Category Archives: Atheism

The Indian sub-continent is the birthplace of four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. And even in the mostly-Christian West, many identify India as a land steeped in religious meaning. Authors J. D. Salinger and Leo Tolstoy were moved by 19th-century Hindu mystic Swami Vivekananda and Vedanta philosophy, a tradition kept up by The Beatles, Steve Jobs, and scores of modern Western celebrities seeking spiritual enlightenment. Upon witnessing the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in July 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, would later remark that the experience reminded him of a passage from Hindu scripture (the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of God), Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. At the Swiss facilities of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (better known as CERN), there stands a statue of the Hindu god Shiva performing the Tavama divine dance that, in physicist Fritjof Capras words, mirrors the pulsating process of creation and destruction observed among subatomic particles, and which forms the basis of all existence.

Amid such deep reverence of Indias spiritual and religious traditions, perhaps its not surprising that Indian treatments of materialismthe view that reality is shaped by purely physical processeshave gotten a lot less attention in the West. Yet Indias earliest materialist movement, Crvka, actually predates its 2,300-year-old Western counterpart, Epicureanism. According to one precept, While life remains, let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt / When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again? (Or, in the original Sanskrit, yvaj jvet sukha jved a ktv ghta pibet / bhasmbhtasya dehasya punargamana kuta).

The Sarvadaranasagrahaa 14th-century compendium of philosophical systems, compiled by guru Madhvacharyabegins its treatment of Crvka Darana (Darana in Sanskrit means an insight, or a lens through which to glimpse reality) with that latter quotation. Ancient Indian knowledge systems had by then been divided into nine schools. There were six stika (orthodox) schools: Nyy, Vaieika, Skhya, Yoga, Mms, and Vednta, and three of the Nstika (heterodox) variety: Buddhism, Jainism, and Crvka. (There are references to the jvika and Ajna movements being counted as separate Nstika schools, but most of the literature in Indian philosophy relies on the nine-school typology as definitive).

Put in the most simple terms, an stika is a believer, and a Nstika is a non-believer. But in truth, the dichotomy is not that simple. While there are many opinions on how the difference between the two categories should be defined, the most popular formulation is that Nstikas did not accept the infallibility of the Vedas, Hinduisms oldest texts. (The 12th-century Indian grammarian Hemachandra went so far as to state that a Nstika is one who thinks that there is no virtue and no vice: nsti puya ppam iti matirasya nstika. But this is not a widely accepted view among ancient or current Indian philosophers.)

Dating the Crvka Darana is a difficult task. While we know Epicurus was born in 341 BC and died in 270 BC, the Crvka school of thought cant be traced to one person. Secondary references to the literature of Crvka (also known as Lokyata) begin appearing around 700 BC. But the primary sources, known as the Brhaspatya stras, have been lost except for the fragmentary quotations that appear in later textssuch as the third-century BC Arthashastra (which contains the first known usage of the word Crvka in connection to materialist philosophy) and the epic Sanskrit poems Mahbhrata and Rmyana.

In terms of leading philosophers, the first known proponent of Indian materialism was sixth-century BC thinker Ajita Kesakambali, though his primary writings, too, have not survived. Secondary references to his work suggest the Crvka Darana developed further during the period of about 600 to 400 BC. But it is difficult to trace the development of its precepts with precision because even later texts (such as the aforementioned Sarvadaranasagraha; the eighth-century Sarva-Siddhnta-Sagraha; the 11th-century Sanskrit allegorical drama Prabodhacandrodaya; and the Tattvopaplavasiha, a famous philosophical tome written in the ninth century by Jayari Bhaa) tend to reference Crvka by way of the rhetorical technique known as purva paksha (steelmanning). That is to say, the authors in question tend to endorse opposing schools of thought, and relate the Crvka view only insofar as is required to refute it.

In the Indian philosophical tradition, there are six pramas (means of knowledge): Pratyaka (perception), Anumna (inference), Upamna (comparison), Arthpatti (presumption by circumstance), Anupalabdi (inference by absence), and abda (reliance on the testimony of reliable experts and sacred texts). But the Crvkas considered only one prama to be valid: Pratyaka (perception). They considered perception to be of two kindsexternal and internal. External perception is a product of the five senses, while internal perception involves the mind. In the end, all knowledge is derived from the interplay between these two means of perception.

(The Crvka view on Anumna, or inference, is nuanced. As one scholar has put it, when the Crvkas denied the status of inference as an independent means of knowledge, they ipso facto did not reject all kinds of inference, but accepted only such inference as was found true in everyday practice [lkavyavahra]. Thus, in the Crvka conception, perception includes both what is sensually apprehended and inference based on such apprehension. Only such inferences as derived from the scripture, Veda and Smriti [Hindu texts], are not admitted.)

The Crvkas considered only matterthat which could be sensedto be real. They saw matter through the fourfold typology of earth, water, fire, and air, while rejecting the idea of ether because it could not be an object of perception. Consciousness, as per the Crvkas, is an epiphenomenon, i.e., a secondary phenomenon that emerges from the four elements coming together. They would say things like matter secretes mind as liver secretes bile. Eighth-century Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara described this materialist view, as regarding the soul, to present the body as characterized by the attributes signified in the expressions, I am stout, I am youthful, I am grown-up, I am old, etc. It is not something other than that. A sentient being does exist This bundle of elements is void of self, in it, there is no sentient being. Just as a set of wooden parts receives the name of carriage, so do we give to elements the name of fancied being.

The Crvkas completely deny the existence of the tman (soul), vara (god), heaven (svarga), or any form of Punarjanma (reincarnation) or transmigration of souls. The Sarvadaranasagraha shares verses such as: There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world; When once the body becomes ashes, how can it even return again?; and If he who departs from the body goes to another world, how is it that he comes not back again, restless for love of his kindred? They also completely reject rituals performed by the Vedic priests.

Naturally, The Crvkas were portrayed by their opponents as hedonists who believed only in sensual pleasures. Shankara, for instance, lampooned the Crvka view from a Hindu perspective by describing it as teaching that the enjoyment of heaven lies in eating delicious food, keeping company of young women, using fine clothes, perfumes, garlands, sandal paste, etc. Even if one rejects this description, a neo-Crvka is faced with the problem of defending a movement that, for centuries, was defined principally through the writings of those who sought to reject its teachings.

At the same time, a neo-Crvka might see this historical moment as a time of opportunity; as the atheistic movement is generally dominated by precepts that have their roots in the Judeo-Christian West, and so is due for an injection of fresh perspectives. While there are cursory references to the East in Christopher Hitchenss influential 2007 book God is Not Great (in the chapter titled, There Is No Eastern Solution), and in Sam Harriss 2014 bestseller Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, the East and its knowledge traditions have generally been ignored by the many Western thinkers who push for a strictly materialistic understanding of the human world.

Indian materialists are very much in the countrys minority. But their days of being dismissed as outliers may be numbered. While religion is still an important badge of identity for most Indians, the Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism indicates that the number of non-religious people in India has been rising. And from 2001 to 2011, the number of people listed in the census category, Religion Not Stated went up from 700,000 to 2.9 million.

