The New Atheist Movement Should Care About Poverty [View all]
Walker Bristol
Posted: 02/02/2013 2:17 pm
When new atheism emerged at the beginning of the millennium, perhaps the quickest stereotypes to flank authors like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins were "elitist" and "self-satisfied." Many in today's atheist movement -- the collection of organizations and activists working to build a culture safer for nonbelievers, combat dogmatism and in some cases eliminate religion itself -- would dismiss these stereotypes as a baseless smear campaign by their adversaries. We value truth and think we're right about something -- which hardly seems different from the attitude of many believers. That itself doesn't mean we consider ourselves "superior" to them.
There's something toxic, though, that permeates this movement, something that may well inspire and support the stereotypes that have lingered for years. The atheist movement, in composition and purpose, has in the last decade failed to demonstrate a meaningful dedication to fighting economic inequality and building a safe space for nontheists regardless of their socioeconomic class. Despite all their talk of building a better world and upholding diversity, contemporary atheism and humanism's most prominent authors and leaders have been suspiciously silent on the topic of poverty. This limits the movement's ability achieve universal compassion, and renders it unattractive to those who don't occupy a comfortable spot on the social hierarchy.
What's even worse: the atheist movement's implicit dismissal of class inequality greatly hinders its ability to build meaningful and sustainable partnerships with other moral communities, either as a function of or a result of this disregard. It creates distance between organized atheism and religious groups that are predominantly composed of the underprivileged. Without these partnerships, the idea of building "a better world" is not only unachievable, but incoherent.
The last decade is peppered with blatant examples of outright classist language and motivation that has directly distanced the atheist movement from peer religious communities. Richard Dawkins has an affinity for referring to the "educated elite" (as he does in The God Delusion) or to "elite scientists" in discussing atheist demographics--essentially, he appeals to the fact that because those in the overclass of academia share a particular view, those below them ought to strive towards it as well. In doing so, he implies that they might too achieve some sort of enlightened intellectual prosperity that these privileged elite scientists have been graced with. Atheists today allege that the stereotypes discussed earlier are leveled purely out of the insecurity of the religious position. Yet, it seems they are rather an indictment of the movement's narrow, upper-class focus, which both ignores and marginalizes the underprivileged who haven't access to the same educational opportunities.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walker-bristol/the-new-atheist-movement-poverty_b_2606959.html