Is it proselytizing when atheists do it?
Interesting question raised by the WSJ today when it comes to billboards in middle-America pronouncing the non-existence of God. Is it proselytizing?
From the article:
Late next month, atheists, humanists, freethinkers, secularists — in short, nonbelievers of every description — will gather in dozens of cities to mark the holiday they call HumanLight.
Whether by singing from a Humanist Hymnal, decorating a winter wreath or lighting candles dedicated to personal heroes, they’ll celebrate what has been an exhilarating ride for the faithless — a surge in recognition that has many convinced they’re on the brink of making a mark on mainstream America.
During the past three years, membership has grown in local and national associations of nonbelievers. Books attacking faith as a delusion shot up best-seller lists. For the first time, the faithless even raised enough funds to hire a congressional lobbyist.
Building on that momentum, nonbelievers have begun a very public campaign to win broad acceptance. On billboards and bus ads, radio commercials and the Internet, atheists are coming forward to declare, quite simply: We’re here. And we’re just like you.
“We’ve had an undercurrent of emotional and academic support, but we’ve been waiting to make a movement happen,” said Joe Zamecki, an Austin landscaper who recently organized Texas’ first statewide convention of nonbelievers. “It’s a very new age.”
Not so fast, religious leaders respond. They point out that the vast majority of Americans believe in God. A poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life earlier this year found 71% of American adults are absolutely certain God — or some sort of universal spirit — exists, and a further 17% said they were fairly certain. Only 5% said flatly that they don’t believe.
Atheists “are talking to a very small slice of the population,” said Mathew Staver, a leading Christian conservative and law-school dean. “In some ways, they’re really just talking to themselves.”
Nonbelievers point to a different set of statistics and societal trends. Americans are shifting away from formal allegiances with specific faiths. In 1990, about 90% of the U.S. adult population identified with a religious group, according to the widely cited American Religious Identification Survey. When the most recent survey was conducted in 2001, that dropped to 81%. Relatively few go so far as to call themselves atheists, but young Americans, especially, are drifting from organized religion, other surveys have found.
Unlike in Europe, where secularism has a strong hold, many atheists in the U.S. have felt like a shunned minority. Politicians often reflexively end speeches with “God bless America.” Schoolchildren pledge their allegiance every day to “one nation, under God.” City parks display the Ten Commandments. When atheists talk openly in public, “we often see people shaking their heads and moving away, like there’s a plague zone around us,” said Iggy Dybal, a real-estate broker in Kansas City, Kan.
Question for the readers: are atheists proselytizing in this instance? Are they trying to recruit?
November 18th, 2008 14:39
Interesting. To hold a ‘celebration’ at the same time as a religious holiday because they ‘don’t believe in the religious holiday’. Why now? For attention purposes perhaps? Or does this time of year hold some other significance? No one is forcing a non-beliver to belive so why force us belivers to deal with this nonsense? All in the name of freedom and democracy I guess. Just remember that ‘freedom of church and state is not freedom from religion but freedon of religion.’ Same goes here so if you want to hold your happy people rallies, enjoy! Just don’t expect belivers to stop holding their celebrations as well.