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What is Organized Atheism?

Tue, 2007-10-09 00:55 — ThaiBoxerShorts

This list is taken from the Atheists for Human Rights web page. It encapsulates the philosophy, ideology, and goals of atheist activism as well as anything I've ever seen. I do take minor issue with one point it expresses, but we'll get to that later. While this has little to do with WOTM or our watchdog activities thereof, some of our readers may have questions about what atheist activism -- a movement of which we are proud participants -- is all about. This covers it pretty well:

  • Atheism accepts the natural world as all there is.
  • To live without god beliefs is intellectually stimulating.
  • To find one's own purpose and to be responsible for one's own life is exciting.
  • To be free of the imaginary surveillance of good and evil spirits is liberating.
  • To seek a peaceful world through work, friendship, and civic action is life-affirming.
  • Organized atheism supports the right to hold religious beliefs but vigorously opposes religious behavior that is politically or socially predatory or harms innocent people.
  • We support the social and political right to be religion-free.
  • We support state-church separation.
  • We oppose religious authoritarians and support all the rights they attack, including abortion rights, gay rights, physician aid in dying, and all the rest.
Now, you'd be hard-pressed to find an atheist activist who doesn't enthusiastically support and agree with most of these statements. However, I do take slight issue with the last one: While I personally agree with the views it expresses, I also feel strongly that there's room for disagreement within the community on those particular issues. It is, however, important to note that these are the statements of one particular atheistic organization, and if that's what they've decided on for themselves, so be it. Nonetheless, they serve as an excellent example of the philosophies behind atheist activism.