Do atheists ever get good P.R.?

Atheists don't get much attention in the media, but when they do its usually not positive coverage.

Usually, the story is about an atheist group suing to take down Christmas decorations at city hall, or suing to take down a cross at a public cemetary, or suing to take the Ten Commandments out of a courthouse.

And even when atheists win these legal battles, they lose on the P.R. front because most Americans look upon this activity with disfavor.

And then there are people like Dawkins, who tell reporters that raising a girl Catholic was "child abuse" that's worse than sexual abuse if a priest molests her.

In other words, Dawkins is saying that all Catholics with children are child abusers more guilty than pedophile priests. And this kind of statement gives atheism extremely bad P.R. because people don't like to be called child abusers, and Dawkins is considered a spokesman for all atheists, even if he isn't.

So anyway, what can atheists do to generate positive P.R.?

 

Atheists are not an organized group because the lack of belief allows them to define themselves by their individual accomplishments within society rather than as a part of a subculture with a herd mentality. As such, there is not an organized effort to obtain "positive PR".

Given that most scientists have no religious affiliation (and many identify as atheists), one could infer that most scientific innovations are "positive PR" for atheism, as atheism and agnosticism largely relate to reason above superstition.

The below links may assist:
http://nwcreation.net/atheism.html#Atheism_among_scientists_and_laypeople
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nigel-barber/atheism-to-defeat-religion-by-2038_b_1565108.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm

 

depends where you live. in this country religionists are more often are at the receiving end of bad press.

more to the point, we dont have a concept if atheism as an enitity. it's just 'religious folk, and everyone else'

 

Perhaps they understand its not a popularity contest. Perhaps they are standing for what they believe in even if it is not popular to some. I call this character and respect them for sticking to their principles.

 

Atheism is a belief - not a lack of belief. If atheists are calling their belief a "lack of belief" then they are following one of the strongest and wrongest forms of belief, because the conviction "I am not a believer so I am right and believers are wrong" can very easily grow to become a mind-manipulating fanatism. Not every empty space on a wall is a symbol of atheism - but in case an atheist tears a cross from a wall then this empty space is a symbol of this what we could call "religion atheism". Atheism doesn't allow other religions to be - atheism is always excluding and atheism is often destructive. The only difficulty is to see this invisible signs of fanatic atheisms - the destroyed monasteries in Tibet for example - or a tribe of red indians who was murdered frorm whites because they were god-denying criminals - the whites - not the red indians. Lots and lots of leading Nazis for example were educated to be humanists - and they became monsters, because they did not respect god and his people.

Atheists have lots and lots of rules what other people should not do - for example the rule "religion is private" - while only their own religion atheism should be allowed in public worldwide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q02FD8gUiiA

 

In countries where people are not religious fanatics atheists don't get any PR .
Atheism is not an important attribute of our personality or something we take too seriously , because you know it is impossible to be characterised by a non belief .
It is not about being right or wrong , i have friends who have the need to believe , i understand and respect that in the same way they understand and respect that i do not need a god .
Religions need code books , established dogmas and hierarchy , there is none of that in atheism nor there is a coherent mindset so it can never be a religion.

Theist's polemic is paper thin and clearly wrong because they are totally unfamiliar with the concept , there is no way you can insult an atheist , we are not a group , we do not share lifestyles or world views , we have no dogma , most of us are not confrontational since there is no value in confronting the deluded .
Reactionary atheists are coming from places where religion is forced down their throats , if you treat someone like an animal you will have to face his animal behaviour , nobody objects in keeping your religion in your house and in your temple but yeah it is a problem when you use it as a weapon to strike minorities.

 

You are thinking you are in the minority, I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2LLy1j-BoM

 

Atheism is the lack of belief in any god. If you consider the lack of faith in a god to be a separate religion, then you lack of faith in Zeus must also be one...

Is there any organised group uniting people who don't believe on Thor, or Gaea, or Ishtar, or unicorns?

 

Hang on, did a Christian just claim ATHEISTS are at risk of "mind controlling fanaticism", potentially destructive, and exclusive of others?!

I'm pretty sure more wars have been started using religion beliefs than non-belief...
I'm pretty sure those "holy wars" and religion-inspired terrorism are pretty destructive...
I'm pretty sure the push for anti-gay legislation excludes people and isn't based on secular concerns...

