a little bit nervous interacting with Police and the TSA. With the police, I always have my hands visible. I always ask before reaching into a glove-box or into my jacket pocket. Enough dudes who look like me have been shot or tazed for moving a bit too quick. The same goes for when I'm at the TSA. I always have all my shit together, and I always wear jeans, tennis shoes, and a polo (or a college t-shirt) when I fly, and comb my hair and shave before leaving for the airport. My childhood is filled with memories of my dad being "randomly" searched every time we fly because he's Persian, was born in Tehran before moving to France as a child, and has a beard. At some point I realized my white and asian friends actually felt comfortable and safe around the police, and had recieved benefit of the doubt once or twice during hijinks as a kid. I'm not a guy who typically is aware of his ethnicity most of the time, but there you have it.
If your initial response to my reactions to the Police and TSA agents are that I'm being paranoid or unnecessarily cautious, then it is possible you are part of the majority race groups in your country. Just like how there are some things I can't imagine for people less privileged than me (I've never had to force myself to fit into a gender that wasn't mine-- I've never been denied opportunities due to being poor-- I've never been discouraged from taking certain classes due to my gender-- and many other I can't even think of from daily life), it's possible you don't know what it's like to be afraid of the cops. It's possible you don't know what it's like for that fear to be justified.
So what I'm talking about here, to get back on topic, is that a lot of atheists had a lot of privilege with nothing to shatter it. There's nothing quite as disconcerting as being made aware of that privilege, and so you have the rifts, schisms etc in the atheist movement. Atheism+ represents a natural growth out of that, an attempt to define a subgroup within atheism aimed at concepts of social justice beyond just matters of religion. It represents tackling problems like privilege and social injustices that still exist today. It is involves both causes that atheism struggles with already and causes typically contained within secular humanism. I think the general politics of the movement are progressive/liberal leaning, though most of what it talks about fits perfectly well in certain conservative philosophical frameworks, especially some brands of libertarianism.
It's not often I blog about the atheist movement (read: this is the first time I have blogged about it) so I have a request for anyone involved in this thread: there will be no arguing about religion. I'm not a TL mod and I can't ban you with an iron fist for not following my blog thread rule, but if we're going to discuss things here, we keep it clean and talk about privilege, social justice movements, what atheism and Atheism+ should be about, the scope of secular humanist activism, etc. If you follow a religious tradition, you are of course welcome to come in and commentate, but I would ask that nobody try to convert anyone else to or from any religion. You know how that goes on the internet, right guys? Right. Glad we got that over with.
Sorry for the long disclaimer. Also, this was kind of a rambly blog post lol
I'm not sure I explained privilege super well either. A lot of the info about atheism+ I got from this bio professor PZ Myer's blog Pharyngula which talks about atheist thought, some biology stuff, and related materials so hat tip to him.
While I had never heard of the specific term "Atheism+" before, I can definitely identify with being an atheist and secular humanist. In America, atheists have also been a minority that notoriously lacked privilege, especially when it comes to political statements (God bless this, Under God that, etc.). Religion has been accepted as the norm for so long, many people are surprised when others merely ask them why someone believes the supernatural things they do. Atheists are generally looked down upon as snooty or elitist or (alternatively) having some sort of problem because they don't have faith. I had once read a report that noted that an atheist was less likely to be elected president than a Muslim- and that was shortly after 9/11, when our country was stupidly generalizing our enemy terrorists as Muslims instead of Muslim fundamentalists. I suppose most of our population just wants religious faith of some sort, which I just can't get my head around.
As a white male, I can definitely say that I'm lucky as shit to not be a minority... and as an educator, I've gone out of my way to work with students from varying backgrounds, and so I have a somewhat decent idea of what it's like to see people being bullied for no reason other than the color of their skin, or any other genetic feature they have no control over. And it's bullshit, and I do my best to prevent it from happening when I see it. And that's another reason why I'm a big proponent of LGBTQ rights.