One problem here is that Western polling methods dont always map well onto Indian belief systems when it comes to religion. Last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a detailed survey titled Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation. Belief in God is nearly universal in India (97%), and roughly eight-in-ten Indians (79%) say they believe in God with absolute certainty, Pew reported. Majorities among all major religious groups believe in God. But consider the fact that only one percent of surveyed Jains said they do not believe in God. How does one interpret that statistic in light of the fact that, as a BBC summary put it, Jains do not believe that any form of god is necessary to keep the universe in existence, or that any form of god has any power over the universe. (Nor do Jains believe that the Earth was created by God, or that God set out the cosmic laws that govern the universe.) Which is to say that surveys such as this one tend to be built around the Western idea of knowledge systems divided cleanly between the Abrahamic view of a world created and lorded over by a particular kind of god, and an atheistic rejection of the very idea of god.

In some Eastern contexts, one can reject Gods relevance to humanity while still being nominally classified as a believer. One can also follow overlapping religious systems, such as can be seen in Japan, where about two-thirds of people participate in Shinto practices, and about two-thirds of people participate in Buddhist practices. Most Japanese, it turns out, practice both religions.

Even in the case of Hinduism, it isnt clear how many Indians who are given to ticking the Hindu box on surveys truly endorse stika (orthodox) Hindu beliefs. Rather, many may be Nstikas who are deferring to cultural or political trends, by which Indians are encouraged to sort themselves into faith communities as a matter of tribalism. In many cases, there is no real conflict between the self-asserted Hindu identity they describe to pollsters and their Nstika beliefs.

In coming years, Indian neo-Crvkas can be part of a trend toward political and intellectual reform, especially if the movements adherents recognize that their ideas are authentically Indian, and not derived from some modern book written in English. Just as our earliest faith traditions took form independently of Western influences, so, too, did the materialist tradition that emerged in opposition.

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Imagine Theres No Svarga: Rediscovering Crvka, Indias 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition - Quillette

by Massimo Introvigne.

Article 2 of 5. Read article 1.

Does Confucianism exist? The question is not pedantic, even if there are entire libraries of books including Confucianism in their title. Like other terms, Confucianism was originally a piece of chinoiserie, a word invented by Westerners that Chinese had never used. Actually, the process was twofold, and involved an ecumenical cooperation of sort between Catholics and Protestants.

First, Catholics invented the word Confucius. Before the 17th century, nobody had heard of Confucius, although everybody in China and some outside the country knew the name of an early Chinese sage called Kong. He was referred to in China with the honorific titles of Kongzi (Master Kong) and Fuzi (The Master). As Lionel M. Jensen has argued in Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), Kongfuzi, a word putting together Kongzi and Fuzi was very rare in written Chinese, but was used in the spoken language. Jesuit missionaries heard it, and Latinized it into Confucius.

Yet, Confucianism was rarely, if ever, used until Protestant missionaries started being interested in Confucius. It was the Scottish missionary James Legge (18151897) who perhaps created and certainly popularized the word Confucianism. Actually, Legge did much more. He became the first professor of Chinese at Oxford University, and a friend of German philologist Max Mller (18231900). When Mller published his monumental 50-volume collection Sacred Books of the East, four volumes on Confucianism, edited by Legge, were included. From then on, that Confucianism was one of the worlds great religions became a matter of course, and Confucian representatives, in fact officers of the Qing imperial court, were invited to the first Parliament of the Worlds Religions organized in Chicago in 1893.

This is not to say that Chinese resisted the use of Confucius and Confucianism. On the contrary, they embraced the terms quite enthusiastically, and ended up forgetting these words had been invented by Western Christians. Today, the cultural institutes and international propaganda outlets of the Peoples Republic of China are called Confucius Institutes, and Confucius and Confucianism pop up everywhere, including in speeches by Xi Jinping.

However, even official translations of Chinese documents translate with Confucianism two different Chinese expressions, Kongjiao (), the teachings [or religion] of Confucius and Rujia (), the Way of the Ru (we will try to define Ru later; and there is also Rujiao, the teachings [or religion] of the Ru). Kongjiao was introduced in the Chinese language in the 19th century to translate the Western word Confucianism. Although it is promoted today, as we will see in another article of this series, by those who would like to see Confucianism officially recognized as a religion, Rujia remains the most common expression.

The astute reader would have noticed that Confucius or Master Kong is nowhere to be seen in Rujia. This explains a curious incident reported by Tony Swain at the beginning of his book Confucianism in China. When visiting Qufu, in Shandong province, the hometown of Confucius and for this reason a popular tourist destination, Swain was given a bilingual tourist brochure. In the English version, it was explained that Confucius was taught Confucianism as a young man. It did not make sense, and nobody would say that Jesus Christ was taught Christianity (by whom?) at an early age. However, the word translated as Confucianism in the brochure was Rujia, not Kongjiao.

Was he alive, Confucius would probably abhor the world Kongjiao but would wholeheartedly agree that he was trained in Rujia by good masters. In fact, as far as we know, Confucius always insisted that he did not invent or create any new doctrine. In the previous article, I have mentioned Father Joseph Shih, the Jesuit scholar who introduced me to Confucius some fifty years ago. He started his courses by explaining that Western Enlightenment philosophers had turned Confucius into a subversive, whose aim was to get rid of the old Chinese religion. In fact, Confucius was a traditionalist. He believed that China, at his time in a deep cultural and political crisis, had once been great; it had forgotten its past greatness and badly needed to return to its ancient ways.

Confucius (551479 BCE, if we believe the traditional dates) lived under the Western Zhou dynasty (1050256 BCE), at a time of political crises and revolts, which led to the Warring States period (475221 BCE) a few years after the sages death. Confucius looked with nostalgia at the early Zhou years around 1000 BCE, when King Wu ruled assisted by his younger brother, the Duke of Zhou. The learned Duke is credited with having created the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven, according to which Heaven gives, and may withdraw, its mandate to rule to subsequent Chinese dynasties.

While the Duke had to fight those who wanted to restore the ousted Shang dynasty (16001046 BCE), Confucius believed that there was a lot to be praised among the Shang too, as well as among their predecessors, the Xia. The sage was a true believer in the mythical history of China, and was not bothered by theories by later scholars that many of the characters he referred to likely never existed.

The Xia, Shang, and early Zhou kingdoms had been great and prosperous, Confucius argued, because they promoted culture and morality and honored the sages. He came, in his own words, to transmit, not to innovate, and to restore the real or supposed wisdom prevailing at the times of the Duke of Zhou, which he believed dated back to much early ages. Here we encounter again Rujia, one of the terms translated today as Confucianism. Confucius wanted to restore the wisdom of the Ru, but who were the Ru? The term is often translated as scholars, but in fact indicated a class of scholars who had mastered certain texts referred as Classics and supposedly dating back to the early Zhou years if not before.

