Comments on: Atheists Against the Tide

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 18:25:21 +0000

When the godless march on Washington, D.C. was held a few years ago, the American Atheists (AA) did its best to put the event together, from the bottom up. I interviewed Ellen Johnson, president of that organization, after the event, and she said that not one more person decided to join AA, despite the org’s costly efforts to provide a venue for nontheists. In the interview she also mentioned that it is very difficult to bring people together, like atheists, who tend to be a bit more libertarian, as many nontheists come from backgrounds in which religion was the main source of community in their “rejected” past; thus any attempt to organize those who have made the decision (ethically) to forego organized religion has an added level of difficulty.

By: biologist.nick

biologist.nick — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:56:14 +0000

We all grouped together to screw up that CNN poll. If only there was more I could do without having to shut down my internet browser.

By: FriendlyAtheist

FriendlyAtheist — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:11:15 +0000

What evidence supports the claim that atheists are hard to organize? One cannot just look at the numbers who belong to atheist organizations and conclude that atheists are hard to organize. Maybe the national organizations do a poor job of speaking to the needs of most atheists. I’m not saying that this is necessarily the case, but I see little effort expended to recruit and mobilize atheists.

My evidence is anecdotal, but all the *major* attempts to rally atheists together have failed (when compared to religious rallies, anyway) in my opinion. Perhaps the groups do a poor job of organizing (I disagree), but nothing else has really taken their place, has it?

By: vjack

vjack — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:06:00 +0000

What evidence supports the claim that atheists are hard to organize? One cannot just look at the numbers who belong to atheist organizations and conclude that atheists are hard to organize. Maybe the national organizations do a poor job of speaking to the needs of most atheists. I’m not saying that this is necessarily the case, but I see little effort expended to recruit and mobilize atheists.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:34:00 +0000

Umm, we’re a group of people who prefer to snooze away Sunday mornings and are resistant to organized groups.

Yeah…lazy and difficult to organize.

By: mollishka

mollishka — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:09:02 +0000

Thanks for the link, Hemant. Remember, the Dispatch was the newspaper whose Faith & Values editor (that's the section this article is in, notice) who a few months ago pointed out that atheists were under-represented in the F&V section, and asked: should they be? Thanks, I'm guessing, in part to a flood from the blogosphere, the overwhelming answer was: more atheist stories! I think this article is an attempt at a step in that direction.

By: FriendlyAtheist

FriendlyAtheist — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:41:32 +0000

Geez… ok, ok. It has been changed.

By: CJ

CJ — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:37:22 +0000

Hemant, it’s ‘herding cats’. Please change it, or you look like a damn fool. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with animals, but this really couldn’t be more obvious. Cattle are docile, stupid animals, and are herded all the time as a matter of course (like religious people). Cats, on the other hand, are known for their individuality and their difficulty in making them comply with your wishes. They like to do it their own way, on their own terms (like freethinkers), this being the whole point of this metaphor.

I beg you, change it now before some enemy of this site catches it and (rightfully, in this case) mocks you mercilessly.

Take care.

By: PrimateIR

PrimateIR — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:10:40 +0000

Mockery Rocks.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 04:52:20 +0000

“When you look at the intellectual expression of atheism, it is very individualistic.”

But few things bring unity like a common enemy, and that’s what activism is all about. Maybe the history of atheism has been disorganized, but we’re learning from our mistakes, and we have more incentive these days to do so.