Maya Bohnhoff
As with many of my blog posts, this one grew out of a conversation that I had with someone about the subject of faith and reason.
In this case, I raised the point that I felt many of the anti-theists of my acquaintance had noble goals (promoting reason and fighting ignorance) but were fighting the wrong enemy and doing it in a way that furthered neither of those goals. That were, in fact, counterproductive.
I called into question the rhetoric I and other “believers” are subjected to—rhetoric that is sarcastic rather than informative, condescending rather than responsive, demeaning rather than exploratory.
Many of the atheists who post in the various online forums and on Facebook and Twitter spend a lot of time telling believers what they believe. Literally. The discourse goes something like this: “You (religious people) believe X, Y, and Z, and that’s irrational.”
Often, when I state that I do not believe X, Y, or Z, I am informed that this cannot be so. I must believe these things because I am religious and this is what religious people believe.
This means that I spend a fair amount of time pointing out what, to me, seems obvious —that not all believers or beliefs are created equal.
I find it ironic that a narrow, and inescapably irrational, set of beliefs is being extended to every religious person who dares wander into the discussion and so, it becomes necessary to wade through the polemics, the generalizations and the condescension to be able to say: “Er, excuse me, but I don’t believe that. Will someone talk to ME directly?”
But that rarely gets heard. It’s much easier to hold onto one’s treasured assumptions about the other guy’s beliefs than it is to grapple with the possibility that religious belief, like any belief, has many variations—rational, irrational, logical, illogical. One correspondent acknowledged this anomaly, saying: “Indeed, not all people who call themselves religious exhibit the same X behavior, however since the atheists’ crusade is against religion, the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ would be valid in this case—by definition of the word ‘atheist’.”
Bearing in mind that “atheist” simply means one who does not believe in God and has no necessary addendum “and crusades against those who do,” I have to ask how much sense this statement makes. If religious belief and believers are indeed that varied, isn’t it irrational for the atheist’s crusade to be against “religion” as a mo
nolithic entity THAT DOESN’T EXIST? Doesn’t it make more sense to crusade against dogmatic thinking, against irrationality itself, no matter where it makes its home?
I submit that anti-theists are fighting the wrong crusade. And if they would target dogmatic thinking instead, a great number of religious people would join them in their crusade as willing allies.
We will have found common ground.
3 comments
Lisa Ortuno
December 14, 2012 at 3:41 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I have experienced similar situations. More often though, rather than a direct attack on me and what someone thinks I believe, my atheist friends just tend to throw out anti-religion comments here and there whenever they find an opening. And it’s clear from their comments that they fighting the easy targets. In their defense, these often bubble up as a result of bad personal experiences with people “of faith.” I know that before I became a Baha’i I had very anti-Christian feelings as a result of the horrendous hypocrisy and judgment I experienced directly. Once such negative experiences become embedded, anything that reinforces that negative opinion is assimilated and good behaviors on the part of Christians are more easily missed, ignored and generally not acknowledged. It’s more appealing/easy to maintain a belief grounded in a few impactful experiences around which you have an emotionally charged narrative. It is much more difficult to actively consider information that debunks your belief that might possibly change your mind, or modify it such that you look like a “flip flopper.” What I do know, as I have heard other Baha’is say as well, is that I have become a much better “Christian” from being a Baha’i. The Baha’i Faith, through its emphasis on investigation of truth and demand for respect for all people and faiths, has resulted in a stronger desire to understand, love and accept in ways that I didn’t know were possible. It does not mean that I agree with all other thoughts and opinions, of course.
Anyway, I do agree that the battle is poorly directed at top level. But the devil (we don’t believe in) is in the details. And all sides seeking understanding need to listen to each other and stop fighting the battle we THINK is problem that for some reason we gain some emotional or intellectual high from fighting.
Maya Bohnhoff
December 14, 2012 at 10:56 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I think the sniping becomes reflexive in a similar way that tossing out Bible quotes becomes reflexive to some Christians. I know when I read Chris Hitchens’ “God is Not Great”, I was struck by how similar his formative childhood episodes were to my own, but led to a completely different result in adulthood. Hitchens comments that his atheist is Protestant atheism and I suppose mine was similar. I rejected the dogmatist view of God and the hypocrisy, but I couldn’t deny the teachings of Christ, which my parents made sure I studied for myself.
Maybe that’s the difference. I am in complete opposition to the dogmatism that allows that hypocrisy to exist, that gave birth to the Crusades, the forcible conversion of native Americans and other atrocities, yet, I still see religion (meaning the teachings of the Manifestations of God) as the prescription for the what ails us.
I think the idea of being able to respect and even love those who hold different opinions about all manner of things is something that is elusive to many people. Religious and irreligious dogmatism are mirror images of each other and arise, in part, from the same very human impulse to make things simple and binary.
Pierre Spierckel
January 5, 2013 at 6:41 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Merci !
This is exactly what I’ve experienced too with atheists. And you said it very well. Thank you.
Pierre