Here you go, another worthy project looking for donations: Hug an Atheist is a documentary being made to illuminate the ordinary humanity of atheists in America, an antidote to the vicious ignorance highlighted in this clip.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
Pardon my divisiveness, but right about now I don’t feel like touching any atheists qua atheists with a ten foot pole, let alone hugging one.
Fair enough Brownian. But don’t forget we are atheists and we’re not going to let the bastards have it. Their horrific behavior doesn’t change the importance of erasing the anti-atheist prejudice that motivated so many of us to become active.
I can hear it now…
Thank you for sharing!!!
I agree with Josh – the fact that we have all seen just how many truly repugnant arseholes there are within the atheist community doesn’t lessen the importance of pushing back against those who say that you cannot be good without god, that atheism is the wellspring of ideologies like nazism, or that atheists aren’t really citizens/people at all.
Just because there are bigots among atheists, doesn’t mean that bigotry against atheists is unimportant.
I don’t expect the ‘hug an atheist’ campaign to have any dramatic effect – theists who think we are all monsters won’t start to recognise our humanity because of it, and those atheists who are the type of angry jerks who think they are entitled to be given a pass for misogyny because theists are mean to them won’t suddenly stop treating women like pieces of meat – but at least it reminds people that atheists, as a loose social grouping, are more than what the nastier stripe of theist would like to define us as.
If they don’t believe in God they can have the title. Because thats what it means.
peterhearn @ #6
True. But those of us who identify with Atheism+ also get to use the title, given that (whaddyaknow) we don’t believe in gods.
It’s not a campaign. It will be a documentary. The video shows the filmmaker explaining what it’ll be about.
Nice video, and thank-you for posting it.
David Marjanović @ 8;
Damn it. I watched the video befor I posted, and I still got it wrong…
Yup, sorry. A film, as you say. Still, my point stands – even though the film probably won’t make a massive difference on its own, the message it will send is important, and the more people who keep making the point that atheists are actually human, the better.
Sylvia –
Great idea! Thanks for embarking on this valuable project!
Brownian, I think that should be part of the point of the film, actually. It’s a variation on Sturgeon’s Law. Atheists are just like everyone else, and that includes a fair representation of arseholes.
If the film is done properly, it will not try to gloss over the faults and foibles of atheists – in fact, it would be best if it shows people who are totally unlike each other except for their lack of god belief. Sure, it would be counterproductive to include any total douchecanoes or (for the intended message of the film) ranting antitheists, but showing just the beautiful idyll of the perfect lives of atheist families will also be ineffective as it will just reek of propaganda.