Just fucking go.
Forget the bullshit and the whining, the fighting and the name-calling, the eye-rolling and the caterwauling and just go to a meeting. Large or small, doesn't matter. National, state, or local - makes no difference. Find a meetup and go.
Despite my deep despair over how the atheist internet community has become a rather unwelcoming and hostile space, I thought back about how all my real-life, in-person gatherings have been fabulous. So Nathan and I put on our DFFT t-shirts, packed our bags, and went to the Alabama Freethought Association's Glorious Fourth at Lake Hypatia. And guess what? It was wonderful! It was the best medicine yet.
It's one thing to read great blogs but it's quite another thing to meet Al Stefanelli, JT Eberhard, and Dr. Darrel Ray and find out that they are warm, caring, friendly human beings. And when I say those words, I mean them. I'm talking about people who laughed with me, listened to me, hugged me in both joy and sorrow. Real folks with real feelings.
It's tempting to let the internet become our idea of what the world really looks like and maybe to some degree it is. But it's also true that there is the face-to-face world where we can find greater empathy and solidarity with others. If our efforts to spread skepticism and freethinking values is to succeed, we must be willing to communicate those values with others and reinforce them in our community. We must be willing to work with others and to encourage each other. Conferences can do that. They can give us a place to come together, have fun, learn new things, and figure out how to be better people.
We can't sit around and wait for our community to be perfect. Indeed, I would argue that our community is not a place for perfect people - it's a place for people who are continually striving to learn more and be better people. Just as Christians tell you that you can't wait for the church to be perfect, neither can we sit around wringing our hands and waiting for our time to come. We must show up at these meetings and work for what we want.
In this vein, I'm going to stop sitting around and waiting for the perfect post to come into my head. Instead, I'm going to try to write here every day and, if the post isn't perfect, so what? At least I will be moving in the right direction.
So too do I encourage you to stop waiting for a comfortable moment and seize the day. Do what you can - no matter how small. Go to a local meetup. Get involved in a conversation. Start that blog. Make a small move and the next will be easier and easier until, before you know it, you're taking large strides. That's how our community is going to get larger, better, and more effective.
So find a local meetup or a conference close by. Grab a friend or two and go. Do it and become part of our community instead of someone just sitting on the sidelines. Do it today because the world needs to hear our voice and the atheist community needs to hear yours.
Yep, if there is an example of someone who is a "warm, caring, friendly human being" it's gotta be Al.
ReplyDelete“Intolerance [the author means intolerance aimed at Christianity] toward beliefs and doctrines that serve only to promote hatred, bigotry and discrimination should be lauded, as should extremist points of view toward the eradication of these beliefs and doctrines. It should come as no surprise that the individuals who abide by fundamentalist Christian doctrines would be the first to cry out that they are being persecuted when their dangerous, damaging and disingenuous beliefs come under attack. Most of these people lack the maturity and intelligence to act in a socially acceptable manner. Many of them are sociopaths and quite a good number of them are psychopaths. All of them are clearly delusional. The fact is that fundamentalist Christians are not interested in coexisting or getting along. They have no desire for peace. They do not want to sit down with us in diplomatic efforts to iron out our differences and come to an agreement on developing an integrated society. They want us to die. Their interpretation of the Bible is such that there is no other course of action but to kill the infidel, and if anyone believes otherwise they are only fooling themselves. As long as they are allowed to exist [He means Christians], we will continue to be inundated with accounts of buses, buildings, markets and abortion clinics being blown up, rape victims being murdered for adultery, wives being beaten (sometimes to death), airplanes being flown into buildings, people being tortured and sometimes beheaded for blasphemy, people being burned for witchcraft and sorcery and all the other horrific, inhumane and insane practices that are part of fundamental Christianity.”
Al Stefanelli, Georgia State Director of American Atheists, Inc. - September / 2011
I've always said that one must be very careful, especially on the internet and TV, to use words clearly. When Al said this, no gangs of atheists left the building and starting shooting down believers in the street. We understood what he meant (that dangerous beliefs must be combated and eradicated through reason) even though he used a very poor choice of words to say it.
ReplyDeleteHe has not advocated for violence against others and did not do so at this meeting. He words and deeds since this statement are more than enough to demonstrate his actual intent.
The reason why it is so vital that we use clear communication is because we have many who use their words irresponsibly and then accept no responsibility when others are hurt or killed as a direct result of those words. Folks like O'Reilly and Beck are geniuses at this (and I wouldn't be surprised if you had found this quote off "The Blaze" or some such other site).
Bottom line, Al's behavior has demonstrated his intent and, based on my encounters with him, I believe he is a very caring and friendly person. When you can show me examples of him killing believers, promoting actual violence, or trying to oppress believers through legislation, then I will be more willing to listen to your opinion.
I found the quote on an atheist site actually, can't remember which one. I do remember that it has a picture of a commercial sized dumpster with bodies hanging out of it and the dumpster is labeled, "Christians Only."
ReplyDeleteInterestingly on the same day I ran across another atheist site that showed two wolves, dressed up as sheep with blood dripping from their grinning mouths. The wolves were standing over two bodies labeled as Christians.
Both sites are dangerously secular in my mind. Nevertheless, I'm sure you find Al and his friends to be fine upstanding individuals.
Good luck on your journey.
Other people using inappropriate graphics doesn't constitute evidence that Al is evil and wants Christians dead. And, for the record, I do not approve of that kind of imagery. Our goal is not to kill believers but rather to give them the skeptical tools they need to think more rationally about their beliefs (with the hope that, one day, they will change their minds about the irrational stuff).
ReplyDeleteStudies by social scientists, and census data, both show that atheists are less violent than the religious, as a group. Sadly, some atheists are incredibly obnoxious, and feel the need to be so loudly and publicly on the internet. Then all of us are judged by their words (not actions, since they talk trash, but don't behave violently). I'm very upset by the dumpster and wolf pics, but also by the implication that as a secular humanist, I must surely approve of such imagery. I don't.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-humanity-naturally/201103/misinformation-and-facts-about-secularism-and-religion
http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2009/06/atheist-nations-are-more-peaceful.html