These were at the time of Confucius, or shortly thereafter, the Five Classics, i.e., the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Documents, the Book of Rites, the I Ching (Book of Changes, also used for divination), and the historical Spring and Autumn Annals. The Annals, a compilation of historical facts, cover a period until Confucius last years, and were allegedly added to the Classics by him, although they were probably written later and supplemented by commentaries, including the esoteric Gongyang, which became among certain scholars more important than the text itself. It is also said that Confucius added parts to the Book of Rites and appendixes to the I Ching. Later, many additional Classics were added, including the Analects, a collection of sayings by Confucius written after his death, probably in layers during the course of three or more centuries.

There are problems with Confucius similar to those Christians have with Jesus. There is evidence enough to persuade scholars that Confucius existed, but most of the biographical details about him were written down centuries after his death. What is probably accurate is that he was born in the state of Lu, in present-day Shandong province, in an aristocratic family that had lost its status and was regarded as semi-aristocratic only. He trained as a scholar and obtained administrative positions in his home state, including commissioner of police. Both hoping to spread his program of restoring the glory of the Ru and escaping political instability, he traveled around China. He did not have much success, though, and returned home to spend his last years in teaching a small number of selected disciples.

Confucius did not want to be called master or even sage, and he claimed he just wanted to teach the old Ru ways. At the same time, if we believe the Analects, he repeatedly said he was acting on behalf of Heaven (Tian). But what was Heaven for Confucius, exactly? We will address this question in the next article of the series.

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Confucianism: Atheism or Religion? 2. In Search of Confucius - Bitter Winter

In June 2021, Alita, a trans woman living in Saudi Arabia, saw a hashtag trending on Twitter that translated roughly to a space for hatred of religion. In a Twitter Spaces audio room days earlier, Alita, who asked Rest of World to use her screen name for her safety, had spoken frankly about atheism and her decision to leave Islam. A recording of the conversation started circulating on Twitter and the backlash was swift, resulting in the trending hashtag. In the days that followed, she received transphobic comments, death threats, and calls that she be arrested by Saudi authorities for what she had said. Apostasy abandoning your religion is punishable by death in the country, and atheists have been labeled terrorists by the government.

If it was up to them, the government would have arrested and prosecuted me by now. But thank goodness that my information is private and Im not known everywhere by my real identity. Thats why Im still safe, Alita told Rest of World in a private Twitter Spaces room. She requested to speak there, rather than on encrypted messaging apps, because she said its where she feels safest sharing her experiences.

Twitter Spaces, a live audio discussion feature, launched on the platform in November 2020, and has since become a venue for LGBTQIA users across the Gulf States and their diaspora to gather. Participants regularly host discussions about stigmatized topics such as sex education, gender identity, conversion therapy, suicide, atheism, and chosen families. Many take part anonymously, using alts, or second accounts with avatars as their display picture. Other speakers use voice distortion tools. Alita continues to be active in these spaces, despite the harassment shes experienced, and distorts any photos of her face she posts on Twitter so she cant be identified.

The announcement in late April that Tesla and PayPal founder Elon Musk is to buy Twitter for $44 billion has created concerns that the anonymity that people like Alita rely on could be under threat. In a series of posts on Twitter about his plans for the company, Musk has said he wants to authenticate all real humans as a way to address the problem of bots and abuse on the platform. It isnt yet clear how the company would achieve that, but even if it doesnt move to a policy more like Facebook, which requires users to register with their real names, collecting more data on users comes with risks. Musk has also said that he expects Twitter to comply with local laws in all of the countries it operates in, opening up the possibility that governments could demand to see user information, exposing people like Alita to criminal prosecution or harassment. That would be potentially devastating for free expression in places from Saudi Arabia to Myanmar to Colombia where Twitter has become an important space for activists, political opposition, and marginalized communities. Experts warned that any approach to authenticate users has to protect users who need anonymity.

Anonymity provides a sort of basic protection for individuals who are engaging in online space in authoritarian or repressive, or even socially difficult, situations, said David Kaye, a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, and the former U.N. special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Free speech includes anonymous speech. Do you plan to undermine anonymity and change the [rule of ]anonymous accounts that has been a signature feature of Twitter?

The user behind the Twitter account Burmese Beast, a Myanmar national living abroad, only joined the platform in February 2021, after the Myanmar military seized power in a coup. Although Facebook has long been the dominant social media in Myanmar, Burmese Beast joined a flood of new Twitter users from the country. I wanted to know what was going on and I wanted to join the millions of voices which were taking part in the revolution, Burmese Beast, who requested their gender and location not be revealed due to safety concerns, told Rest of World.

Shortly after joining Twitter, Burmese Beast began using the platform to raise funds, initially to support striking civil servants who had joined the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement, and later to support the armed revolution against the junta. With just under 3,900 followers, Burmese Beast estimates they have raised about $60,000 for the anti-coup movement, mostly by selling made-to-order portraits and illustrations; in March, they designed a pair of sneakers for the NBA basketball player and outspoken human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom.

If they find out who I am, I think that would be devastating.

They have to carefully guard their identity. No one knows, not even my parents know what I do or who I am on Twitter, and I also deleted everything that could be traced back to me, they said.

The military junta has repeatedly arrested the family members and close contacts of dissidents in order to pressure them to turn themselves in for arrest. Not being able to remain anonymous would immediately have an impact on my safety, Burmese Beast said. Doing all of this fundraising work, even focusing on humanitarian aid, is considered a bad thing by the military, so if they find out who I am, I think that would be devastating.

The junta has used Facebook to hunt down anti-coup dissidents, and in recent months, arrested dozens of people after their personal details were shared over pro-military channels on Telegram, according to digital rights activists. The user behind the Burma Revolution Twitter account, a student in Myanmar, said that he prefers using Twitter than these applications, but still had doubts about his online security on the platform in part because he had to provide his phone number to create his account.

I dont feel very safe us[ing] Twitter, even now, he said. Nothing has happened to me yet, because I have been very careful while using Twitter. If Elon Musk really implemented verifying users identities, it would be much more dangerous.

Khin, a digital safety trainer and activist from Myanmar, who requested to be identified by a shortened version of her name for security reasons, said she was terrified by Musks statement that he sees free speech as being which matches the law, which demonstrates a lack of understanding of the legal environment in countries like Myanmar. If we look at Myanmar and other countries in our region People do not agree with the law. The law just exists to oppress the people, she said.

Ultimately, the impact of Musks desire to authenticate Twitters users will depend on exactly how it is implemented, and on what basis the decisions are made.

While Facebook has taken a real-name approach, and its algorithms flag users who appear to be using pseudonyms, other platforms allow users to have a pseudonym but require official documentation to verify their identity. Users would have to trust that Twitter would protect any information they might be asked to provide. What happens when governments seek that user data? All of those kinds of issues instantly create pressure on anonymity, whether that was [Musks] initial intention or not, Kaye, the former special rapporteur, said.