I too am an atheist, although I feel like it's a lot more mainstream in NZ so I don't even think about most of the time. Does Atheism+ have any ideas around incorporating the things which are universally good about religion into secular society? Like ritual, tradition, community, central principles; things that religious groups inherently have and as atheists we (imo) miss out on. I mean, as individuals we can make any choice we like, but where do we get that community experience... what would it be like to go to the equivalent of "church" to meet up with other atheists? Not for the purpose of debate or argument (which seems to often be the case whenever atheists meet together), but simply to provide those things I mentioned earlier. Hope this isn't too off-topic.
I watched a TED presentation, can't remember who or when, but the central idea was "Ok, there is no god, NOW what do we do?" and I thought that was a really interesting thought. As a minority (in some places) I think it's easy to spend all our time fighting for independence or to disprove religion, but there's never been big thought put into how to actually live life as an atheist, and get the most out it.
On August 28 2012 09:48 DRTnOOber wrote: I too am an atheist, although I feel like it's a lot more mainstream in NZ so I don't even think about most of the time. Does Atheism+ have any ideas around incorporating the things which are universally good about religion into secular society? Like ritual, tradition, community, central principles; things that religious groups inherently have and as atheists we (imo) miss out on. I mean, as individuals we can make any choice we like, but where do we get that community experience... what would it be like to go to the equivalent of "church" to meet up with other atheists? Not for the purpose of debate or argument (which seems to often be the case whenever atheists meet together), but simply to provide those things I mentioned earlier. Hope this isn't too off-topic.
I think the whole community-building thing, and incorporating rituals, traditions and groups into an atheist setting is more in the realm of secular humanism than in Atheism+. Atheism+ is more of a movement within the Atheism movement towards secular humanism, but with a specifically inclusive message. It's about issues of social justice more than it is about community-building. It's still being "constructed" by its members, so I'm not sure whether it will or will not include that sort of thing. There are definitely groups who already do that though.
On August 28 2012 09:38 DarkPlasmaBall wrote: While I had never heard of the specific term "Atheism+" before, I can definitely identify with being an atheist and secular humanist. In America, atheists have also been a minority that notoriously lacked privilege, especially when it comes to political statements (God bless this, Under God that, etc.). Religion has been accepted as the norm for so long, many people are surprised when others merely ask them why someone believes the supernatural things they do. Atheists are generally looked down upon as snooty or elitist or (alternatively) having some sort of problem because they don't have faith.
Yeah, being part of a religious majority is another position of privilege that I forgot to mention. Definitely people who are part of religious minorities in the US (Mormons, First Nations Beliefs, Muslims, Atheists) get a fair amount of crap for it unintentionally. The atheism movement is of course very familiar with this kind of privilege since they do not have it, and have to deal with it on a regular basis. Many atheists never "come out" in their personal lives, and just read and write on the internet, because of possible repercussions. Obviously this varies by area and culture.
On August 28 2012 09:48 DRTnOOber wrote: I watched a TED presentation, can't remember who or when, but the central idea was "Ok, there is no god, NOW what do we do?" and I thought that was a really interesting thought. As a minority (in some places) I think it's easy to spend all our time fighting for independence or to disprove religion, but there's never been big thought put into how to actually live life as an atheist, and get the most out it.
That's an interesting question (and I love TED talks), but I (like most atheists) just live my life under the assumption that a deity doesn't exist... which just basically means that I don't waste time praying or going to church or invoking supernatural faith on a daily basis... I don't do anything special, nor do I really think I need to.
In fact, I've heard some theists (those who dislike the idea of atheism) think that we can't function properly without a belief in a god, or we can't act a certain way if gods didn't exist. I hear statements like "Atheists don't believe in anything", when in reality we live our lives in a perfectly natural way, finding happiness with everything our world and the universe has to offer- friends, family, hobbies, pursuing love and happiness, etc. We believe in living for all of these things, and that's exactly "Now what". Nothing special needs to happen after the statement "I don't really have any good evidence that suggests a supernatural deity exists, so I'm not going to believe in one." I'm just going to keep being an awesome and happy person
I think you're conflating atheism to include other aspects of secular humanism. The thing most people seem to forget about atheism is that it's not a system of belief, as in, you could be a nihilist or a nazi or libertarian or socialist, etc... You'll find the answers to your problems in that type of philosophy, not by using the label of atheism and expanding it for some feeling of group movement.
