{"id":2307,"date":"2012-03-27T16:41:41","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T20:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=2307"},"modified":"2012-12-11T16:12:38","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T21:12:38","slug":"though-this-be-contempt-yet-there-is-method-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/03\/though-this-be-contempt-yet-there-is-method-in-it.html","title":{"rendered":"Though this be Contempt, Yet there is Method in it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Reason Rally didn\u2019t have a clear \u2018ask.\u2019 We weren\u2019t calling on Congress to pass a particular piece of legislation or demanding a timeline for reform. As a result, news media has a lot of latitude to frame the message of the rally. And most of them took their cue from one of the best known speakers: Richard Dawkins.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image via Daylight Atheism<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

USA Today\u2019s headline<\/a> was Richard Dawkins to atheist rally: \u2018Show contempt\u2019 for faith<\/strong>. \u00a0They didn\u2019t include a block quote from him, but offered this summary of his speech:<\/p>\n

Then Dawkins got to the part where he calls on the crowd not only to challenge religious people but to \u201cridicule and show contempt\u201d for their doctrines and sacraments, including the Eucharist, which Catholics believe becomes the body of Christ during Mass.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A couple of other news sources picked up the story, and, absent the quote, a couple condensed it to Dawkins saying \u201cshow contempt\u201d for religious people. \u00a0But even without this error, USA Today<\/em>\u2018s excerpt isn\u2019t a good representation of Dawkins\u2019s speech. \u00a0The news outlets assumed that contempt was an end-in-itself \u2014 atheists don\u2019t need a reason to vent their spleen.<\/p>\n

Crisis Magazine<\/a> did\u00a0USA Today<\/em> one better and chose one of Tim Minchin\u2019s songs as the iconic image of the rally:<\/p>\n

But as gloomy rain clouds hung low over the Washington Monument, the rally quickly degenerated into open mockery of religion and people of faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cF\u2014 the motherf\u2014, f\u2014 the motherf\u2014ing pope,\u201d sang Musician Tim Minchin as he played profane songs on the piano for a laughing and cheering crowd.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think both Dawkins speech and Minchin\u2019s song are bad tactics, since, as demonstrated by the clips above, they\u2019re easy to (willfully or accidentally) misinterpret as pure\u00a0nastiness. \u00a0But both of these men were, in fact, using offence tactically<\/em>, and I think their strategies deserve a fair explanation somewhere on the internet.<\/p>\n

It is true that most of the lyrics of the Tim Minchin song consist of a particular\u00a0expletive, but there are a few other nouns and adjectives in there, and you need to look at them to know what the song is about.<\/p>\n

And if you look into your motherf\u2014ing heart and tell me true
\nIf this motherf\u2014ing stupid f\u2014ing song offended you
\nWith its filthy f\u2014ing language and its f\u2014ing disrespect
\nIf it made you feel angry go ahead and write a letter<\/p>\n

But if you find me more offensive than the f\u2014ing possibility
\nThe pope protected priests when they were getting f\u2014ing fiddly
\nThen listen to me motherf\u2014er, this here is a fact
\nYou are just as morally misguided as that motherf\u2014ing
\nPower-hungry, self-aggrandised bigot in the stupid f\u2014ing hat<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This isn\u2019t profanity for its own sake. \u00a0Minchin is contrasting the\u00a0visceral\u00a0reaction we have to obsene language with the more muted reaction we may have to the sexual abuse of children when we\u2019re only seeing it as another story in the newspaper. \u00a0I doubt this song is very effective, though, especially as these are the final two stanzas, and I expect most of the people Minchin is ostensibly trying to reach have turned off the song after a maximum of three lines. \u00a0You can call the song ineffective or inaccurate, but it\u2019s not simple potty humor and indulgence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dawkins was also after something more substantial than thumbing his nose at Catholics. \u00a0He\u00a0was recommending that atheists be\u00a0contemptuous\u00a0of specific religious practices and doctrines to put pressure on people who have a social tie to religion, but don\u2019t actually believe its truth claims. \u00a0If I were rephrasing his speech, I would have said:<\/p>\n