Kaye said that if Musk wants to deal with Twitters bot problem, he should focus on behavior, rather than identity. If you start to do it from the perspective of behavior, you get at spam, you get at bots, you get at the creation of accounts that are used for purposes of harassment and disinformation, without getting at whos the underlying person.

Activists and free speech advocates in several countries suggested that Musk needs a more nuanced understanding of what free speech is, and needs to be transparent about how authentication decisions will be made.

I think that in general [authentication] is a worrying change, above all, because of those who exercise these controls, [and] because we still do not know the barometers of objectivity of these processes or what are the criteria to verify an account, Alejandro Lanz, co-director of Colombian human rights nongovernmental organization Temblores, told Rest of World. So, I think that does give a lot of room for arbitrariness and for many accounts that do clandestine activism to be censored.

Its not like people disappear. People switch to other platforms. Are the platforms going to be safer or more unsafe for them?

Colombia also has a political protest movement that relies on anonymity for the safety of its members. The Escudos Azules or Blue Shields have staged several high-profile, and often controversial protests, including interrupting mass and dying the water fountain red outside of the headquarters of media giant Semana, accusing the company of failing to accurately cover violence against protesters in 2021. In March of this year, Semana claimed in an article to have access to a police report linking the Escudos Azules to the National Liberation Army or ELN, a communist guerrilla group that has been fighting the state since the 1960s a common tactic in Colombia to stigmatize protesters.

Members of Escudos Azules cover their faces to mask their identities and go by aliases. A member of the group who goes by the name Amok told Rest of World that the face coverings are to protect themselves and their families from persecution, but are also meant to symbolize that their struggle is bigger than the individuals who make up the group. They take the same approach on Twitter, not revealing their identities to their more than 21,000 Twitter followers.

Amok had both ideological and practical objections to the idea of authentication. Authenticating all accounts on Twitter would threaten the symbology of a collective and non-personalized struggle, he said. Being unmasked carries the threat of being located, threatened, profiled, stigmatized, and, as happens in Colombia murdered and disappeared for thinking differently, he added.

Amok said that if Twitters rules change, Escudos Azules would continue their struggle on other platforms.

Maybe well do better on TikTok, he said.

Forcing authentication on individuals, even with guarantees that their identity will be protected, is likely to undermine trust in the platform.

If I hosted a Twitter Space, out of a hundred, maybe two or three people are joining with their real identity, said Wajeeh Lion, who is openly gay and from Saudi Arabia, but now lives under political asylum in the United States. Lion hosts near-daily Twitter Spaces for other LGBTQIA Arabs. Theyre either going to go underground or look for other avenues to use social media.

LGBTQIA users in the Middle East have good reason to fear losing their anonymity. In October 2019, the gay social media personality Suhail al-Jameel was detained under a public decency law in Saudi Arabia for posting a picture of himself on Twitter shirtless and wearing swimming shorts. Al-Jameel was 23-years-old when he was arrested and is still in prison more than two years later, with a scheduled release in October 2022. Other Twitter users in the country have been jailed for posting support for LGBTQIA rights. Alita alleges her parents have used her transition as grounds for the criminal charge of filial disobedience and is now seeking to leave the country for fear of detention by Saudi authorities.

Other anonymous LGBTQIA users who spoke to Rest of World predict that communities in the Gulf would migrate to private Discord channels or Snapchat groups if their anonymity was threatened on Twitter.

Its not like people disappear. People switch to other platforms. Are the platforms going to be safer or more unsafe for them? Thats always the question, Afsaneh Rigot, a researcher at the freedom of expression nonprofit Article 19, who has studied how digital evidence is used to persecute LGBTQIA communities across the Middle East and North Africa, told Rest of World. Youre just reducing the number of spaces folks who are at risk have to be in community, to exist It just gets smaller and smaller for the comfort of the few.

The prospect of relocating to more discreet channels is daunting for those that have spent years building a platform on Twitter. Its very scary, said Lion, who has been hosting Spaces since 2020. Lion describes their Twitter community as a lifeline for queer people at risk. Lion fled Saudi Arabia to escape the threat of violence because of their sexuality, and in recent years has used Twitter to connect with LGBTQIA users in the Gulf who are also seeking asylum overseas directing them towards resources and contacts who can help them find safety.

A lot of people in the kingdom have used [Twitter] to escape the kingdom, or to tell the rest of the world about it, they said. I have told my story a million times and I know how empowering it is and how therapeutic it is. I really want to put that power in the hands of people that never have that opportunity.

Originally posted here:
Why Elon Musk's ambition to have Twitter authenticate all real humans will get people killed - Rest of World

Floyd Dells adolescence in Quincy inspired him to become an author. He became one of the most important American writers of the first half of the 20th century, a prolific novelist, poet, playwright, critic, and editor. He resided here from 1899 to 1903, between the ages of 12 and 16, a crucial period that shaped his life and provided the themes that would illuminate his work: socialism, atheism, and free-thinking.

Although he became a best-selling author and inductee into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, and his work made into four Hollywood movies and a hit Broadway play, Dell saw himself in Quincy and for the rest of his life as an iconoclast and rebel. After leaving Quincy, he lived as a bohemian artist, first in Davenport, Iowa, then Chicago, and finally New Yorks Greenwich Village, dovetailing into that avant-garde generation of the 1920s that shunned conformity but valued art and believed it could change the world.

Floyd James Dell was born on June 28, 1887, in Barry, the youngest of four children. His father, a Union Civil War veteran and staunch abolitionist, worked as a butcher in Barry. His mother, a former teacher, maintained the household until the depression of 1893 hurled the family into dire poverty. Dells three older siblings soon dropped out of high school and moved to Quincy looking for factory work. In 1899 Floyd and his parents followed. The family lived in a decrepit house on the citys south side and the Dell boy enrolled in Franklin School, at the time a junior high.

His parents doted on their youngest child and aspired for him to attend college and for the family to gain respectability. Katherine Dell encouraged her son to read and believed he could do better in the world than her older children. Dell did well in school but withdrew from his peers after a brief but life-changing encounter soon after arriving in Quincy.

A boy introduced himself to Dell by saying My father is a doctor. What is yours?

Ashamed of his familys poverty and his fathers lack of steady work, Dell became a recluse and spent most of his time at the Free Public Library, which he called a place of perfect equality. At the library, he read voraciously: poetry, travel, novels, and the revolutionary works of Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud, which had a profound influence on him.

At Franklin School, his study of Shakespeares play "The Merchant of Venice" sparked his passion for language, and he wrote his first poem: a plea for people like his brothers to stop drinking, which Dell supposed caused the countrys destitution. The study of grammar and parts of speech suddenly became fascinating: a writer needed these skills to hone his craft. Later, while reading Edgar Alan Poe in class, he began writing stories and founded a school literary society. Upon his ninth-grade graduation in 1901, he delivered a commencement oration.