On August 28 2012 10:05 Roe wrote: I think you're conflating atheism to include other aspects of secular humanism. The thing most people seem to forget about atheism is that it's not a system of belief, as in, you could be a nihilist or a nazi or libertarian or socialist, etc... You'll find the answers to your problems in that type of philosophy, not by using the label of atheism and expanding it for some feeling of group movement.
Well, it's not me who's doing this-- it's a movement that's taking place within the atheism. I think Atheism+ exists as a critique of the fact that atheism is not in fact a system of belief. It strives to create a submovement that specifically addresses these things. It is not Atheism-- it's something more.
To be honest, I think the whole Atheism+ and secular humanist movements are loads of crap. They are truly more similar to a "cult of reason" than a lack of belief in a god. As N Tyson said, we don't characterize ourselves as nongolfers just because we don't play golf, likewise I don't identify myself as an atheist. Rituals and tradition, in Atheism, are quite ridiculous; just step back and think about it. We don't need things like Atheist Anniversaries or coming of age rights: they mean absolutely nothing. To me, a lack of belief in a god doesn't mean we should make a religion, cult or organization out of it.
On the topic of privelidge, I am remarkably lucky to be a normal sized white straight male, the only things about me that are "controversial" are being an atheist and a liberal because I mostly know Catholics. However, I have never gotten crap for discussing atheism or calling myself an atheist. I just don't generally talk about it much because PEOPLE DONT LIKE DISCUSSING RELIGION. I think this is a problem lots of atheists have, like vegetarians: you don't need to tell everyone about your choice. There is no coming out of the closet unless you literally are part of a very extreme religious sect, you just don't have to constantly talk or debate about it. That's just being an obnoxious shit
On August 28 2012 10:11 Chocolate wrote: Atheist here, reporting in.
To be honest, I think the whole Atheism+ and secular humanist movements are loads of crap. They are truly more similar to a "cult of reason" than a lack of belief in a god. As N Tyson said, we don't characterize ourselves as nongolfers just because we don't play golf, likewise I don't identify myself as an atheist. Rituals and tradition, in Atheism, are quite ridiculous; just step back and think about it. We don't need things like Atheist Anniversaries or coming of age rights: they mean absolutely nothing. To me, a lack of belief in a god doesn't mean we should make a religion, cult or organization out of it.
On the topic of privelidge, I am remarkably lucky to be a normal sized white straight male, the only things about me that are "controversial" are being an atheist and a liberal because I mostly know Catholics. However, I have never gotten crap for discussing atheism or calling myself an atheist. I just don't generally talk about it much because PEOPLE DONT LIKE DISCUSSING RELIGION. I think this is a problem lots of atheists have, like vegetarians: you don't need to tell everyone about your choice. There is no coming out of the closet unless you literally are part of a very extreme religious sect, you just don't have to constantly talk or debate about it. That's just being an obnoxious shit
posteed from iphone sorry for errors
Where's your argument about secular humanism being a load of crap?
On August 28 2012 10:11 Chocolate wrote: Atheist here, reporting in.
To be honest, I think the whole Atheism+ and secular humanist movements are loads of crap. They are truly more similar to a "cult of reason" than a lack of belief in a god. As N Tyson said, we don't characterize ourselves as nongolfers just because we don't play golf, likewise I don't identify myself as an atheist. Rituals and tradition, in Atheism, are quite ridiculous; just step back and think about it. We don't need things like Atheist Anniversaries or coming of age rights: they mean absolutely nothing. To me, a lack of belief in a god doesn't mean we should make a religion, cult or organization out of it.
