A funny thing happened on the way to race/mammothfail... : comments [mmoa

Re that post you linked—sort of funny to see atheism mixed in with racism and other actual forms of bigotry. :/

(by the way, thanks for watching us here! ^^)

—Kerry

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True. I didn't want to dwell on the bigotry aspect, more the privilege, for just that reason: most atheists I know are well off, well educated etc etc and often move within similar circles, so issues of bigotry don't/shouldn't often arise. On the other hand, it is definitely a miniority belief/opinion (even in the UK) and there is some form of bigotry that atheists do face if the various polls are to be believed (that people feel they can't trust an atheist as much as a theist etc etc).

Tbh, the post was really a response to the sort of derailing that I commonly witnessed in discussions about race/sexuality/gender issues which also seemed to arise in online apologetic discussions concerning 'New Atheism'. There are definitely issues of prejudice around, even if they're mostly the result of the status quo reacting against the attack.

And you're welcome for the watching! I'm too tired of hearing fellow cisgendered feminists/LGBQ showing their asses when it comes to trans issues. It'd be nice to read posts about gender issues that won't make me want to hurl my laptop across the room!

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Hi... At the risk of sounding conceited, "well-educated" is a common attribute among atheists, if only because the most basic mindset of a belief-deficient person is to gather knowledge to compensate. Or vise-versa, which is my personal theory for the mechanism of belief in human psychology.

"well-off" however, doesn't necessarily follow. And of course, factional attitudes, here in the states, are always more exaggerated and more violently expressed, than in most other civilised countries. Atheists most definitely experience bigotry here.

and just-- arrgh.

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Hello. It's true 'well-off' doesn't necessarily follow, but I wanted to include that aspect to demonstrate the 'buffering' many UK atheists have against other forms of prejudice, that at times encourage those with religious privilege to dismiss their experience (and thus their opinions on religion). I'm sticking with the UK, for obvious reasons but I have noticed how the type of struggling working man's bias against religion (traditional socialism in short!) doesn't have as large a presence these days, and seems to stem mostly from the middle/upper classes.

I get the 'arrgh'! I suppose you learn something new everyday, but prejudice against atheists always seemed as ~~silly~~odd (to me as a black Briton) as white English prejucides against the Irish. Just goes to show.

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I've been an atheist since... birth, I guess, and grew up in a Hispanic Catholic neighborhood. So it's my oldest battle-- even before my gender wars began. I felt religious bigotry long before I really experienced misogyny... Gosh darn those intersections!

Anyway, I followed your link to the blog post, beautifully written! I don't know what the imbroglio is; I think I'd rather not know... But your words are pretty well universally true, IMO!

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If not for intersectionality, I'm sure I'd have been a more content human being. And irredeemably stupid, of course - I think that's why I'm okay with the thought-headaches.

And I'm very honoured that you liked the post!

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