{"id":439,"date":"2015-02-27T11:52:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T17:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/barrierbreaker\/?p=439"},"modified":"2015-02-28T15:53:59","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T21:53:59","slug":"the-reason-there-arent-more-black-atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barrierbreaker\/the-reason-there-arent-more-black-atheists\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Aren’t There More Black Atheists?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Note: Although I am a black atheist, and although I think I have pretty solid evidence for my claims here, I should state here that these are my personal views; no one is qualified to be the voice of every <\/em>black American.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Atheism in the United States, according to many atheists, has a culture problem. \u00a0It consists, mainly, of white males.<\/p>\n
This is not a\u00a0trumped up charge. \u00a0The stats are clear.<\/p>\n
$\"nones-demog-5\"$ <\/a> $\"nones-demog-4$ <\/a><\/p>\n
Look under the Atheist\/Agnostic label, and you\u2019ll notice a very small number in comparison to the Christian groups. \u00a0It\u2019s enormous \u2014 82% of atheists in the United States, as of 2012, are white; only 3% are black. \u00a0That is a huge disparity. \u00a0Why the gap? \u00a0What is going on?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen the handwringing over this problem as a Christian talking to predominantly white churches and as an atheist attending conventions and attending meetings with local atheist movement groups. \u00a0I\u2019ve been to meetings on diversity, I\u2019ve been in dozens\u00a0of conversations about why black people prefer to go to church or, if they are atheist, stay in the closet, and I\u2019ve heard from several white people and several black people who are unsure about what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nI\u2019m going to tell you. \u00a0It won\u2019t take long:<\/p>\nThe reason there aren\u2019t more black atheists is because the black church does something atheism isn\u2019t doing. \u00a0Atheist movements (and white churches, for that matter) tend to talk about how much they NEED black people. \u00a0They seem to emphasize that their doors are open to black people. \u00a0They seek to show how black people are wanted and needed and appreciated as atheists. \u00a0But where they are not holding a candle to the black church.<\/p>\nThe reason is that white atheists seem obsessed about showing black people that white atheists\u00a0<\/i>need\/honor\/appreciate\u00a0black people.<\/em><\/p>\nSeldom do they seem to ask the question of whether\u00a0black people<\/em>\u00a0have reason to need\/honor\/appreciate\u00a0white atheists<\/em>.<\/p>\nAnd our competition, fellow atheists, is the black church. \u00a0And the black church is in the black person\u2019s corner. \u00a0Like, their ideology may be wrong, as far as whether Jesus rose from the dead, and so on. \u00a0But black churches, for the most part, have taken Christianity \u2014 a tool for their oppression \u2014 and turned it into a tool for their liberation. \u00a0And it is undeniable that it provides several benefits to black people here in the United States that, frankly, the predominantly white male atheist demographic can\u2019t hold a candle to.<\/p>\nBlack people aren\u2019t interested, for the most part (though there may be exceptions) in handing out gold stars or attending your events because you appreciate us or honor us or say you need us. \u00a0There is a hell of a lot more pride in most of us than that. \u00a0You have to show why we<\/em> need you<\/em>. \u00a0What benefit are you giving us that the black church down the street \u2014 which is often fighting for social\/financial\/political needs day in, day out \u2014 isn\u2019t giving us? \u00a0Less? \u00a0None? \u00a0Well, then why the heck would I become an atheist when there\u2019s little benefit in doing so to me?<\/p>\nIt\u2019s like the salesperson who is obsessed with selling you his product. \u00a0No matter how much he says, \u201cI\u2019d really appreciate you buying my product. \u00a0I\u2019d love it if you brought my product. \u00a0I need<\/em> you to buy my product,\u201d you\u2019re not going to choose that product above someone who is saying, \u201cYou need this product because of legitimate reasons xyz.\u201d<\/p>\nThat\u2019s just the way life works.<\/p>\nAnd some would-be atheists\u00a0will pass up atheism and go straight to the black church because the black church is more active in the community and simply are offering more. \u00a0Don\u2019t believe me? \u00a0Check out a black man who said this:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\nI was not raised in a particularly religious household, as undoubtedly many in the audience were. My father\u2026was\u2026an atheist. My mother\u2026grew up with a healthy skepticism of organized religion herself. As a consequence, so did I.<\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t until after college, when I went to Chicago to work as a community organizer for a group of Christian churches, that I confronted my own spiritual dilemma.<\/p>\nI was working with churches, and the Christians who I worked with recognized themselves in me. They saw that I knew their Book and that I shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed that a part of me that remained removed, detached, that I was an observer in their midst.<\/p>\nAnd in time, I came to realize that something was missing as well \u2014 that without a vessel for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart, and alone.<\/p>\nAnd if it weren\u2019t for the particular attributes of the historically black church, I may have accepted this fate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nI want to stop right there. \u00a0So this black man was, basically, an atheist. \u00a0And he was going to remain an atheist for the rest of his life. \u00a0But where did this lead him? \u00a0Apart, and alone \u2014 which is how many black atheists\u00a0working to make things better for other black individuals may feel. \u00a0If you\u2019re a black atheist, you may often find yourself isolated if you\u2019re around predominantly black friends. \u00a0I\u2019ve talked with black people who have noticed that, due to cultural and experiential differences, it can feel lonely (I\u2019ve experienced this somewhat, as well). \u00a0It\u2019s not like you get extraordinary benefits from being a black atheist. \u00a0More than a white atheist, you\u00a0can feel like you\u2019re\u00a0on the outside, looking in. \u00a0Very few of us are willing to accept this fate. \u00a0But this man was, and would have continued to be accepting of this fate, if it hadn\u2019t been for one thing \u2014 the black church was absolutely irresistible. \u00a0This young black man left the atheism not because he was logically convinced that the Christian beliefs were true, but because of the black church. \u00a0It took a promising young atheist, because it offered more. \u00a0Going on\u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote>\nBut as the months passed in Chicago, I found myself drawn \u2013 not just to work with the church, but to be in the church.