Where are the Loner Atheists?

Fantastic piece from David Harsanyi (via Hot Air)

 

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Atheists claim to value reason above blind faith and individuality above the lock-step certitude of religion. My own     rejection of faith, I hoped, would allow me to indulge in wicked thoughts and pork-based dishes. I hoped I could, forever, avoid hallelujah get-togethers, groupthinky organizations and constraining labels.

Yet, these days, atheists are organized. They’re activists. They will probably sue you. They have become exasperatingly earnest, hopelessly serious and unnecessarily pushy.

They have, in other words, become as tedious as Joel Osteen. And there are few greater sins.

Last year, for instance, atheists – along with humanists, secularists and gaggle of other “ists” – gathered in dozens of cities to celebrate a holiday called HumanLight. The festivity, according to the organizers, envisions “a future in which all people can identify with each other, behave with the highest moral standards, and work together toward a happy, just and peaceful world.”

The whole enterprise sounds like Gandhi channeling Ayn Rand – or, suspiciously, like Mass. What happened to the good old days, when non-believers were in a perpetual non-celebratory mood?

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This sort of piggybacks off this post by my friend Z over at It’s the Thought That Counts. In the post Z wonders why atheists don’t march in protests for their own cause verses just being part of larger crowds in other protests. This seems to contradict the idea that Harsanyi humorously reminds us of, which is that atheists should be sort of anti-movement by definition. Maybe this is a poor analogy, but I see the atheist tendency to organize as akin to anarchists forming a political action committee. That is not to say that secular organizations are not as common as (insert cute phrase about something common here), but it makes one wonder just what they are organizing about. To talk to atheists I am quite sure they would say that they are motivated to fight prejudice/intolerance against atheism and to safeguard the secular parts of our society. I’m ‘skeptical’ of the need for the first and I respect the second so long as they don’t get as zealous as the folks they are fighting (which leaves most of us stuck in the middle watching them throw mud at one another).

I would like to advance another idea though: atheists organize because they need one another. It’s a support group of sorts. Like-minded folks coming together to pat each other on the back and tell each other it’s okay to believe (or not-believe) what they do. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. Companionship of this sort has been around at least since the first cavemen huddled together for warmth or since Cain and Able snuck off into the bushes to discuss what a drag their parents were  (whatever your beliefs tell you). I think it’s interesting that atheists have formed these groups which fill much of the same need that religion does for others. Of course, enlightened atheists will say the difference is that they don’t have a pretend deity at the center of their group therapy. Touche.

I have no issues with atheism, having been a vocal one myself in college (oh those crazy liberal arts years). As stated above, I also have no issues with them fighting the good fight against non-secular intrusions like ID or the Ten Commandments in courtrooms. I also don’t have a problem with them organizing, so long as they don’t start to become as much of a pain in our collective asses as evangelicals often are. I must admit that when I was a proud non-believer I was also very much of the loner/rebel type and not the organized, hold-a-conference, go out for drinks and file lawsuits variety…so I have a little trouble getting my head around clubs based on mutual non-belief (but I also have a hard time getting my head around Dungeons and Dragons or NASCAR and that’s okay). I guess I just wanted to point out that at the end of the day we all really just want to get together once in awhile and have an intelligent conversation with people who are equally passionate about some of the same things we are. Atheists should be honest about that. It makes them seem a lot less serious and a lot less grumpy.