Tuesday, November 17, 2009

5 Tribal Stages of Atheism

I read the following at Andrea_TheNerd and had to post it here:

1. Atheist finds herself in a world dominated by religion (often Christianity or Islam). Shefeels alone and misunderstood and often angry at her circumstances, and seeks out similar people for protection and companionship.

2. Atheist forms a protectionist bubble around himself (into which only similar-minded people are allowed), from which he can sit and pass judgment on everyone outside it. He doesn't want to step outside his bubble to enact change, he simply wants the Powers That Be to leave him alone. [Edit: or as one commenter put it: I know what I think, and f- you all.]

3. Atheist sets out to struggle with what she sees as the force of opposition. She prefers to work on her own in this, seeing "winning" each encounter with a theist as a personal goal for herself to achieve. She is easily disappointed by the perceived lack of competence in other atheists at similar encounters with theists.

4. Atheist is motivated to join up with other atheists to act as a social force against the religious majority. He'll often donate his time and money to political organizations focused on separation of church and state, and attempt to motivate less passionate atheists to join his cause.

5. Atheist sees her atheism as part of the greater good of humanity. She is less concerned about personal survival or winning against an opponent, but instead focuses on personal fulfillment and communal harmony in a world without any gods.

Im not sure where I am on this scale. Thoughts?

4 comments:

  1. you're a mix from what i know of you. maybe you should redo this thing.

    trav

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  2. i like to think the start of atheism as a genuine struggle of logicality and illogicality in ones personal life. Instead of covering up,or shouting down irrationality in his or her individual life, one examines them.

    But maybe its different for other people, i dont know

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  3. I'm definitely a 1. But I'd love to be a 5...

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  4. I'd say I am a four, but perhaps I am really only a two because I am not going to tell all the super Christians I work with that I am an atheist unless they ask me..

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