If you have friends who are religious, don\u2019t be hesitant to ask them if they really<\/em> believe some of the factual claims that their church makes, especially if their actions diverge from what their church requires. \u00a0People claim it\u2019s not polite to talk about religion, so your friends may see your questions as confrontational. \u00a0Try to talk the way you would in any non-religious circumstance and ask questions. \u00a0\u201cWhy<\/em> do you believe\u2026\u201d \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t understand how belief X and action Y fit together, can you explain?\u201d \u00a0\u201cDo you think you\u2019ll have to choose between X and Y? \u00a0How will you decide?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is more moderate sounding, but still has basically the same goal of getting people to confront contradictions and blind spots in their worldview. \u00a0As<\/a> usual<\/a>, I think that aggressive and contemptuous language is more for our own indulgence<\/a> than the good of our interlocutors. \u00a0It\u2019s possible to be aggressive, confrontational, and compassionate.<\/p>\n

If the news media didn\u2019t even acknowledge that Dawkins and Minchin were trying to persuade, it\u2019s perhaps unsurprising that the press tended not to talk about why these speakers felt the problem was urgent enough to merit shock tactics. \u00a0Atheists sometimes get pegged as pedants. \u00a0We\u2019ve got such an intense love for abstract Truth that we have to barge into other people\u2019s perfectly nice lives to harangue them. \u00a0And I\u2019ll admit I do this sometimes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the other reason we\u2019re aggressive is because false beliefs harm people. \u00a0That\u2019s part of how we know they\u2019re false \u2014 they don\u2019t match up to the world we observe and the discrepancy in your worldview means your actions can\u2019t sync up correctly with your desires. \u00a0Greta Christina<\/a> just wrote a whole book on the topic (Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless<\/em><\/a>) and a recent link from her fellow Freethought Blogger J.T. Eberhard has a good case in point<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A mother in Texas slit the throat of her 5-year-old child<\/a> because she believed he was\u00a0possessed\u00a0by demons. \u00a0I\u2019m not arguing that this is a necessary consequence of religious belief or a likely one and I\u2019m not commenting on the woman\u2019s mental state. \u00a0The only point I want to make is, in our culture, it\u2019s acceptable to believe demons exist and that they can possess people. \u00a0If it weren\u2019t, your belief that your child is possessed is a red flag to you and to your friends long before you decide how to deal with the problem.<\/p>\n

If possession is real, than this mother\u2019s attack on her child is deeply sad, but more harm would be done if ordinary people weren\u2019t vigilant against demonic attack. \u00a0This tragedy is collateral damage. \u00a0If demons don\u2019t exist, we\u2019re all better off with this belief rooted out. \u00a0The false religious belief may only serve as an accelerant to a different problem (the misogynistic parts of Islam are in a feedback loop with misogynistic culture generally), but we\u2019d still be better off without it<\/p>\n

When Dawkins and Minchin look too angry, it\u2019s because they see a lot of \u2018nice\u2019 Christians as providing cover for false religious beliefs that are harming people directly or\u00a0aggravating\u00a0other harmful desires or beliefs. \u00a0I still think a \u2018contemptuous\u2019 strategy is counterproductive, but it\u2019s wrong to cite them without acknowledging that their rhetoric is strategic or discussing what it\u2019s meant to oppose.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Reason Rally didn\u2019t have a clear \u2018ask.\u2019 We weren\u2019t calling on Congress to pass a particular piece of legislation or demanding a timeline for reform. As a result, news media has a lot of latitude to frame the message of the rally. And most of them took their cue from one of the best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[94,88,95],"class_list":["post-2307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-debatetactics","tag-anger","tag-atheism-conference","tag-reason-rally"],"yoast_head":"\nThough this be Contempt, Yet there is Method in it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Reason Rally didn't have a clear 'ask.' 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