NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Discrimination of atheists

Many atheists have experienced discrimination, mainly from religious entities. These are not so severe as to be called persecution, but they are indicative of the social rejection atheists have suffered through the ages. For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... Many atheists have experienced persecution, mainly from Christians and Muslims. ...

Etymology

The term athéisme itself was coined in France in the 16th century as adopted from the Greek term Áthèos (Á meaning not or non, and thèos meaning religious or religion). Athéisme was initially used as an accusation against scientists, critics of religion, materialistic philosophers, deists, and others who seemed to represent a threat to established beliefs. Deism is a religious movement that originated in 17th and 18th century Europe and North America and continues in a mostly similar form today. ...

Cold War

During the Cold War, the United States often characterized its opponents as "Godless Communists"^[1], which tended to reinforce the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic (an example of the fallacy known as affirming the consequent). In the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush reportedly said, "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." ^[2] Combatants Communists: Warsaw Pact, Soviet Union and its allied Anti-communists: Nato, United States and its allied Peoples Republic of China and its allied Casualties 70 millions civilians The Cold War (Russian: Ð¥Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð’Ð¾Ð¹Ð½Ð° Kholodnaya Voina) was the protracted geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged after World War II between... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Affirming the consequent is a logical fallacy in the form of a hypothetical proposition. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States of America (1989â€“1993). ...

Present-day persecution

United States

In the United States, there is widespread disapproval of atheists. For example, according to motherjones.com, 52% of Americans claim they would not vote for a well-qualified atheist for president. ^[3] More recently, a 2006 study at the University of Minnesota showed atheists to be the most mistrusted minority among Americans. ^[4] Notwithstanding such attitudes, atheists are legally protected from discrimination in the United States. They have been among the strongest advocates of the legal separation of church and state. American courts have regularly, if controversially, interpreted the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state as protecting the freedoms of non-believers, as well as prohibiting the establishment of any state religion. Atheists often sum up the legal situation with the phrase: "Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion." ^[5] The separation of church and state is a political doctrine which states that the institutions of the state or national government should be kept separate from those of religious institutions. ...

In the 1994 case^[6] Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, Justice Souter wrote in the opinion for the Court that: "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion." ^[7] Everson v. Board of Education established that "neither a state nor the Federal Government can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another". This applies the Establishment Clause to the states as well as the federal government. ^[8] However, several state constitutions make the protection of persons from religious discrimination conditional on their acknowledgement of the existence of a deity, apparently making freedom of religion in those states inapplicable to atheists. These state constitutional clauses have not been tested. Civil rights cases are typically brought in federal courts; so such state provisions are mainly of symbolic importance. Holding --- Court membership Case opinions Laws applied --- Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. ... Everson v. ...

In the Newdow case, after a father challenged the phrase "under God" in the United States Pledge of Allegiance, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the phrase unconstitutional. Although the decision was stayed pending the outcome of an appeal, there was the prospect that the pledge would cease to be legally usable without modification in schools in the western United States, over which the Ninth Circuit has jurisdiction. This resulted in political furor, and both houses of Congress passed resolutions condemning the decision, nearly unanimously. A very large group consisting of almost the entire Senate and House was televised standing on the steps of Congress, hands over hearts, swearing the pledge and shouting out "under God". The Supreme Court subsequently reversed the decision, ruling that Michael Newdow did not have standing to bring his case, thus disposing of the case without ruling on the constitutionality of the pledge. Newdow v. ... Dorothea Lange photograph of Japanese-American students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance is a promise or oath of allegiance to the United States, and to its national flag. ... The Rev. ...

Several private organizations, the most notable being the Boy Scouts of America, do not allow atheist members. However, this policy has come under fire by organizations who assert that the Boy Scouts of America do profit from taxpayer money and thus cannot be called a truly private organization, and thus must admit atheists as well as gays. An organization called Scouting for All,^[9] founded by Eagle Scout Steven Cozza, is at the forefront of the movement to expose perceived hypocrisy on the part of the Boy Scouts of America. Cozza and others allege that when the BSA wants to discriminate, they act as a private organization; when they want money or the use of publicly-funded buildings, venues, or property, they act as a public organization. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is an American Scouting organization, with some presence in other countries. ... An Eagle Scout is a Scout with the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). ...

State Constitutions

Some States' Consitutions in the US require a religious test as a qualification for holding public office, for instance in Texas an official may be "excluded from holding office" if she/he does not "acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being." (i.e. God) [thus atheists would be excluded from public office if the test were enforced.

The Bill of Rights of the Texas Constitution (Article I, Section 4) last amended on September 13, 2003 states that an official may be "excluded from holding office" if she/he does not "acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being."

North Carolina's Constitution, Article 6 Sec. 8 states "Disqualifications of office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God...."

South Carolina's Constitution, Article 4 Section 2: "Person denying existence of Supreme Being not to hold office. No person who denies the existence of the Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution."

Tennessee's Bill of Rights: Article 9, Section 2: "No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."

Historical Background

During the Cold War, the United States often characterized its opponents as "Godless Communists" as opposed to Christian Americans, which tended to reinforce the view that atheists were unreliable and unpatriotic. In the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush said, "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God."

Atheism as immorality

The first attempts to define or develop a typology of atheism were in religious apologetics. These attempts were expressed in terms and in contexts that reflected the religious assumptions and prejudices of the writers. A diversity of atheist opinion has been recognized at least since Plato, and common distinctions have been established between practical atheism and speculative or contemplative atheism. Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of a position. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ...