Dells mother sent him to the Presbyterian Church and its Sunday School, believing this would bolster his chances of entering college. At his first service, a well-dressed youth from a prosperous family ridiculed a group of Civil War veterans from the Soldier Home who were in attendance, exclaiming within earshot, Look at the blue-bellies! Painfully aware that his own father had fought and shed blood in that war, Dell renounced churches and dismissed the Bible as a beautiful fable. His reading of the Koran and Mormon Bible furthered his disdain for organized religion, and he became an atheist for the rest of his life.

Having heard about Martin Luthers famous nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses on the Church door at Wittenberg, Germany, Dell contemplated posting a similar proclamation of atheism at Quincys Presbyterian Church. In his autobiography Homecoming, Dell wrote of his turbulent adolescence, made more perplexing by his study of Freud: What the Church, despite all its efforts to frighten us with hell fire, could not do for us in the way of taking our minds off the subject of girls eyes, lips and breasts, we did for ourselves by hating the Church. Later he became one of the first champions of feminism and womens rights.

Meanwhile his reading of Karl Marx moved Dell toward socialism. This political philosophy explained his familys plight as the result of a system that exploited workers and created a class of poor people, who were not, as many local citizens believed, shiftless and lazy. During the four summers he worked in Quincy factories to help support his family, he wrote several plays, one about Benedict Arnold and another about the abolitionist John Brown.

These first major works expressed his sympathies for rebels and outcasts like himself. He wrote in his autobiography: My life seemed now to have some meaning, to be whole. Atheism was a natural part of socialism. And I was an enemy of the established order, Church, and state both, and set out to destroy it.

One day he met William Morris, a Quincy street-sweeper, who like himself had converted to socialism. Morris invited the audacious youth and one of his few friends from Franklin School with similar views to attend a political meeting. Although they were only fifteen, the two joined Quincys socialist party during an era of profound economic hardship that had left many people across the country disillusioned with capitalism.

In his semi-autobiographical novel Moon-calf, Dell portrays Quincy as Vickley with a mixture of alienation and affection. He never quite scorned small-town America the way Sinclair Lewis did in his satiric work Main Street, a classic novel published the same week as Moon-calf. Like his older siblings, poverty forced Floyd Dell to drop out of high school. But he had fallen in love with literature in Quincy and formed the unswerving belief that art holds the power to kindle social reform. The Gem City endured as the bittersweet town that had rebuffed him, but where his literary career began and the themes he wrote about and lived first took flight.

Clayton, Douglas. Floyd Dell: The Life and Times of an American Rebel. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1994, 3-

Creditable Work By a School Boy. Quincy Journal, June 15, 1901, 1.

Dell, Floyd. Homecoming: An Autobiography. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1933, 42-78.

Dell, Floyd. Moon-calf: A Novel. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1920.

Gertz, Deborah. Program Spotlights Berry Native Floyd Dell. Quincy Herald-Whig, Jan. 29, 1996, 3A.

Local and General News. Quincy Daily Journal, Nov. 5, 1900, 7.

Joseph Newkirk is a local writer and photographer whose work has been widely published as a contributor to literary magazines, as a correspondent for Catholic Times, and for the past 23 years as a writer for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. He is a member of the reorganized Quincy Bicycle Club and has logged more than 10,000 miles on bicycles in his life.

The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County is preserving the Governor John Wood Mansion, the History Museum on the Square, the 1835 Log Cabin, the Livery, the Lincoln Gallery displays, and a collection of artifacts and documents that tell the story of who we are. This award-winning column is written by members of the Society. For more information visit hsqac.org or email info@hsqac.org.

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Floyd Dell's illustrious writing career started in Quincy - Herald-Whig

Recently on Morning Air, Glen Lewerenz had Monsignor Steve Rossetti on the show to talk about bearing witness to the Resurrection from the perspective of an exorcist and why that relationship is so important.

Msgr. Rossetti began by telling the story of one particular exorcism he was performing with another priest. Once the demon had revealed its presence within the victim, the priests commanded that it leave by the power of Christ and His Resurrection. The demon began exclaiming, We won! We won! He didnt rise. The other priest looked shocked as Msgr. Rossetti turned to him agreeing, This demon needs a history lesson.

But why not ignore that statement? What bearing does the Resurrection really have on an exorcism? At first glance, they may seem unrelated. In reality, just as the Resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity, it is integral to power over the demonic. As Msgr. Rossetti said, If Jesus simply died and didnt rise, how could you possibly cast out demons? There would be no triumph over death, no confirmation of Gods unlimited divinity and power over sin, and evil would have truly won. It would have successfully vanquished God.

Some of the most common parts of exorcisms involve a crucifix and/or the sign of the cross. We embrace and call upon God by reminding ourselves of the way in which He died because we know that He conquered it.

Its interesting to note that Satan and his demons will use any and everything to draw people away from God, including atheism or agnosticism. Even though Satan knows that God exists and Jesus is the Son of God, he will not lead people to that truth if it means they will gravitate towards God.

Once a demon has taken a hold of somebody, its not entirely up to the priests to get rid of it. Theyre not there to perform a magic trick and voila, the demonic presence is gone. According to Msgr. Rossetti, 70% of it is up to the person to undergo this personal conversion. They must rid themselves of the spirit through confession and the sacraments so that their life can no longer be a haven for evil.

One practice that embodies the essence of that personal conversion is the renewal of ones baptismal vows. Msgr. Rossetti says he uses it very often because of the explicit words of affirmation used in it:

Do you reject Satan? And all his works? And all his empty promises? Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

I do.

God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever.

Amen.

We renew these vows every Easter as a minor form of exorcism and as a participation in this celebration of life conquering death. The Resurrection bears such importance to us as Christians in our theology and in our lives as we face temptation, evil, and the demonic. We have nothing to fear as long as we remain fervent believers in the truth that by the power of God, we have power over sin and death.

Tune in to Morning Air weekdays at 5am CT

See the article here:
Exorcisms: Giving Witness to the Resurrection - Relevant Radio

Reading Time: 5 minutesAyla Casey (centre) joined by two other candidates being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil at St Marys Cathedral in Sydney. Photo: Giovanni Portelli.

When Ayla Casey asked for a sign to let her know God is real, she didnt expect it to be an actual sign.

Early in her two-year journey from atheism to Catholicism the 30-year-old apprentice jeweller had been praying, reading the Bible, and asking questions about the Catholic faith. Then one day, walking through the city engrossed in thought, she suddenly decided to ask God to indicate in some way that he was real.

The second that I finished that prayer, across my field of vision went a person carrying a sign that read Jesus loves you. It was too obvious for me to take seriously, I thought it was hilarious, she told The Catholic Weekly.

In the following weeks, Ayla prayed twice more for some confirmation that God was hearing her prayers. Again, the response was immediate; she was handed a Christian pamphlet, and then saw a skywriters message proclaiming Gods love.

At that point I had to say, this is no longer a coincidence.

Theres only so much that is given to you before you realise, oh, I dont need any more signs, I have all the information I need to do something about this.

I think a lot of people have experienced this in their lives in some way, you dont need to ask for a sign, God gives us many things to show us the path to take but many people choose not to see it.

