Moving Towards Post-Atheism

| Wed 16 May 2012 | 13 Comments | 1708 Views

Author Bridget Gaudette

I'm an ex-Jehovah's Witness with a focus on Black atheism, humanism, and sex-positive dialogue. | @BridgetGaudette

I was inspired by a recent article by George Dvorsky, the Chair of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. The article was titled, “Why Humanists Need to Make the Shift to Post-Atheism”. First, let’s examine what he could mean by “post-atheism”. I posit two possibilities: 1. describes humanity when all religious belief has disappeared. In this case, we’d all be post-atheists because atheism would be too irrelevant to have any value in our identity; 2. suggests that it is a more evolved and thus more desirable state than atheism. That is, it reflects a more clear-headed and less heated stance that some atheists will eventually reach as they mature beyond atheism. I believe #2 is the perspective that the author is drawing from.

The central theme of the article was to encourage us to move away from bashing religion while building up the humanist movement. The part of the article that got me thinking was in the first paragraph. Dvorsky said, “I’m getting annoyed by all the anti-religious propaganda that litters my Facebook newsfeed […]. What are you hoping to achieve by posting such facile and inflammatory material?”

I am guilty of posting the occasional anti-religious picture meme or quote myself, but I do not see the point in the extremes. I don’t want to see a Jesus or Mohammed engaged in sexual acts with each other. I don’t believe it serves the greater good. The same is true with publicity stunts that some in the secular movement feel are necessary. I am coordinating a protest with some fellow freethinkers and the concept was simple: we get some signs and a group of people and we let the townsfolk know that we oppose religious encroachment on public property. I was criticized for not introducing more drama. When I asked what I should done, the criticizer stated that she would have brought a bunch of fake rocks and did a faux-stoning. In the fashion of WWJD, I thought about a person who found success when fighting for equal rights: MLK Jr. What would he have done? Dress up in whiteface and drag around a chained up Black man for dramatic effect to demonstrate the societal shackles that Black Americans were still encumbered by? No.. I don’t think so. This would have gotten him more press, which is the point of such stunts, yes, but does it help legitimize the movement? Do we get taken more seriously? I think we have to look at best practices. What actions have brought about the most change? Stunts or lawsuits? Dramatics or persistence? Costumes or reason?

All this being said, I, like Voltaire, might not agree with what you say or how you say it, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. We all need to vent and this is good for our mental health. Some folks do this by displaying anti-religious pictures or by lashing out at theists. That’s fine as long as the goal of bettering humanity is always in the forefront. Add some substance.

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Your generous contributions will go towards my travel expenses to secular conventions and help to keep me blogging. Thanks in advance!  -Bridget

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  • Anne Powles

    I agree with the tenor of your blog.
    One of the things I have most objected to in my 59 years of being an atheist is the prosthelytsing done by religions and I refuse to do this on behalf of Athieism.

    Objecting vigerously to anomalies such as tax exemptions being given to religious organizations and to religious schools for the very young is, in my mind OK. But adult people can believe what they like.

  • http://www.remijdio.com Nick Johnson

    I personally don’t think that all press is good press especially when we are trying to show people that we are normal, your neighbors, etc. So doing outrageous things just seems to harm the community more than help it. The threshold from worthy ridicule to petty pandering is a pretty obvious one to most of my friends and when they cross the line there is rarely any sort of useful discussion that comes from the picture.

  • Todd Carter

    I agree with you on many points. I feel that Humanist must engage the religious community in a friendly manner to show what we are made of. Atheism and Humanism have a huge image problem stemming from the more aggressive side of Atheism. We could go meet with the local churches and say ‘Hello, we are here. These are our beliefs. We aren’t here to destroy you, just to be recognized and to not be demeaned.

  • Emily Dietle

    It’s important to take an active look at the future. What would a society look like without invasive religion, and perhaps without it at all? We’re certainly not at that stage yet, and activism is greatly needed on many fronts.

    Where I think Bridget was going with this, ultimately, was- if our goal is a future where we can be ‘post-atheism’ because issues of women’s rights/church-state/etc aren’t around- how best do we achieve that? What is effective? I take the stance that all forms of activism can be valid and beneficial, but there are some that are uncomfortable with “loud” displays & this is an initial examination of that.

  • Donald R Wright

    I highly recommend the book “Living Without God” by Ronald Aronson. It challenges the secularists to define the type of society and the contributions we are willing to make towards building it. I support moving towards post-religion without the bashing but with healthy debates and discussions. All ideas deserve to be challenged without being offensive. Bettering humanity should be our objective. We need more than just arguing against religion.