Practical atheism was said to be caused by moral failure, hypocrisy, willful ignorance and infidelity. Practical atheists were said to behave as though God, morals, ethics and social responsibility did not exist; they abandoned duty and embraced hedonism. Maritain's typology of atheism (1953, Chapter 8) proved influential in Catholic circles; it was followed in the New Catholic Encyclopedia.^[10] He identified, in addition to practical atheism, pseudo-atheism and absolute atheism (and subdivided theoretical atheism in a way that anticipated Flew). For an atheist critique of Maritain, see Smith (1979, Chapter 1, Section 5).^[11]

According to the French Catholic philosopher Étienne Borne (1961, p.10), 'Practical atheism is not the denial of the existence of God, but complete godlessness of action; it is a moral evil, implying not the denial of the absolute validity of the moral law but simply rebellion against that law.'

According to Karen Armstrong (1999): Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944 in Wildmoor, Worcestershire, England) is an author, feminist and writer on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. ...

On the other hand, the existence of serious, speculative atheism was often denied. That anyone might reason their way to atheism was thought to be impossible. The existence of God was self-evident, and (apparently) necessary for the proper functioning of society. Thus, speculative atheism was collapsed into a form of practical atheism, and conceptualized as hatred of God or a fight against righteous social mores. This is why Borne finds it necessary to say, 'to put forward the idea, as some apologists rashly do, that there are no atheists except in name but only practical atheists who through pride or idleness disregard the divine law, would be, at least at the beginning of the argument, a rhetorical convenience or an emotional prejudice evading the real question.' (p.18) Martin (1990, p.465-466) suggests that practical atheism would be better described as alienated theism.

Other pejorative definitions of atheism

When denial of the existence of 'speculative' atheism became unsustainable, atheism was nevertheless often repressed and criticized by narrowing definitions, applying charges of dogmatism, and otherwise misrepresenting atheist positions. One of the reasons for the popularity of euphemistic alternative terms like secularist, empiricist, agnostic, or bright is that atheism still has pejorative connotations arising from attempts at suppression and from its association with practical atheism; as mentioned above, godless is still used as an abusive epithet today. Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities. ... In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience. ... Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the (truth) values of certain claimsâ€”particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deitiesâ€”are unknown, inherently unknowable, or incoherent, and therefore, (some agnostics may go as far to say) irrelevant to life. ... Symbol of the brights movement â€¹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ...

Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert, the originators of the term bright, made this explicit in an essay published in 2003:

That several religious groups have adopted the disparaging names handed to them as a badge of honour (the 'Methodists', for example) seems to have only increased their ire. The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ...

Gaskin (1989) abandoned the term atheism in favor of unbelief, citing 'the pejorative associations of the term, its vagueness, and later the tendency of religious apologists to define atheism so that no one could be an atheist...' (p.4)

Despite these considerations, for others atheist has always been the preferred name. Charles Bradlaugh once said, in debate with George Jacob Holyoake, 10 March 1870, cited in Bradlaugh Bonner (1908): Charles Bradlaugh (26 September 1833 _ 30 January 1891) was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. ... George Jacob Holyoake ( April 13, 1817 - 1906), English secularist and co-operator, was born at Birmingham. ... March 10 is the 69th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (70th in leap years). ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

See also

The Boy Scouts of America logo The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), the largest youth organization in the United States (U.S.), has policies which prohibit certain people from membership and participation. ...

References

Categories: Atheism | Discrimination 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... Atheism, in its broadest sense, is the absence of belief in the existence of deities. ... Although the term atheism originated in the 16th Century, atheistic ideas and beliefs, as well as their political influence, have a more expansive history. ... Existence of God arguments have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, and other thinkers. ... Criticism of atheism has occurred throughout the history of religion. ... Many atheists have experienced persecution, mainly from Christians and Muslims. ... The people in this list have been included because they are/were atheists, that is, they do not or did not believe in God or gods, and this disbelief can be asserted because they themselves have expressed it openly (on the record), or in their works, personal correspondence, diaries, etc. ... Nontheism (or non-theism), broadly conceived, according to Caporale & Grumelli (1971) , is the absence of belief in both the existence and non-existence of a deity (or deities, or other numinous phenomena). ... Weak atheism (also called negative atheism) is the lack of belief in the existence of deities, without a commitment to the necessary non-existence of deities. ... ÃAgnostic atheism is the philosophy that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. ... Strong atheism, sometimes called positive atheism, hard atheism or gnostic atheism, is the philosophical position that no deity exists. ... Antitheism (sometimes anti-theism) is a direct opposition to theism. ... Faith and rationality are two modes of belief which are seen to exist in varying degrees of conflict or compatibility. ... In ordinary usage, skepticism or scepticism (Greek: skeptomai, to look about, to consider) refers to an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object, the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain, or the method of suspended... Freethought is a philosophical doctrine that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logical principles and not be comprised by authority, tradition or any other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious belief system that restricts logical reasoning. ... Naturalism is any of several philosophical stances, typically those descended from materialism and pragmatism, that do not distinguish the supernatural from nature. ... State atheism is the official rejection of religion in all forms by a government in favor of atheism. ... Though some think morality impossible (or at least unmotivated) in a Godless universe, most atheists and agnostics adhere to some form of ethical code. ... Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice and specifically rejects rituals and ceremonies as a means to affirm a life stance. ... Secularity is the state of being free from religious or spiritual qualities. ... Irreligion or irreligiousness has at least three related yet distinct meanings: lack of religion (either due to a lack of information or to disbelief) hostility to religion behaving in such a way that fails to live up to ones religious tenets Although people classified as irreligious might not follow... Nihilism is a philosophical position which argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. ...

Contents

Etymology GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");