Religion
Related: About this forum‘Women Atheists Are Genuinely Considered Monsters’
Americans have long been suspicious of nonbelievers. Misogyny, nativism, and racism have often been tied up in their fear.
Emma Green
7:00 AM ET
In general, Americans do not like atheists. In studies, they say they feel coldly toward nonbelievers; its estimated that more than half of the population say theyd be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who didnt believe in God.
This kind of deep-seated suspicion is a long-standing tradition in the U.S. In his new book, Village Atheists, the Washington University in St. Louis professor Leigh Eric Schmidt writes about the countrys early infidelsone of many fraught terms nonbelievers have used to describe themselves in historyand the conflicts they went through. While the history of atheists is often told as a grand tale of battling ideas, Schmidt set out to tell stories of mundane materiality, chronicling the lived experiences of atheists and freethinkers in 19th- and 20th-century America.
His findings both confirm and challenge stereotypes around atheists today. While its true that the number of nonbelievers is the United States is growing, its still smallroughly 3 percent of U.S. adults self-identify as atheists. And while more and more Americans say theyre not part of any particular religion, theyve historically been in good company: At the end of the 19th century, Schmidt estimated, around a tenth of Americans may have been unaffiliated from any church or religious institution.
As the visibility and number of American atheists has changed over time, the group has gone through its own struggles over identity. Even today, atheists are significantly more likely to be white, male, and highly educated than the rest of the population, a demographic fact perhaps tied to the long legacy of misogyny and marginalization of women within the movement. At times, nonbelievers have advocated on behalf of minority religious rights and defended immigrants. But theyve also been among the most vocal American nativists, rallying against Mormons, Catholics, and evangelical Protestants alike.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/village-atheists-history-nonbelief-united-states/499520/
Interview at link.
Croney
(4,659 posts)we women are quite a small number. Decades ago when I told my mother I was an atheist, she shouted, "No you are not! You were raised a STRICT BAPTIST!"
😀
rug
(82,333 posts)Tikki
(14,557 posts)I can find beauty in nature's chaos.
Tikki
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)So do pretty much all other religions. Even here on DU Atheists are treated with scorn by the religious.
That's why a majority here have stopped trying to appease, and that has angered many, it seems.
rug
(82,333 posts)If you feel you're being treated with scorn it may have nothing to do with your self-proclaimed atheism.
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)The Second Vatican council, isn't that the one that declared Life began at conception instead of birth and cemented your religion's anti-woman stance on abortion (Which, by the way, do you share that view?)
If you feel you're being treated with scorn it may have nothing to do with your self-proclaimed Catholicism (Well, actually it probably does, considering what being a Catholic means)
rug
(82,333 posts)Just some dim sense of persecution and veiled accusations against DU members.
I doubt you read the article. Do it. It may improve your posts and lessen your sense of being scorned.
Lordquinton
(7,886 posts)From the Catholic Review, practically gnashing their teeth when they had to publish the name of Dawkins.
Now, do you agree with the Vatican 2 proclamation of life starting at conception, and thus eternally damning any woman who has an abortion?