She identifies one of her TAFE teachers, a practicing Catholic who answered many questions about the faith, as the biggest influence on her journey to the Church. Her sponsor has been a great help as well in helping her to think about how to express her Catholicism in everyday life.

Aylas also considered other Christian churches, but believes only the Catholic Church holds to the faith in its fullness. Her two-year journey saw her take up praying the rosary daily and giving up listening to heavy metal music because it wasnt helping her spiritual life.

It was one of my favourite genres, and Paula Flynn (St Marys Cathedral RCIA coordinator) introduced me to St Hildegard because she knew I love music. Now since thinking about and praying to her I havent had a problem not listening to it. I think people forget that the saints can guide you in a really easy way and put you in the right direction without being oppressive.

Ayla was one of hundreds of catechumens and candidates who received sacraments of initiation in the Catholic Church across the Archdiocese of Sydney this Easter.

Paula said this year there was a noticeable uptick in people seeking to enter the Church at St Marys Cathedral parish this year of different ages and backgrounds.

Definitely there were people who might never have come to us except that they were sitting at home during lockdowns with not much to do, people increasingly wondering through the pandemic about the meaning of life, she said.

Also enjoying Easter for the first time in a deeper way were engaged couple Andrew Pham, 26, and Salina Tain, 23. This year they have been learning more about the Catholic faith in preparation for Salina to enter the Church in June at Our Lady of Victories in Horsley Park, when Andrew will also be confirmed.

The couple say they were heavily influenced by their friend who had recently become Catholic.

While I hadnt been really taking my faith seriously for about four years I knew that it was true, said Andrew.

I realised that in proposing to Salina I was stepping into this realm of being a husband and potentially a father. And I realised that I had to start taking my faith more seriously otherwise I wouldnt be able to fulfil my duties as a husband to love Salina as Christ loved the Church, nor would I be able to fulfil my duty as a father to lead my family towards Christ.

Salina found Andrews change of heart initially hard to accept as they had been worshipping as Protestants together for a long time.

I had a very surface knowledge about Catholicism and a lot of misconceptions about it, so I was really hesitant when he started exploring that side of things, she said. I didnt know how we could continue towards marriage and raise children with such different orientations about faith.

Discovering the Churchs teaching about the Eucharist through the Gospel of John gave her peace.

That was so profound for me. Jesus could not have made any clearer that he meant the bread and wine he would offer would literally be his body and blood.

Knowing that only the Catholic Church can give the actual body and blood of Christ is all that matters to me; I want to be close to Jesus and if that is really Jesus then I have to be Catholic.

I dont understand a lot of the rest of the stuff about Mary, the saints statues and everything but I dont need to right now. I believe in the Eucharist and that is something I need to partake in.

Knowing that only the catholic church can give the actual body of christ is all that matters to me; i want to be close to jesus and if that is really jesus then i have to be catholic.

Ayla says that she was always spiritual in a sense.

I knew something was there. I just didnt know what to name it. The world gave me every solution to this longing in my heart, but I realised it was God calling me home the whole time.

Im so excited to now be part of the Catholic community and have people alongside me on a life-long journey.

Would you like to know how to accompany others interested in becoming Catholic?

If so, please join us and bring others who have a desire to renew their parish community for the RCIA Certification Course at the Archdiocese of Sydney. Over six sessions beginning on 10 May you will learn to live and share the faith with those you encounter.

Contact Simon Yeak at [emailprotected] and 02 9307 8477or 0427 536 356.

See the article here:
The Answer to Ayla's prayer - The Catholic Weekly

Praying Hands, a 30-tonne and 60-ft tall bronze statue at Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma. Photo: C. Jill Reed, CC BY-SA 2.0

While religion has had, and continues to exert, an outsize influence in shaping the trajectory of our polity and society, the role played by science is not readily visible to the common man. Though Jawaharlal Nehru, our first prime minister, laid enormous emphasis on the potential of science to solve the countless problems faced by a newly independent, impoverished nation, and followed it up with significant outlays towards building a vast network of research laboratories, institutions and government agencies, public recognition of the contribution made by Indian science and scientists has been somewhat muted.

It is only with time, after landmark programmes like the Green Revolution, the advent of a multi-purpose domestic satellite system, the successful development of long-range weapons-delivery systems and the laurels won by some of our outstanding scientists, that a measure of respect for our science and technology establishment has emerged in the public domain.

At this moment in history, when a regime that swears by religious/cultural nationalism is attempting to take our scientific pursuits in bizarre, faux scientific directions, anything that contributes to a clearer picture of our scientists as they are, without the distorting lens of political agendas and power politics, should be more than welcome.

One such timely effort is Science and Religion in India: Beyond Disenchantment, based on an ethnographic study by Renny Thomas on the religious faith and practices of scientists in a laboratory situated in a research institute in Bangalore. Thomas teaches sociology and social anthropology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal. For this book, he was part of the laboratory for the better part of a year, interacting formally and informally with the scientists in a variety of settings. The book is a presentation of his findings, contextualised at every stage with felicitous references to relevant science-and-religion discourses in India and the west.

Any study of science and religion in India must come to grips with the popular notion that they are in irreconcilable conflict with each other. The trope of a rocket scientist breaking a coconut to please the Gods before a launch was the subject of much public outrage. This book debunks such notions as shallow and looks at how scientists in India live their religious and non-religious life beyond a disenchanted life of rationality and scientific modernity. In its own words, it seeks to answer the following questions:

Why is it that the grand narrative of the conflict between science and religion dominates the popular imagination? Do scientists really see conflict between their religious and scientific life? How do they interpret their religious views and life? What does it mean to be a religious scientist?

The answers are never less than fascinating.

We learn that the idea of a constant ideological struggle between science and religion was manufactured in Europe in the last quarter of 19th century, specifically to wrest control over all levels of education from theologians in the light of Darwins theory of evolution. It was the consequence of a move to secularise science. The notions of objectivity and rationality associated with science created the misunderstanding that scientists should be objective, rational and critical of religion. Though this notion persists to this day, it is easy to see that it need not necessarily apply to other societies dealing with very different contexts.

Also read: The Scientific Temper and Irrational Beliefs Often Live Together

In their autobiographies, stalwarts of Indian science like Raja Ramanna and C.N.R. Rao held religion to be a way for human consciousness to attain a higher reality than the natural world. Faith in god was an aid to living a better life, as a better human being. Other scientists thought that science was incapable of explaining all reality and science was not the only reality in this world. Religion could not be conceptualised from an objective point of view since religion and science belonged to different realms. At the same time, they were not opposed to each other because religious beliefs and practices helped them to do better science.

Scientists often distinguish themselves from lay-believers by distancing themselves from temple visits and rituals, the material manifestations of religious faith, considering their faith to be spiritual. In comparison to other belief systems, spirituality provides scientists with rational alternatives. Using culture interchangeably with spirituality, they are able to accommodate their faith and practice their profession without contradiction.