  • EllenBeth Wachs

    So I am curious as to what you thought of the un-anointing of the roads in Polk County? I thought that was quite an effective dramatic stunt to bring attention to my persecution. It got worldwide attention.

    I think a lot of people would consider the PA AA slavery billboard a pretty outrageous stunt. So I guess it’s a matter of opinion, eh?

    • Bridget Gaudette

      I have no problem with the unanointing of the road in Polk County or the slave billboards, that just isn’t *my* style (which is still developing). Like I said, “That’s fine as long as the goal of bettering humanity is always in the forefront.”

  • http://www.free2think.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1214 John Kieffer

    Ms. Gaudette draws a parallel with the courageous black activism of the past to justify a strategy that avoids directing attention to the absurdity of the beliefs of those religious groups who wish to impose their religion on all of us via government venues. Gaudette: “ I thought about a person who found success when fighting for equal rights: MLK Jr. What would he have done?”
    >
    A profound difference between the black activism of the past and our atheist activism today is this:
    >
    WHITES CAN NEVER BECOME BLACK, BUT CHRISTIANS CAN BECOME ATHEISTS.
    >
    That is a critical difference, which has significance to our approach. That, therefore, not only justifies the reasons for drawing attention to the absurdity/stupidity/misogyny/sexism of Christian beliefs (I pick on Christianity, particularly evangelical Protestantism, as it is the religion du jour being pushed on us today) but, more importantly, to expose these absurd, even dangerous beliefs when they, these evangelicals, figuratively “bend over” and invite such scrutiny by unconstitutionally advertising/promoting THEIR religion in government venues (courthouse 10 Cs, government meeting prayers, government validation of the Bible, the Jesus character, etc).
    >
    In regard to our activism, I’ve often said the following:
    >
    “THERE ARE NO PROLEMS, ONLY OPPORTUNITIES”
    >
    Therefore, to avoid doing that brilliant faux stoning was a totally missed opportunity that would have not only elevated the demonstration to national attention (ie: Fox News salivates for this sort of thing) but may have tipped some 15 year old Christian fence-sitter (maybe thousands) off her/his metaphorical fence into the “Nones” column.
    >
    So, in addition to demanding our civil rights, that one added opportunity/objective, I believe, is a critical difference between MLK’s activism and that of today’s atheist activists.

    • Bridget Gaudette

      I chose MLK Jr. and his activism as an example of best practices, not as a direct parallel.

      As for not implementing the “faux stoning”, I was warned prior to the protest that there was a heightened risk for arrests and some did not attend for that reason. If a SOCAS supporter were jailed under my watch, I would feel responsible and I thought it was more prudent to avoid dramatic displays in this case.

      And for what it’s worth, someone from Fox News did call me :-) . I’m proud oh how the first protest I was involved with went off.

  • Concerned believer in Christ

    Bridgett go to http://www.everystudent.com and read the testimonies of former atheist (nonbelievers). Of how God actively pursued them, untill they surrendered their life to him.The fool has said in his heart there is no God,they are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. Psalm 14:1.And you shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with your whole heart, Jeremiah 29:13.Repent!

  • Concerned believer in Christ

    Bridgett, Repent therefore, of your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.If it had not been the lord who was on our side, who gave us freedom and equal rights, how can you turn your back on God???My prayer is that you become a Woman of Worship.Jesus died for the sins of the world, dont crucify him again!For god so loved the world he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003406317885 Kadir

      I have to say, I don’t exactly know how atheists deal with the possibility of death. Personally, I consider death extremely scary, because I’m certain it’s really the end. On the other hand, since becoming an atheist, I have traveled in third-world countries, gone SCUBA diving and skydiving, and so on. I suppose I rationalize most things by comparing them against the likelihood of dying in my own car on a trip to the grocery store, which is greater than one might think.

      For skydiving, I reasoned that I was already in a small aircraft, which is dangerous, and that jumping out of it wasn’t going to increase my chances of dying very much. With SCUBA diving, I figured, you just make sure your gear is hooked up right and don’t do anything stupid, and you’re extremely likely to survive.

      So it’s a matter of statistics for me, I guess, and weighing them against my desire to do fun things, and doing my best to weight them in my favor. For military personnel, you’d probably replace fun with something like necessary or noble.

      Plus, everybody dies, so it’s not like you can avoid it forever.I think love is a much better reason to do practically anything than fear! And no problem I read your blog, so it’s on the blogroll. Simple.

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Category: Atheism & Religion