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Underground > Temple >

Discrimination of non-Christians in USA

13:21 / 14.01.06

I was watching a programme presented by Richard Dawkins the other night and an interesting area came up. He was talking to a group of non-Christians in the US (Colorardo, i think) and they were talking about the problems they had as 'non-believers - not being promoted for jobs, shunned by locals, etc.
Does anyone have any other information, experiences related to this? Just interested.

15:22 / 14.01.06

They were an general assortment of non-belivers, or did they followed an specific religion? Does a bhudist, for instance, has the same dificulty that a muslim may have. And what about (one of) the newest of religions, the atheists?

15:32 / 14.01.06

In the Denver Metro area of Colorado and the Boulder area, I tend to meet as many non-Christians as Christians. I've heard stories about people being treated rudely for being a Pagan, a Muslim, or an outpoken Atheist, but not as much from Jews or the non-religious (sometimes, if you're the only Jew in the room, people will expect you to speak for Jews). I also see people being rude to Christians by generalizing Christians as bigotted, malicious, self-righteous, child molesters, but there's a taboo on taking this too far as well. I don't personally know anyone who has shared with me an experience about not getting a job or a promotion because of her religion.

The people I know like Buddhism. The baseline image of that religion is a good, skeptical Chinese wisdom that Einstein liked and Lisa Simpson adopted.

I am certain that real and imagined discrimination occurs in this country, though. It's far too big and diverse to avoid it. Non-Christians probably feel more comfortable in Yankee territory than Dixie Land. Christians tend to feel uncomfortable in the soft science departments of universities.

15:46 / 14.01.06

Sorry for not being as precise as i should have. Yes the people who were meeting were atheists.

All Acting Regiment

16:14 / 14.01.06

And what about (one of) the newest of religions, the atheists?

Atheism isn't a religion. The word breaks down into three morphemes: "A" as in "not" and then "the" as in "religion" and then "ism" as in "ness", pretty much. So "not-religion-ness".

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:22 / 14.01.06

I thought "atheism" meant more like "no-God-ism"? Y'know, like monotheism = one-god-ism, polytheism = many-gods-ism.

I know a few atheists for whom atheism is practically a religion. That degree of passion, even a sort of proselytising in some cases.

17:41 / 14.01.06

It comes from the Greek word theos = God. Mordant's right.
I think religion comes from a latin religare = to bind fast.

18:42 / 14.01.06

And what about (one of) the newest of religions, the atheists?

Atheism isn't a religion. The word breaks down into three morphemes: "A" as in "not" and then "the" as in "religion" and then "ism" as in "ness", pretty much. So "not-religion-ness".

Can't people recognize sarcasm anymore? Yes, atheism is not a "religion" per se, but atheists can be dogmatic and self-righteous, just like any "beliver".

And it's "a-theism", as in "no god" (from the greek words "a", which means "no" or "absence of" , and "theo" which means god). Unless it was a sarcastic comment as well...

18:45 / 14.01.06

And, apart from atheists, is there any religion that is more frowned upon than others? In the current zeitgeist, I would guess muslims are in trouble, but who knows.

22:37 / 14.01.06

And, apart from atheists, is there any religion that is more frowned upon than others?

I don't know, Satanism seems pretty unpopular among certain crowds (Christians especially, but others as well). And I've noticed that Discordians tend to have a bad reputation among occult circles (somewhat deserved, but still not very nice).

But back to the topic at hand, I haven't personally seen any discrimination against non-Christians, except that they won't let me come to their nifty parties and get-togethers (not very Christian of them to turn someone away, now is it?). Having said that, I do feel the need to keep my beliefs and practices to myself as I do feel that I wouldn't be understood/accepted in the current political/religous climate (but then again, I do live in Texas).

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23:15 / 14.01.06

As a side note, I also watched that programme, and thought it was rubbish. Talk about pushing easy buttons and shooting lame targets in the scrape for ratings. Oooh, controversy! Powerful thesis, eh? Religious circles are as full of bigoted idiots and violent nutters as every other arbitrary demarcation of society, so lets 'Ban the lot of 'em'. Because...er, why, again? Their religious beliefs become central to their bigotry and idiocy?

How very erudite, how very compelling. Cue lots of edits in which 'believers' are opinionated simpletons and atheists are learned rational cool cats. Wow, that was difficult.

Dull, dull, dull. Status. Quo. Hegemony of the tropes.

Sorry, as you were.

03:57 / 15.01.06

As to the original question about anti-nonXtian bias, I think this is very dependent on location. Here in the Ca Bay Area it's probably the reverse. L.A. as well. Or at least, you'll get more respect if you keep your religion personal and not force it on anyone or act like a total fanatic/zealot.