Why Be So Visible, So Outspoken?

Atheists are often accused of being too outspoken, too militant, to strident. Our mere presence in society offends many people, all of them religious in one way or the other. Our existence is a reminder that the religious worldview is not the only one, that there is some possibility that they might be wrong about their beliefs in the supernatural, which beliefs forms a major component of how they deal with the day to day exigencies of life. We’re simply telling them that their beliefs, their vision of reality, could be wrong. Since there is an underlying current of insecurity in those beliefs, we make them nervous.

Insecurity?

Islamic WTF?

People think we atheists pick on Christians too much, but tend to shy away from picking on Muslims. Actually, just about everything we object to, while often directed to some inanity of Christianity, could be easily extrapolated to any religion, because it’s theism that atheists don’t buy into.  Christianity is just the most pervasive form of theism on the planet, and a known target. In addition most atheists, if they were once part of a theistic community, were probably Christians, or at least live in a predominately Christian area. There are not a lot of formerly Islamic atheists out there. At least there are not many talking about it, even if they exist.

Abortion, Redux

We recently celebrated the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that helped free American women, to a certain extent, from the servitude of child-bearing. I just discovered that Denmark also legalized abortion the same year.

A recent Danish study of women who both gave birth or had an abortion between 1995 and 2007 has concluded that contrary to one of the myths propagated by the anti-abortion crowd, women who abort have less mental health issues after the procedure than women who actually give birth.

So You Want To Be A Catholic?

Think twice. There’s not much rhyme or reason in belonging to a church that protects men who rape little boys and girls, but almost instantaneously excommunicates women who save the lives of other women.