Many among the scientists also identify as atheists, but their atheism is often not the godlessness of the west. Some hold that science is a religion that believes in logic and is open to questions and criticism. On the contrary, religion is a science which blindly believes what is preached. They cant blend. Its foolish if one tries to blend them. There are others who invoke the ancient Samkhya tradition, which postulated that the world came into being from primeval matter without the agency of any efficient cause altogether, resulting in a resolutely atheist following.

Yet another section of atheists claim to follow a flexible and non-institutional religion which enables them to dovetail both realms of belief and unbelief seamlessly. By identifying certain religious practices as traditional culture, they are able to participate in religious functions and rituals while scripting their own understanding of unbelief and maintaining an identity distinct from believers.

I found the final chapter of the book, Caste, religion and the laboratory life, somewhat disappointing, however. Thomas is right to point out that there is a preponderance of Brahmins among Indian scientists, and it is not because of a natural ability of people belonging to the community but is the outcome of its early access to western education and the attendant cultural capital.

His observation that the representation of OBC, SC and ST communities in such laboratories is meagre to non-existent is also highly pertinent. Diversity is a wider problem of society, which can potentially be handled through existing and new public policy interventions. Given the lack of diversity, his ethnographic findings on the community in the laboratory setting raise many important questions.

Also read: Dalit Scientists Face Barriers in Indias Top Science Institutes

In the study, Tamil Brahmins emerge as people who are privileged and possess enormous cultural capital, but are blissfully unaware of both. They exhibit a predilection for Carnatic music and vegetarian food, which serve as caste markers that are again deployed without a trace of self-consciousness. Being the majority community in the institute, they also set the norms for institutional culture and science practice to which the non-Brahmins must conform if they want to succeed. Even their self-image, as people who were generally poor starting out but came up through a single-minded focus on education, comes in for criticism.

I think such a discourse is avoidable for two reasons. A single laboratory in an institute is not a sufficient basis for the inferences drawn. Second, if our line of inquiry is the role played by caste in science institutions, we need to study a representative sample of institutions in which different (privileged) castes set the institutional norms by dint of being in the majority. Such institutions shouldnt be hard to find. Representation is always a good idea for all contexts.

Overall, this is an illuminating study that throws light on an area that has remained largely unexplored. It shows up the notion of an intractable opposition between religion and science/rationality as false dogma. The author does an excellent job of marshalling past and present discourses to contextualise his findings and make them more meaningful. We should perhaps take a kinder view in future of scientists who pray.

N. Kalyan Raman is a Chennai-based translator of contemporary Tamil fiction and poetry.

More:
Book Review: Can Scientists Be Religious? The Wire Science - The Wire Science

According to the latest report by the Ferrer i Gurdia Foundation, called Feminism, religions and freedom of conscience, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the loss of religiosity among the population in Spain.

One fact highlighted by the Foundation is that for the first time, among young adults under the age of 34, the number of people who consider themselves non-religious is now a majority.

Among the group aged between 25 and 34, over 56% identify as non-religious, and among those between 18 and 24 the percentage reaches 63.5%, while among the older population (over 65), 76.5% of those interviewed say they are religious.

The evolution of the religiosity of Spaniards over the last 40 years shows that in 1980, barely 8.5% of the population identified as non-religious, while in 2021 this figure had risen to 37% of the population.

In the breakdown by month, the most significant change took place from March to April 2020, coinciding with the most severe lockdown in Spain. In just one month, the number of people claiming to be non-religious rose from 29% to 36%.

It will be necessary to know the evolution over the next few years to determine whether this increase is really the beginning of a progressive cycle that has not been recorded until now, say the authors of the report.

Roman Catholicism continues to be the predominant religion (about 59%), although far from the figures of previous years. The second largest groups are atheists (14.6%), agnostics (11.6%) and non-religious (10.8%), which altogether account for 37%.

Minority denominations represent 2.5% of the population and just over 1.5% are undecided.

In the analysis by regions, Catalonia and Navarre are the territories with the most non-religious population (41% each), followed by the Basque Country (37.8%) and the Balearic Islands (33.7%).

In contrast, the regions with the lowest percentage of non-believers are Ceuta (3.4%), Melilla (15%) and Aragon (16.6%).

You can read the full report here (in Spanish).

Published in: Evangelical Focus - europe - Spain: Atheism and agnosticism on the rise in pandemic times

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Spain: Atheism and agnosticism on the rise in pandemic times - Evangelical Focus

ATLANTA (RNS) As many gathered for Easter and Passover festivities over the weekend, an estimated 550 atheists, freethinkers, humanists and other nonbelievers converged on Atlanta for the American Atheists national convention. Typically held on Easter weekend, the annual event was live for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and the excitement was palpable.

Energized by the in-person gathering after such a long hiatus, the community of nonbelievers a general term used for all those who identify with these groups was ready to discuss some of the most pressing concerns facing their ranks today.

The convention kicked off on Thursday evening (April 14) with a lighthearted charity event in which all proceeds were donated to Access Reproductive Care-Southeast and ended Sunday afternoon with a community service event where attendees packed meals for those in need in metro Atlanta.

The service event was named Two Hands Working, after a phrase once uttered by American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray OHair. She said, Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. The 59-year-old civil liberties organization holds true to that mantra, according to communication director Tom Van Denburgh: American Atheists has always placed action and activism at the center of our activities.

At this years convention, the drive to action was particularly apparent, from the charity events to the workshops, lectures and panels.

Today, America is at a critical moment in our history, explained Van Denburgh. White Christian nationalists are fomenting backlash against the de-Christianization of America, against greater racial diversity and against increasing acceptance of LGBTQ people.

They are legislating their religious extremism into the law, he told Religion News Service. Atheists must stand up and act.

The conference included a wide range of panels, including issue-focused discussions on subjects such as abortion and reproductive justice, but also workshops on taking your advocacy to the next level and practical tips for disrupting sexist behavior. On Saturday, political advocate Brett Parker hosted a panel on the nuts and bolts of making a difference in your state.

Sam McGuire, the national field director for American Atheists, said the organization is working toward building broad coalitions and supporting local community groups of various sizes. Each state has different needs, she explained, adding that most active and well-organized groups tend to be in areas that are facing the most conflict. Tallahassee, Florida, for example, situated in deep red country, is home to one of the organizations most active and well-established groups.

The issues facing nonbelievers are wide-ranging. Anything can be an atheist issue that involves equal rights, McGuire explained, especially when the religious impose their beliefs on other people.

Tina Marshall, lead organizer for the Charlotte, North Carolina, chapter of Black Nonbelievers, said one major issue for her group is voting rights. We cannot be liberated until we are liberated from supremacy, superstition and belief, she said, emphasizing that these are connected issues.

This past year, American Atheists has been involved in numerous legal actions around the country. Most recently, the organization has opposed South Carolinas HB 4776 legislation, which seeks a broad denial of medical care based on religious conviction, explained Alison Gill, vice president for legal and policy at American Atheists.

