10 Myths and Truths About Atheists

By Greta Christina, AlterNet. Posted February 11, 2009.

Again, I could go on for days about why this is wrong. I could talk about how meaning doesn't have to come from religious tradition ... and how there's plenty to hope for other than an afterlife.

But again, I mostly want to say: Look around you. Spend some time talking with atheists about something besides religion. Books, say. Music. Science. Their spouses or lovers. Their kids. Their friends. Careers. Hobbies. Political activism. Volunteer work. You'll find lives every bit as rich, full, complex, connected, transcendent, satisfying, meaningful and full of hope as the lives of religious believers.

We don't need religion to have meaning and hope. We have hope, for our own lives and for the world. And we create our own meaning. (Yes, many atheists get cranky when they argue with believers. Especially online. Surprise, surprise. Like no other marginalized group gets cranky engaging with the mainstream ... and like losing it on the Internet is an atheist monopoly.)

Further reading: Dancing Molecules: An Atheist Moment of Transcendence; For No Good Reason: Atheist Transcendence at the Black and White Tour; Atheism and Hope

4: Atheists are disrespectful, intolerant and mean.

Sometimes. What with us being human and all. But all of us? Even most of us? As a defining trait? And more than religious believers? Really? (I know, I wasn't going to get snarky about religion here ... but can you really look at the grotesque intolerance so many believers have inflicted, on atheists and one another, and still argue that atheists are the big meanies?)

Here's where I think this myth comes from. Atheists see religion as just another hypothesis about how the world works. We decline to treat it with more respect than any other opinions, theories, philosophies. We decline to treat its writings with more respect than any other books, its leaders with more respect than any other political or community figures. We think this special treatment unfairly armors religion against legitimate criticism. Besides, we don't see any reason for it.

But religion has long been treated with special deference, getting a free ride in the marketplace of ideas. And believers are accustomed to this ... so accustomed that questions and criticism seems like the grossest disrespect. As commenter Lynet wrote in another blog: People are so used to whispering around religion that an everyday voice sounds like a shout.

(I think this myth also crops up because these conversations are often on the Internet ... where, alas, many people are more disrespectful, intolerant and mean than we are in person. The next time you think atheists are being unusually disrespectful, read the conversations on the political blogs. Or, for that matter, the celebrity gossip and sports blogs.)

Further reading: Does The Emperor Have Clothes? Religion and the Destructive Force of Asking Questions

5: Atheists are whiny.

And again: Sure, some of us. Sometimes. But first, see above, re: what atheists are like when we're not debating believers on the Net. We're mostly pretty happy and grateful for what we have. And second: Demanding justice is not whining. And progressives, of all people, should not be calling it that. Nobody's arguing that anti-atheist bigotry is as serious as, say, racism or sexism.

But atheists have legitimate grievances. And many of our biggest grievances aren't about how believers treat atheists. They're about how believers treat one another. A common weapon against any social movement is trivialization. Women demanding equal rights are being hysterical; people of color are being emotional; LGBT people are being selfishly sybaritic. And atheists are being whiny.

It's a "Shut up, that's why" argument. It's not meant to address atheism. It's meant to silence it.

Further reading: Atheists and Anger

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Read more of Greta Christina at her blog.

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