<\/p>\nFor one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change, a power made real by some of the leaders here today. Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and cloth the naked and challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope.<\/p>\nAnd perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship \u2014 the grounding of faith in struggle \u2014 that the church offered me a second insight, one that I think is important to emphasize today.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nDo atheists offer that in the United States today? \u00a0Because that\u2019s what the predominantly white male atheist groups are up against. \u00a0I think almost any honest observer \u2014 white, black, or any other race \u2014 would have to say that the atheist demographic hardly holds a candle to this. \u00a0Which, arguably, is why Barack Obama, the black man of the preceding quotes, currently identifies as a Christian and not as a nonbeliever.<\/p>\nWhen most atheists are about saying \u201catheism is ONLY about a lack of belief in God or Gods,\u201d the result is that you\u2019re going to attract people who are not attached to movements like the black church that are about a lot more than that. \u00a0You\u2019re going to attract people who don\u2019t need those movements, that advocacy; people who don\u2019t need people fighting for them and in their corner as much concerning issues of race and gender. \u00a0You\u2019re going to attract the least vulnerable people in society.<\/p>\nWhich is why atheism is mostly white\u00a0and male.<\/p>\nThere you have it. \u00a0That\u2019s the big mystery. \u00a0And you might ask, \u201cHow do we solve the problem?\u201d<\/p>\nAs a black atheist who has been in conversations with hundreds of white atheists online about this, I\u2019m struggling. \u00a0I mean, it\u2019s like pulling teeth to convince most white people I know that black Americans are struggling in the United States, let alone that people should do something about it. \u00a0This chart seems to hold true for most conversations:<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2013\/06\/28\/for-african-americans-discrimination-is-not-dead\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-440\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/528\/2015\/02\/african-american-discrimination.png\" alt=\"african-american-discrimination\" width=\"307\" height=\"257\"><\/a><\/p>\nThat is a HUGE disparity. \u00a0And, frankly, a lot of black people are tired of having to prove the very basics to white people. \u00a0It\u2019s like trying to convince a salesperson that you don\u2019t need his product. \u00a0Many prefer not to waste their time, and simply spend time with people who have a bit more sense. \u00a0I mean, these are just the facts. \u00a0Don\u2019t shoot the messenger.<\/p>\nAnd note \u2014 I\u2019m not saying that ALL black people think this. \u00a0There is still that 12 percent of black people in that chart who will say, \u201cdiscrimination is no big deal.\u201d \u00a0And you\u2019ll attract\u00a0some\u00a0<\/em>black people on that basis, with that platform. \u00a0And maybe it\u2019s not a big deal for these black people (it\u2019s complicated, too, because many of us black people, due to pride, don\u2019t want to face the fact that we are often being discriminated against). \u00a0But for most of us, there is discrimination. \u00a0In my experience, if I ask a white crowd, \u201cIs discrimination a problem?\u201d I\u2019m going to get a debate. \u00a0Ask the same question to a black crowd, and they\u2019ll look at me, collectively, like I\u2019m a bit insane. \u00a0Of course<\/i> racism is a problem! \u00a0Where have you been \u2014 sleeping under a rock?<\/p>\nSo, if you\u2019re bothered by the fact that there aren\u2019t more black atheists, and feel like you need them, and begin to wonder why there aren\u2019t more atheists, ask yourself, \u201cWhat benefits are atheists\u00a0offering black people above what the black church is giving them?\u201d \u00a0And if you\u2019re coming up blank, you have your answer. \u00a0You don\u2019t have to necessarily care about increasing diversity among atheists. \u00a0But let\u2019s end any nonsense about there being confusion about the problem, because the reason for the problem is staring us right smack-dab in the face.<\/p>\nIf you are a black atheist looking for somewhere to connect, however, there are some organizations of like-minded people dotted throughout the United States that are trying to be in your corner. \u00a0And, although it may be difficult to find a solution here, one is\u00a0to donate to the efforts of these organizations. \u00a0If you\u2019re interested in making atheism more socially acceptable and beneficial for a more diverse group of individuals, consider helping these groups out. \u00a0Check out the links, and thanks for reading.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blacknonbelievers.wordpress.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-451\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/528\/2015\/02\/cropped-black_nonbelievers_header.jpg\" alt=\"cropped-black_nonbelievers_header\" width=\"951\" height=\"160\"><\/a><\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aahumanism.net\/info\/about_aah\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-452\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/528\/2015\/02\/aah_logo.png\" alt=\"aah_logo\" width=\"194\" height=\"100\"><\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Note: Although I am a black atheist, and although I think I have pretty solid evidence for my claims here, I should state here that these are my personal views; no one is qualified to be the voice of every black American. Atheism in the United States, according to many atheists, has a culture problem. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2187,"featured_media":449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Why Aren't There More Black Atheists?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Note: Although I am a black atheist, and although I think I have pretty solid evidence for my claims here, I should state here that these are my personal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/barrierbreaker\/the-reason-there-arent-more-black-atheists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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