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A New Dawn for Atheists?

Tom Flynn
Posted: July 24, 2011.

Print: The Washington Post

The numbers are on our side. An influential Pew-University of Akron study pegged the number of atheists, agnostics, and “hard seculars”—folks who don’t check the box for “atheist” or “agnostic” but live without religion nonetheless—at 10.7 percent as long ago as 2004. Recent surveys suggest that yes, Virginia, about 20 percent of young people are atheists. About 15 to 16 percent of the general population identifies with no religion (though a third to a half of them are not truly secular). atheist characters are presented in a positive light on TV shows like House, Bones, and The Big Bang Theory, to name only a few. atheist initiatives like billboard campaigns attract unprecedented, often positive, attention in the news media.

Geez, it smells like a sea change!

Call me an optimist, but I think the dark age of public revulsion toward atheists is soon to end.

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Comments (11)

1. thewakened

Amino to that brother. Lol

posted on July 24, 2011
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2. Olmatta Gawud

Olmatta Gawud shall strike down you all!

posted on July 24, 2011
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It is about time! 
Now, the next “minority” group to be free of morality laws are the prostitutes. Sell it or give it away, whose business is it anyway, except those involved(health issues can be solved)?  What other group is told where, when and with whom they can do business?

posted on July 25, 2011
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”...atheist characters are presented in a positive light on TV shows like House…”  Ummm, have they ever seen Dr. House?  ha ha.

posted on July 25, 2011
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So, here we go…

Keep up the good work everyone.

posted on July 25, 2011
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.atheist characters are presented in a positive light on TV shows like House…”  Ummm, have they ever seen Dr. House?

posted on July 26, 2011
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Our culture feels so pressured to subscribe to the ideals of multiculturalism and ecumenical drivel…almost every children’s TV show is preachy and abrasive in the advocacy of “tolerance.” Of course, tolerance today means condescending, smile-and-nod and go on with your life. I am nauseous from the onslaught of TV and movie messages which hinge solely on acceptance and tolerance merely for their own sake. There comes a time when a person of conviction must stand up and say, I cannot abide the notion that my neighbor spanks his teen daughter because he believes God wants him to. I can tolerate, but cannot approve of, neighborhood Vacation Bible School programs brainwashing children into believing in Hell for the promise of kool aid and air conditioning in a stranger’s home. I will be impressed when a TV show depicts someone who exhibits the character to resist the easy adulations of the buying public. For this reason, I love House! Can I get an atheist amen?

posted on July 29, 2011
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8. My Hebrew Tattoo

Hoping for a world where reason and religion can live side by side

http://my-hebrew-tattoo.com

posted on August 2, 2011
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9. Timothy Short

Christopher Hitchens said, “if you can’t reason from effect to cause, you will lose the ability to reason from cause to effect.”  Reason and religion cannot live side by side. Religion will not allow it. Religion is a kind of trump card. If ever a choice had to be made between the two, religion insists on winning. Reason would have to be subservient to religion, therefore, never side by side. But I think religion can be more reasonable than not reasonable. We can hope for a liberalization of religion that lends itself into a weak-tea social marker instead of a rallying cry for fanatics with nukes smile

posted on August 3, 2011
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“atheist characters are presented in a positive light on TV shows like House, Bones, and The Big Bang Theory”
Who is meant to be an Atheist in The Big Bang Theory?
Raj is an unobservant Hindu, Wolowitz is an unobservant Jew, there is no mention of Leonard’s beliefs as far as I know, Amy Farrah Fowler explicitly states she doesn’t “object to the concept of a deity, but I’m baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance”. I doubt you mean Penny as that wouldnt fit into her character very well. I’m guessing you mean Sheldon but that is never stated, just that he doesn’t like American Evangelical Creationist style religion.
More importantly I don’t think you can say that Bones or House (or Big Bang if you’re assuming Sheldon is an Atheist) portray Atheists in the best light considering that they’re all overly intellectual, emotionally crippled, socially awkward, self satisfied,  self important smug gits with serious superiority complexs! (not to mention House being a drug addict!)
As Atheist stereotypes go that is the equivalent of a Goebbels cartoon of a hook nosed Jew rubbing his fingers together grinning and saying “mmm gold, all I love is gold”

posted on August 15, 2011
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Yes, it is changing.  And the pace of that change is increasing

http://godlessconservative.com

posted on August 23, 2011
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