Comments on: Are There Racist Atheists?

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:30:08 +0000

Yes. And there are gay heterosexuals and heterosexual child molesters. Idiots. There is nothing on the planet that is mutually exclusive except matter and anti-matter! And we haven’t cornered the market on that yet, either!

By: Indigo

Indigo — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:28:10 +0000

A relative of my significant other holds a PhD, has nothing but scorn for all religions, and thinks it’s wrong for people of different races to intermarry.
However, in a spectacular example of “do as I say and not as I do”, he is presently dating a Malaysian woman.

By: Pseudonym

Pseudonym — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:38:29 +0000

To my knowledge, I haven’t met any… racism is completely contrary to any sort of rational thought.

Hate is completely contrary to any sort of following of the teachings of Jesus. And yet, we all know of examples.

I agree with those above: Atheism is not the same thing as Rationalism. Even Theistic Rationalism isn’t as uncommon as people think. (I could also mention Hitchens, but I won’t. That’d be too easy.)

By: John Moeller

John Moeller — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:23:29 +0000

I met an atheist who wants to nuke Iran, on the grounds that it will save Western civilization from the irrational extremists there. That’s not irrational. Disgusting and callous, yes, but irrational, no.

I would argue that it’s a contradiction for a secular humanist to be a racist. There is absolutely no such contradiction for atheists. Atheism does not equal rationalism anyway. It doesn’t equal egalitarianism or altruism either.

And, as many have pointed out, there are plenty of sexist atheists. Kind of goes along with that “I’m better and more moral because I’m an atheist” thing. Chauvinism crosses many boundaries. :-p

By: bob

bob — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:55:48 +0000

I know of one, 75 years old, former Church of Christ minister. He finds inter-racial relationships to be disgusting. I don’t think he can say why though…?

By: Aj

Aj — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:27:54 +0000

I don’t know whether Hitchens is sexist, and the title “Why Women Aren’t Funny” might suggest so. However, the article itself is more thoughtful, and contains quotes from actual neuroscience research, and talks about “taking as a whole” and “on average” difference. I don’t think the article is sexist.

Race has no scientific validity. As Darwin noted, the problem is not that people aren’t different, but that there are many ways to divide the species, and they seem to be completely arbitrary. Races aren’t useful scientific descriptions, but social constructs.

By: Zar

Zar — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:10:51 +0000

There are a lot of sexist atheists out there.

By: Skepdude

Skepdude — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:51:04 +0000

Sure there are. Let’s not make the mistake to assume that all of us have come to our atheism rationally. There are many atheists that are dogmatic about their atheism. They just happen to get to the right answer, via the wrong way. I know quite a few racist atheists myself.

By: John

John — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:38:22 +0000

I’m not religious and not a racist (which seems to have no scientific validity)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence

By: Roger Scott

Roger Scott — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:21:42 +0000

I agree totally with Dan C. Transistor co-inventor William Shockley was a non-religious racist AFAIK.
While I’m not religious and not a racist (which seems to have no scientific validity) cultural respect is another thing entirely. In Australia we have a huge gap in living standards between whites and the indigenous population. Billions of dollars and decades of effort have shown little reduction in this gap. The Aborigines were living in a stone age culture when Europeans arrived and the cultural memes persist.
About 20 years ago the Federal government stopped a mine proceeding on land allegedy sacred to Aborigines. It would have interfered with cultural beliefs. The land housed the spirit of “Bulla” we were told. This was not a sentiment universal among Aborigines. Some educated locals decried the decision, which was based on cheap politics and obsolete cultural ideas (ie religion). The locals missed out on millions of dollars to improve their facilities. One of the chief indigenous pushers of the ban became a member of parliament and a minister. Journalists from the big cities treated him as a beacon of reasonablness. For mine, he was a manipulative, self-serving cynic.