I think this is a fair point. For what it's worth, if the vast majority (80%) of people played golf every Sunday, and our currency read "in golf we trust", and there were bills and laws passed to enforce golf dress code and golfing values on all people, then yes, we WOULD characterize ourselves as nongolfers. We'd have to. We'd talk about how it's possible to be moral and fit and intelligent without golf, and we'd learn to be proud of it. N Tyson is a great dude but golf and religion, are, interestingly enough, not the same thing.
I'd also like to note there is some danger in making religion-like organizations. Part of the problem with certain ways some religions are run is that moral authority is invested into few people and they advise the others. I understand that this can work well in some instances, but I feel like it should be more important for people to do their own thing and try to figure out what they want to do with their lives on their own. I don't think it's right to prescribe morality onto others (barring things that infringe on you-- like thievery etc).
I think it's cool to have atheist meetups and groups though if you're into that thing. I know a lot of people who never have a chance to talk about their atheism because they never told their family. Maybe this is from being part of a korean family (we are quite baptist) but I have a couple cousins who really don't believe in god and never told their parents or friends, who were all religious. They still go to church and everything, and having a place to gather and communicate with others has given them a place to talk about things they can't talk about with others.
I could see how it could be good in some ways and bad in others.
EDIT: arg I've just wasted like an hour watching a bunch of Louis CK videos lol
On August 28 2012 10:11 Chocolate wrote: Atheist here, reporting in.
To be honest, I think the whole Atheism+ and secular humanist movements are loads of crap. They are truly more similar to a "cult of reason" than a lack of belief in a god. As N Tyson said, we don't characterize ourselves as nongolfers just because we don't play golf, likewise I don't identify myself as an atheist. Rituals and tradition, in Atheism, are quite ridiculous; just step back and think about it. We don't need things like Atheist Anniversaries or coming of age rights: they mean absolutely nothing. To me, a lack of belief in a god doesn't mean we should make a religion, cult or organization out of it.
On the topic of privelidge, I am remarkably lucky to be a normal sized white straight male, the only things about me that are "controversial" are being an atheist and a liberal because I mostly know Catholics. However, I have never gotten crap for discussing atheism or calling myself an atheist. I just don't generally talk about it much because PEOPLE DONT LIKE DISCUSSING RELIGION. I think this is a problem lots of atheists have, like vegetarians: you don't need to tell everyone about your choice. There is no coming out of the closet unless you literally are part of a very extreme religious sect, you just don't have to constantly talk or debate about it. That's just being an obnoxious shit
posteed from iphone sorry for errors
Where's your argument about secular humanism being a load of crap?
Heheh guess that was pretty contradictory. Guess what I meant to say was that in a normal day I don't think about being atheist, don't care about it, don't discuss it. It's something that I am, like being of medium height, but not part of my persona like being liberal.
I just think any sort of movement within Atheism is dumb: atheism is only the lack of belief in a god, there is not much more o be inferred from that. Atheism is not a religion, it is the lack of a religion. I guess since they don't call themselves atheist humanists I don't mind, but attaching any sort of organization or community to atheism just rubs me the wrong way.
I just think any sort of movement within Atheism is dumb: atheism is only the lack of belief in a god, there is not much more o be inferred from that. Atheism is not a religion, it is the lack of a religion. I guess since they don't call themselves atheist humanists I don't mind, but attaching any sort of organization or community to atheism just rubs me the wrong way.
I feel the same way actually.
Also Blazinghand how do you write up all this stuff so fast? Your last blog was something similar in length....jeeze! I can barely write a thousand words sometimes, maybe I'm not for this writing thing lol.
I just think any sort of movement within Atheism is dumb: atheism is only the lack of belief in a god, there is not much more o be inferred from that. Atheism is not a religion, it is the lack of a religion. I guess since they don't call themselves atheist humanists I don't mind, but attaching any sort of organization or community to atheism just rubs me the wrong way.
I feel the same way actually.
Also Blazinghand how do you write up all this stuff so fast? Your last blog was something similar in length....jeeze! I can barely write a thousand words sometimes, maybe I'm not for this writing thing lol.
