#58 
by pelfdaddy » Jan 25, 2012 2:59 pm
I now recognize more than ever the remarkable difference between the European and American perspectives. No one here is really disagreeing about facts, but about points of view. In the US, most people attend church, believe that atheists are dangerous, read the "Left Behind" series, are committed to an apocalyptic vision of some kind, and require politicians to pass the faith test. It truly is pervasive.
When I come across perspectives like that of Oldskeptic ("I've been an atheist for decades and I'm just telling you...you're wasting your time"), I understand and appreciate it, but cannot fully share it because I have already influenced several believers to the effect that they are now happier for it; and I cannot help but be sanguine.
I like Agrippina's idea, and apart from the usual difficulties of gettting "freethinkers" to do anything as a group, I would love to see an International Freethinkers Guild that actually took part in meaningful activities and promoted Humanism, etc.
Atheists' Go To Church Day, or the official title Atheists for Peaceful Cooexistence, is intended to be just such an activity. We simply show up as a way of saying, We are your neighbors, we are the people with whom you have to share this world.
Think about this: The three monotheistic faiths share a common view that the Creator of the Universe is especially concerned about some real estate on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and that there is no point in creating for ourselves a viable future because paradise will one day be given to us magically in that same region. The catch is that only after genocide has been unleashed on this world will that gift be granted. And the geopolitics of the region, and the fact that we are "nation-building" in the first place, is heavily influenced by the huge American voting block that sees the world in this freakish way and interprets world events according to prophecy.
What if we could shave a little off that voting block? What if we could sufficiently influence enough believers to be less dogmatic about these beliefs to actually help the situation? What if Republicans only had to pander to 90 million fundamentalist evangelical voters instead of 100 million?
