Cenk's New HuffPo Piece On The Silent Minority: The Non-Religious

[ihavenobias]

By Cenk Uygur

There is a minority group in America that is a bigger percentage of the country than blacks or Hispanics. But they are often ignored or derided in public. Almost no politician would ever admit to being one. And they are given no voice in the public arena.

They are the non-religious. A by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College shows that this group is now a whopping 15% of the country. Mormons by comparison are a puny 1.4% of the population, and people can't shut up about the Mormons. The Senate Majority Leader is a Mormon, one of the top Republican presidential candidates was Mormon and even HBO has a whole show devoted to them.

Even though the non-religious are more than ten times larger, other than http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Stark|Rep. Pete Stark> (D-CA), not one member of Congress would even admit to being in the dreaded minority of non-believers. They are almost never accounted for in any political discussion of religion in the country. The devout view them as amoral at best and destined for eternal damnation at worst. Yet, this kind of abuse and scorn is widely accepted and expected.

And, if God forbid, they should ever fight back and forcefully present their opinions, they are often considered rude and offensive.

I've always been amused at the idea that a religious person can say that an atheist will burn in hell as a result of their beliefs, and that is not considered offensive; but if an atheist says that believing in God makes no sense, that is considered deeply offensive. One person is charging the other with faulty logic; the other is charging them with a base immorality that warrants eternal torture. How is the former even vaguely more insulting than the latter?

I have a confession - I am in that 15%! Gasp, shriek. I, too, am in the unspeakable minority. The minority that is not silent by choice but by decision of the people in power. They say we don't merit a seat at the table. That our views are offensive to the majority, so they cannot be countenanced in polite company, or more importantly, on the Sunday morning talk shows.

But we shall be Rise up, my non-religious brothers and sisters. Agnostics, atheists, deists and the religiously indifferent can all join hands, stand up and be counted. Time for the silent minority to roar!

Or in lieu of that, can someone please just recognize that we exist, that we are a legitimate force in American discourse and politics? And for the love of God, stop ignoring us.

[pleah]

1. Well said.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. "atheist will burn in hell": not offensive -- "God makes no sense": deeply offensive

Precisely!

If believers will stop calling me a sinner, maybe I'll learn to respect their ideas.

Till then...

[tbyg52]

3. That has always been *exactly* my beef. And they also tell me I'm going to hell

on their signs as I drive down the street.

[PassingFair]

9. I tell them:

"It's YOUR hell, YOU burn in it!"

[ihavenobias]

13. How does that go over?

:)

[PassingFair]

22. Flabbergasts them!

:hi:

[jmm]

12. A friend of mine felt guilty when

she was 15 and lost her virginity but when she tried talking to her local priest about it she was told she'd burn in hell. After that she figured if she was going to hell she'd have fun while she could and she didn't break up with him like she had planned.

I'm certain I would've given up on religion regardless of stuff like that but I know it wouldn't have happened as soon as it did.

[Hamlette]

18. I don't care if they say I will burn in hell. I HATE when they say I am immoral.

I don't believe in hell so I don't find it offensive. It's like saying one day I will ride a unicorn. Silly.

When they say you can't be moral and be an atheist my blood boils. Dawkins has great arguments to use to completely refute that, but sometimes it just isn't worth the energy.

It is astonishing to me how upset ppl get if you just say you're an atheist! Many ppl think it is blasphamy or just plain offensive to say God does not exist. Uphill battle for sure.

Thank god for Cenk and Dawkins and Maher and many others who are rightfully urging us to come out of the closet. (It's hard, I was outed at my office and it was mighty cold for awhile.)

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Good points

When someone talks about (literally) going to hell, it just makes me think that part of their discussion isn't worth paying attention to. But the claim that morals all come from belief in higher powers, and I must be either self-hating or immoral if I'm atheist, really annoys me - it's an insult of who I am, and a complete misunderstanding of human nature and society.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. "Was" outed? How did that happen?

Pressured into saying the truth? Identifiable Internet post found?

[FiveGoodMen]

21. "I was outed at my office and it was mighty cold for awhile"

Surprisingly, I work in a bank's software development group and there are at least four atheists in the bunch!

[NMMNG]

23. But of course

When they say the former they are merely expressing their "deeply held religious beliefs" or stating what the Bible says. When you say the latter you're persecuting them for their religious beliefs. Such a devious trap they've set.

[tbyg52]

4. Can't rec threads from this forum? Would you x-post to GD, pretty please?

:hi:

[ihavenobias]

5. I seriously considering posting this in GD or at least Articles & Editorials.

I decided not to because I don't have time today/tomorrow to field the many obnoxious responses I'm guessing Cenk's piece would generate.

You know, stuff like:

"The logical ones? What an intolerant jerk!"

"I'm no fan of the religious right but we have to respect the religious beliefs."

"Religious fundamentalists and Atheist fundamentalists are equally bad."

"Why does Cenk care so much about what other people believe? Live and let live! Poor baby, whining about being an oppressed minority".

I'm more than able to smack this nonsense aside, but long story short, I have a big meeting with my boss tomorrow and I'll be working quite a bit tonight and tomorrow. I'm trying to stick with low maintenance stuff over the next couple of days. And I figure most of the people who'd enjoy this would look here anyway.

[tbyg52]

6. True. Although I might have been one who missed it.

I didn't used to have this fourm in my set of tabs because it's pretty low traffic and I spend too much time on DU anyway. They I decided I should at least have a look every day. Glad I did today! :hi:

[ihavenobias]

7. BTW, Here is a DIGG Link and...

http://digg.com/world_news/The_Silent_Minority_The_Non_Religious

It actually made the front of page of DIGG, which is encouraging. And is also encouraging. Conventional wisdom says it won't happen (and it might not), but if they were smart they'd realize that the non-religious are grossly under-represented in the media.

Tapping into even a small percentage of us means big ratings.

[tbyg52]

10. Thanks for the info! nt

[rrneck]

14. Hey, wait a minute. How come

you can't rec from here but you can rec from the Christian Liberals/Progressive People of Faith Group?

[amyrose2712]

15. We are banished nt

[ihavenobias]

16. Kind of speaks to Cenk's piece.

Funny enough.

[trotsky]

8. Cenk, as usual, fucking nails it. n/t

[pink-o]

11. So it's like being gay in Victorian England

We are the Love that dare not speak its name...


:shrug:

[cynatnite]

17. This really should have been on the greatest page. n/t

[ihavenobias]

24. Well, it made it to the website of Richard Dawkins...

http://richarddawkins.net/article,3749,The-Silent-Minority,Cenk-Uygur