{"id":266,"date":"2011-01-01T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-01T19:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/what-atheists-and-republican-strategists-have-in-common\/"},"modified":"2012-09-10T01:28:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T05:28:56","slug":"what-atheists-and-republican-strategists-have-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2011\/01\/what-atheists-and-republican-strategists-have-in-common.html","title":{"rendered":"What Atheists and Republican Strategists Have in Common"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I recently wrote a post (\u201cThe Perils of Decentralized Philosophy<\/a>\u201c) as a response to Friendly Atheist Hermant Mehta\u2019s attempt to limit the definition of humanism to exclude the gunman who attacked a school board. \u00a0I argued that atheists and humanists were hurt by a lack of community or sense of responsibility for other people who shared their beliefs. \u00a0Commenter March Hare<\/a> took issue with my argument, saying:<\/p>\n

There is no need for atheists to band together in that way. It\u2019s not like when a Jew does something all non-Hindus gather together to defend the action or denounce the non-Hinduism of the person. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t a real non-Hindu, a real non-Hindu wouldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reason non-Hindus don\u2019t unite in defense of a Jew as a fellow non-Hindu is because, whether they are Christians, Jains, or Jews, \u2018non-Hindus\u2019 belong to philosophical communities that carry more weight than \u2018non-Hinduism.\u2019 \u00a0Non-Hinduism may be a definable set of people, but it\u2019s not an interesting or compelling one. \u00a0And, most of the time, neither is atheism. \u00a0Although atheism may be a very important political <\/em>category when dealing with church-state issues and creationism, it is pretty well near useless as a philosophical<\/em> category.<\/p>\n

Atheists belong to some other group, even if that group doesn\u2019t have a well known name or tradition. \u00a0Some atheists are nihilists, some are existentialist, and some are crazy, mixed up proponents of absolute moral law like me, but we all have actual beliefs to defend beyond our lack of belief in God. \u00a0If you talk about atheists as \u00a0having a primary loyalty to the philosophical category of athiesm, you\u2019re going to run into trouble, just as a couple of prominent atheist blogs did this week.<\/p>\n

John Loftus of Debunking Christianity posted an excerpt from one of his books<\/a> which stated:<\/p>\n

When Christians ask if I have taken the outsider test for my own \u201cbelief system,\u201d I simply say \u201cyes I have, that\u2019s why I\u2019m a non-believer.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll ask if I am equally skeptical of my skepticism, or whether I have subjected my non-belief to non-belief, or my disbelief to disbelief. These questions express double negatives. When re-translated they are asking me to abandon skepticism in favor of a gullible faith, for that\u2019s the opposite of skepticism\u2014something no thinker should do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Either Loftus is a skeptic in the tradition of Sextus Empiricus and doesn\u2019t really believe<\/em> anything or\u00a0being glib and\/or\u00a0disingenuous. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But what the Christians are talking about when they ask him about his \u2018belief system\u2019 isn\u2019t his skepticism\u2013 they want to know what he claims his skepticism reveals as true. \u00a0What does Loftus think constitutes virtue? \u00a0What is the goal of human life? \u00a0Does it matter if we don\u2019t know?<\/p>\n

When atheists assail Christians for holes in their theology without ever revealing anything about our own metaphysics and ethics, I get flashbacks to the GOP strategy of cherrypicking budget items to discredit the Democratic budget proposal without ever revealing a full budget proposal of their own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

When atheists don\u2019t talk about their own philosophy or pretend they don\u2019t have one, we are walking away from some of the tough discussions we need to have. \u00a0We\u2019re turning a blind eye to some troubling philosophies that are entirely compatible with atheism.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I disagree with some comments\u00a0Hermant Mehta made at Friendly Atheist while explaining why he\u2019s not troubled by divisions within atheism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not going to be unified when our disbelief in any gods is the only common thread binding us. It\u2019s fine if we support one group or another or none at all. I think we all benefit<\/em> when we can be counted in some way, but if you choose not to do that via a particular group, so be it.<\/p>\n

[\u2026]<\/p>\n

Diversity in what we call ourselves, and who we vote for, and where we stand on morality just shows we\u2019re not a homogeneous bunch. That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Diversity in opinions on morality is NOT an intrinsic good. \u00a0I\u2019ve known atheists who were nihilists and\/or relativists who had an incredible disregard for the suffering of others as a consequence of their philosophies. \u00a0I don\u2019t talk to a friend who holds these beliefs and feel reassured that I\u2019m part of a vibrant, diverse community of atheist thought\u2013 I want to convince them to change their mind because I think their philosophy is false and is likely to hurt my friend and the other people in their life.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad bloggers like Loftus and Mehta are trying to curb some of the political excesses of the Religious Right, particularly when the evangelical wings try to compromise science education, but that can only be a part of an atheist agenda. \u00a0If our philosophies are true and compelling and helpful, we ought to discuss our ethics and metaphysics openly and enthusiastically, even if that opens us up to inter-atheist fights. \u00a0Papering over important moral differences is a good strategy for building political coalitions, but a bad habit for philosophers.<\/p>\n

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I recently wrote a post (\u201cThe Perils of Decentralized Philosophy\u201c) as a response to Friendly Atheist Hermant Mehta\u2019s attempt to limit the definition of humanism to exclude the gunman who attacked a school board. \u00a0I argued that atheists and humanists were hurt by a lack of community or sense of responsibility for other people who […]<\/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":[54,96],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-debatetactics","tag-atheism-is-boring","tag-proselytizing-is-just-polite"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Atheists and Republican Strategists Have in Common<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I recently wrote a post ("The Perils of Decentralized Philosophy") as a response to Friendly Atheist Hermant Mehta's 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