American Atheists is supporting New York bill A8163A, which would require that nonreligion-based substance abuse treatment options be available for people required by a court to enter a program.

Wil Jeudy speaks during the American Atheists 2022 National Convention in Atlanta, April 16, 2022. Photo by Josiah Mannion

Wil Jeudy, the Texas state director for American Atheists, has been taking a different approach to community action. As a member of Houston Oasis, a secular community that meets weekly, Jeudy has been working to build community and safe spaces for nonbelievers to gather socially. Houston is a blue island in a red sea, Jeudy said, which makes this type of organization possible. Nonbelievers dont have to worry about backlash within the area.

However, Jeudy has also been involved in advocacy and activism through other organizations. In fact, he was honored at the convention as the 2022 American Atheists Activist of the Year. One of Jeudys missions is to build advocacy coalitions across Texas and across organizational lines, including nonsecular groups such as Unitarian Universalist and Jewish organizations.

In Texas, theres an assumption that goodness comes from religion, he said, so it helps for people to see atheists standing with members of faith-based organizations. This creates a healthy cognitive dissonance, he added, dispelling the idea that atheists are the bad guys.

As Jeudy suggested, another major concern expressed at the 2022 convention was combating pervasive myths about nonbelievers.

Aaron Rabinowitz speaks during the American Atheistsnational convention in Atlanta, April 16, 2022. Photo by Josiah Mannion

In the opening of his talk, Aaron Rabinowitz asked the audience, Please raise your hand if youve previously heard some version of the immoral nonbeliever stereotype. Please keep your hand up if someone has ever implied that you or someone you know is less moral because theyre a nonbeliever. OK, now keep your hand up if someone has ever overtly said to your face that you are less moral or a bad person because youre a nonbeliever.

Rabinowitz, a podcaster and Ph.D. student at Rutgers University, went on to advocate for compassion and the building of community. The strongest tool we have against this stereotype is something were already doing right here right now: coming together in a community centered around not just shared beliefs but shared values, Rabinowitz said.

Similarly, Mandisa Thomas spoke about the struggle against bias and misconception. However, Thomas struggle is twofold. As the founder and President of Black Nonbelievers Inc., she not only has to combat the myth of the immoral atheist, but also the idea that atheism is a white thing.

There have always been Black atheists, she told the audience. This is a myth both within Black religious communities and the atheist movement itself. She said there is a heavy stigma.

Thomas expressed pride in both being a Black woman and an atheist. She offered ways in which the nonbeliever community can more adequately support and uplift the voices of Black atheists. Spend your privilege, she advised, among other tips. Her organization, based in Atlanta, will be holding its own national conference this fall in Chicago: Woman of Color: Beyond Belief.

Throughout the convention, attendees repeatedly expressed the need for action, suggesting a growing momentum in the movement. There is a sense of urgency due to the rising tide of Christian nationalism,Van Denburgh said.

At our convention, we are getting disengaged atheists involved and helping active atheists get out there and further build community and coalitions, he added.

Mandisa Thomas speaks during the American Atheists national convention in Atlanta, April 16, 2022. Photo by Josiah Mannion

Although hosted by American Atheists, the convention was attended by other nonbeliever groups from around the country, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United, American Humanist Association, Foundation Beyond Belief and the Secular Student Alliance.

Despite expressed frustrations with the current political climate, there was an overall sense of hope within the community, buoyed by the growing number of young people identifying as nonbelievers. Since 2009, the number of Americans identifying as atheist has doubled, from 2% to 4%, and the number of agnostics rose from 3% to 5%, according to Pew Research. Gill believes the numbers are higher.

In 2020, American Atheists published its own findings about the community in its first comprehensive study on nonbelievers. It presented the data at the conference, showing that nonreligious young people are the fastest growing segment of the nonreligious community. This tracks with Pew findings that the average nonbeliever is 34 years old.

The young people bring hope, expressed both Gill and McGuire.

Next years American Atheist convention will be held on Easter weekend in Phoenix. Until then, the local communities will continue to gather in action and advocacy.

We are ready, Jeudy said. As the world opens up again, we have plans.

Read more here:
Atheists, spurred by growing ranks, gather for first time since start of pandemic - Religion News Service

Photo: Stephen Meyer, via En Arche Foundation.

Stephen Meyer, writing atThe American Mind, highlights an important lesson about the consequences of dismissing what he calls, in the title ofhis recent book, the God Hypothesis. Hes responding to an essay by Andrew Klavan that notes the connection between tyranny and atheism. The most tyrannical societies have also been the most atheistic, and the most likely to point to science as a justification on both counts.

From, Gods Footprints:

Klavans insight about the relationship between dystopias and atheism (or scientific materialism) is also perceptive. The fictional dystopias ofBrave New World,TheGiver,The Matrix and I would add, C. S. LewissThat Hideous Strength invariably depict future states where men and women are treated as purely material entities devoid of moral impulse and spiritual longing. In such dystopian societies, a reductionist and materialistic concept of human beings ensures that something important love, freedom, human rights, justice, dignity, faith is always horrifically omitted or suppressed by those in control.

The totalitarian dystopias of the20thcentury replicated this pattern, but in real life. National Socialism and Soviet Marxism both cited science as a justification for their materialistic ideologies and utopian visions but succeeded only in creating hell on Earth and, indeed, in perpetrating genocide. All of this supports Klavans other key contention: We need not abandon the scientific knowledge of modernity, but we must subjugate it to the needs of our humanity rather than allow its fleshless, sexless, motherless materialism to turn us into itself.

The insight is timely, given the two-year anniversary of lockdowns that weve recently observed. During that time, some states and countries were far more tyrannical than others. The worst offenders claimed to be simply following the science. What made the difference? No doubt, how secular the culture of the place is played a role. Secularism tends to see experts as deities to be unquestioningly venerated. The God Hypothesis has consequences beyond science or faith.

Coincidentally, I was listening today to radio host Dennis Prager who suggests a related question to pose to friends and family. Prager asks, What have we learned from the past two years? That would actually be a great subject for a book. He was referring to the widespread dystopia that was imposed with the coming of COVID: the masks, the lockdowns, the isolation, the riots, denying children access to school, the apartheid for the unvaccinated. Focused on the virus to the exclusion of all else, political and other leaders listened to the medical experts. But few leaders or experts considered what the broader consequences, for what Klavan terms the needs of our humanity, might be.

The nightmare goes on in some places,like China. In the United States, for the moment there is a backing away from the most damaging and tyrannical aspects of the COVID response. Institutions, including churches and synagogues, that acted with a heavy hand now have retreated, with no public apology or any acknowledgment that they might have been seriously misguided. Humans hate to say they were wrong.

A moral that Prager draws from this is that experts should be limited in the scope of what were interested in hearing from them. Share medical or other knowledge with us, please, but keep your advice what practically to do with that knowledge to yourself. Expertise, like atheism, shades all too readily into tyranny.

Read more:
Stephen Meyer: Totalitarian Dystopias and the God Hypothesis - Discovery Institute