{"id":611,"date":"2010-12-12T17:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T17:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/damn-those-overrated-gays-and-atheists.html"},"modified":"2010-12-12T17:28:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-12T17:28:00","slug":"damn-those-overrated-gays-and-atheists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/damn-those-overrated-gays-and-atheists.html","title":{"rendered":"Damn Those Overrated Gays And Atheists!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Mark Juddery, who styles himself a judge of all things overrated, has a list on HuffPost of \u201cThe 10 Most Overrated Things Of The Decade.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Topping his list is gnu atheism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026Just as it was cool in the nineties to come out as gay, it was cool in the 2000s (especially for really smart people) to adopt another once-scandalous lifestyle choice: atheism. The non-believers were inspired by such prophets as Christopher Hitchens (who devised the term \u201cthe new atheism\u201d) and Richard Dawkins. Hitchens\u2019 book God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything<\/i> was (as you might guess) an attack on religion, justifying the author\u2019s own passionate atheism. This is like complaining against the management of the Elvis Presley Fan Club, and hence concluding that Elvis didn\u2019t really exist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was cool in the nineties to come out as gay?!\u00a0 Tell that to the thousands of people who suffered as a result.\u00a0 Or to the teenagers who still suffer horribly from bullying as a result of being (or being perceived as) gay.\u00a0 Or to the millions of people denied the basic human right of marriage.\u00a0 Or to the homosexuals being executed in Muslim countries or pursued in east Africa.\u00a0 How cool is that?<\/p>\n

Second in difficulty to coming out of the closet as gay is coming out as a non-theist.\u00a0 This is especially true in a society that heavily privileges religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s so cool to be an atheist that polls tell us that it is the least popular and least trusted group in America.<\/p>\n

Juddery\u2019s Elvis Club comparison is itself overrated.\u00a0 As the Friendly Atheist points out<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If the Elvis Presley Fan Club had damn near all the power in the government and constantly tried to pass irresponsible, unconstitutional laws designed to promote Elvis merchandise, you\u2019d be pissed off, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People who are gay or atheists, or both, have suffered an awful lot throughout history.\u00a0 The fact that anyone at all thinks they\u2019re now cool is an enormous step forward.\u00a0 They are not only NOT overrated, they can\u2019t be rated highly enough.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Juddery, who styles himself a judge of all things overrated, has a list on HuffPost of \u201cThe 10 Most Overrated Things Of The Decade.\u201d\u00a0 Topping his list is gnu atheism: \u2026Just as it was cool in the nineties to come out as gay, it was cool in the 2000s (especially for really smart people) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,16],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-homophobia"],"yoast_head":"\nDamn Those Overrated Gays And Atheists!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mark Juddery, who styles himself a judge of all things overrated, has a list on HuffPost of \u201cThe 10 Most Overrated Things Of The Decade.\u201d\u00a0 Topping his\" \/>\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\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/damn-those-overrated-gays-and-atheists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Damn Those Overrated Gays And Atheists!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mark Juddery, who styles himself a judge of all things overrated, has a list on HuffPost of \u201cThe 10 Most Overrated Things Of The Decade.\u201d\u00a0 Topping his\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/damn-those-overrated-gays-and-atheists.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-12T17:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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