It actually really varies. The other blog post took me my whole lunch hour to write (on and off), but this one I just slammed out in 20 minutes after I got home. Sometimes it's easy to write and sometimes it's not. I also didn't edit this one as much or organize it as well as I could have-- I probably should have opened up with the privilege explanation.
On August 28 2012 09:48 DRTnOOber wrote: I watched a TED presentation, can't remember who or when, but the central idea was "Ok, there is no god, NOW what do we do?" and I thought that was a really interesting thought. As a minority (in some places) I think it's easy to spend all our time fighting for independence or to disprove religion, but there's never been big thought put into how to actually live life as an atheist, and get the most out it.
That's an interesting question (and I love TED talks), but I (like most atheists) just live my life under the assumption that a deity doesn't exist... which just basically means that I don't waste time praying or going to church or invoking supernatural faith on a daily basis... I don't do anything special, nor do I really think I need to.
In fact, I've heard some theists (those who dislike the idea of atheism) think that we can't function properly without a belief in a god, or we can't act a certain way if gods didn't exist. I hear statements like "Atheists don't believe in anything", when in reality we live our lives in a perfectly natural way, finding happiness with everything our world and the universe has to offer- friends, family, hobbies, pursuing love and happiness, etc. We believe in living for all of these things, and that's exactly "Now what". Nothing special needs to happen after the statement "I don't really have any good evidence that suggests a supernatural deity exists, so I'm not going to believe in one." I'm just going to keep being an awesome and happy person
Not saying that praying or going to church is a thing atheists miss out on in itself; but as a collective of people we don't have our own rituals, and in some cases without a replacement we miss out on having a wider community which we feel part of - that we can relate to. In this respect, atheism can learn something from religion (from an objective, non-theist perspective of course).
If that makes sense? I'm saying I think that as a community there is stuff that religions do which is good - forget about deities and all that stuff which is nonsense (to an atheist), and just look at a church as a social structure, with rituals and patterns, and certain behaviours. If you took away "God" from a religion, what would be left? You'd still have a community of people who met on a regular basis, who sang together, who had some kind of principles, and had rituals which were passed down through the generations.
Actually I think I remember the talk, it was called "Atheism 2.0"... which is unfortunate because anything with "2.0" makes my bullsh*t detector go off, but it's not like that at all.
(For the record, Web 2.0 is the most over-used meaningless term EVER. Never say it! It doesn't mean anything! It's just something sales people invented to sell expensive products to business managers and owners.)
I'm Buddhist but because we don't really believe in God or gods (we don't really consider the Buddha as a God, just a guide that you can choose to follow or not) so it kinda put us on the Atheist-side of the sprectum. I guess I can call myself "atheist with a religion
I think the problem with a lot of religious people is that people tend to view things in scripture too literally. Languages in scriptures sometimes have other meaning than what it is written. So people perceive them differently and lead to a blind faith that in turn create a rift between atheists and religions.
But I don't really think that atheist should really come out and say "hey I'm atheist". I find it nonsense to proclaim myself one without being asked first. The only thing we need to do is correct the misconception that not believing in God does not make us more inferior or superior than others. We just have our reasons in our belief.
On August 28 2012 09:48 DRTnOOber wrote: I watched a TED presentation, can't remember who or when, but the central idea was "Ok, there is no god, NOW what do we do?" and I thought that was a really interesting thought. As a minority (in some places) I think it's easy to spend all our time fighting for independence or to disprove religion, but there's never been big thought put into how to actually live life as an atheist, and get the most out it.
That's an interesting question (and I love TED talks), but I (like most atheists) just live my life under the assumption that a deity doesn't exist... which just basically means that I don't waste time praying or going to church or invoking supernatural faith on a daily basis... I don't do anything special, nor do I really think I need to.