 

To say in the same breath that atheism is a belief, and that our conviction starts with 'I'm not a believer', is idiotic. Atheists don't tear religious symbols off walls, individuals do, and to paint us all with that wide a brush invites all Christians to be lumped together with the KKK, Hitler, the Unibomber and the Westboro Baptist Church. Lastly, as was pointed out above, sort of, if you wish to count a lack of belief in a god as a religion, how many does that make you a member of?

 

That's why the early Christians were often called atheists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGTrrnuzUBY

 

There are reasons why I am not an atheist. I love logos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9uT39TsChc

 

That makes you a fan of logos, not 'not an atheist'.

 

Not "exclusive of others" - excluding others - in concentration camps for example, in Gulags and Guantanamos and Ghettos, in poorness, in slavery, in drugs ... even from their own mothers they are excluding human beings to death instead birth ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwK87US3jCM

 

It is bias that must be addressed....or you are wrong.

In the United States that means they are fighting for the Constitution. Can you show me where atheists have fought to take down a cross in a cemetery?

Actually I don't think that is true...but believe it.

He is a jerk but he doesn't speak for all atheists, in fact that is a problem have people see him as a spokesperson for atheism. But most atheists don't think that way.

Well that is the failure of people like you who don't understand atheism.

It is like asking how can people who love vanilla ice cream get better PR because mostly when someone chooses vanilla ice cream on a cooking show they are call plain. Atheists are not an organized group, when and atheist does something wonderful they tend not to get their atheism into the story but when a Christian does something great they bring their Christianity into the story. Take a football player scoring the winning touchdown. An atheist would talk about the play and other players, the quarterback and his lack of faith is not in there. A christian will thank his lord for helping him catch the ball. You can't promote what is not there.

 

I've never heard of Atheists, whether it be a group or individual getting any negative press, either print or electronic media. The first time I was actually aware of any negative media coverage was when I first started getting involved in these forums, and was pointed to news sites or video sites. It appears nearly all of the negative Atheist media coverage comes out of America. Never once have I heard "Atheist" as a group nor individual mentioned in either print or electronic media in Australia, but I have heard negative reporting on religious groups (including Christianity) though. The Australian media wouldn't say - "A group of Atheists blah blah blah,,," but would say - "A group of (insert a religious group) blah blah blah,,,,"

All this hoo hah comes out of America and I wonder why. Then again, I've always thought Americans as bat sh!t crazy.

 

Wow, straight to the concentration camps, huh? For your information, that's not a tactic used by atheists... http://www.nobeliefs.com/hitler.htm
Next you'll be claiming that atheists are burning people at the stake.

As for the abortion issue, my view is the same as for gay marriage: "None of my business". Why is it you believe that every action committed by every individual is somehow your business?

 

Nazis discussed about wether besides the atheism of Nietzsche any other philosophy could be important for them. The Nazis were social darwinists ... Why do you think did the Nazis murder Jews in industrialized death factories? On biological reasons - that's why they murdered everyone: men, women, children, babies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=616YMt6T5mA

 

By the way: Hitler was one of the best liars the world ever had seen. The father of Joachim Fest said about Hitler in the time when Hitler lived: "Hitler is such an unbelievable good liar that even the opposit of his words are lies again!" So why do you think you are able to understand Hitler if you read his lies and you trust in his words?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cDEEsuDNyg

 

You'd be surprised how many christians believe in the separation of church and state.

 

I don't believe this. In case of "gay marriage" it's in Germany here in this way that the state stole the right to marry people from the christian churches. We are marrying twice - state-marriage and church-marriage. The church-marriage of the catholic church is far away from every form of gay-marriage, because to create a form of unipolar bipolarity seems to be a logic error.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpG6S_iF3x8

 

Every Christian of the western world believes in the separation of state (emperor) and religion (pope). As far as I know Atheists don't like to separate state and atheism.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNc_T-_s51I

 

I'm afraid that's far from true.

 

BR....why do you have to take out your anger at the fact your "nasty atheist" sister used to beat you up.... on the rest of us?!?!?!?

 

Do christians ever know when to stop drawing attention to themselves by continually creating threads like this only makes you look silly as hell.