In fact, I've heard some theists (those who dislike the idea of atheism) think that we can't function properly without a belief in a god, or we can't act a certain way if gods didn't exist. I hear statements like "Atheists don't believe in anything", when in reality we live our lives in a perfectly natural way, finding happiness with everything our world and the universe has to offer- friends, family, hobbies, pursuing love and happiness, etc. We believe in living for all of these things, and that's exactly "Now what". Nothing special needs to happen after the statement "I don't really have any good evidence that suggests a supernatural deity exists, so I'm not going to believe in one." I'm just going to keep being an awesome and happy person
Not saying that praying or going to church is a thing atheists miss out on in itself; but as a collective of people we don't have our own rituals, and in some cases without a replacement we miss out on having a wider community which we feel part of - that we can relate to. In this respect, atheism can learn something from religion (from an objective, non-theist perspective of course).
If that makes sense? I'm saying I think that as a community there is stuff that religions do which is good - forget about deities and all that stuff which is nonsense (to an atheist), and just look at a church as a social structure, with rituals and patterns, and certain behaviours. If you took away "God" from a religion, what would be left? You'd still have a community of people who met on a regular basis, who sang together, who had some kind of principles, and had rituals which were passed down through the generations.
Actually I think I remember the talk, it was called "Atheism 2.0"... which is unfortunate because anything with "2.0" makes my bullsh*t detector go off, but it's not like that at all.
(For the record, Web 2.0 is the most over-used meaningless term EVER. Never say it! It doesn't mean anything! It's just something sales people invented to sell expensive products to business managers and owners.)
I definitely agree with you that a sense of community is something that should be encouraged in general, and I also agree with you that religions accomplish this through meeting at the church. Fortunately, I'm able to find a sense of community through other avenues. For example, one of my jobs is teaching tennis at a country club, and another of mine is school (currently university for my PhD, and afterwards teaching in one).
I absolutely think that finding a community or social group is very important to help with your social identity- be it at your job or elsewhere in your neighborhood- but I'm also going to recognize that you want to make sure you're constantly associating with the right people and for the right reasons. I also don't think that you can ever really remove the religion from the churches, as you'll really need to actively recognize yourself as a member of the church to be in that social circle. I'm not going to stop by my old church to chat (I was raised Catholic), even if they serve coffee and donuts after mass. That coffee and donuts is for those who share the same religious beliefs but who also want to chat about whatever else is going on in their lives.
A sense of belonging and community is important, but you clearly don't need religion for such a thing.
It's not like athiests are immune to the ...."religious impulse", our innate tendency towards the credulous just manifests elsewhere.
I'm divided on an athiest movement. It seems a bit shakey to assemble a group of people whose common association is the rejection of theism and then represent them with values that really don't have anything to with atheism. (Or more correctly atheism has nothing to do anything except theism).
On the flipside secular representation appears to be a must (especially in America) even though technically atheism has nothing to do with our common interests.
One of the bloggers involved in the effort has written up what he calls a Draft Manifesto for Ethical Atheism. I think it might shed some light on what we've been discussing here about the role of atheism on one's ethics and worldview. It's pretty long, but worth reading to get an idea of what these people are moving towards. I'll quote the preamble and link the main document for reference.
In real life, atheism means more than mere disbelief in gods, or belief that there are no gods. If you disbelieve in gods, it necessarily follows that you also disbelieve that we get our ideas of truth and morality from gods. This is a significant approach to two central questions about life, in a world where most people believe the opposite.
This is a draft manifesto for ethical atheists who care about both truth and morality, and who want to promote reason, critical thinking and science; atheism over supernaturalism; natural compassion and ethics; inclusive, caring atheist groups; fair and just societies; secular government; and local, national and global solidarity.
Ethical atheism is more useful than dictionary atheism, because it applies the consequences of our atheism to real life. Ethical atheism is more precise than secular humanism, because religious people can be both secular and humanist, and because ethics affects all sentient beings and not just humans.
I think this sheds some light on the movement in terms of differentiating from secular humanism, but also on what makes this specifically an atheist movement. I also like that he differentiates Ethical atheism from dictionary atheism. This distinction is important, especially since this is an attempt to develop a new movement that in part shares its label with atheism.
EPT
