Here we are again, at the end of another interesting ride. Thanks to all who participated in the series this year. Unfortunately I don't have the time or energy to create the comprehensive wrap-up diary I managed last year, so I will just end this diary with a link to all the diaries of the last two years and ask people to explore at their leisure. Any post game type analysis is welcome in the comments, as well as a discussion of this diary.
My 'open letter to moderate theists' will commence below the fold. Enjoy, and I'll see you in the comments.
Dear Liberal Theist,
Let be clear right off the bat, this letter isn’t about telling you you’re wrong, or an idiot, or just as bad as fundamentalists. It is about reaching out to you, as the only reachable members of the religious community, and telling you how much more alike we are than you think. I will not endeavor to make criticisms of your faith, but I want to make it clear that, from our perspective at least, any such criticisms, whether implicit or explicit, are not meant as personal insults to you but as objective discussions of the issue. If you are sensitive enough to be offended by arguments over theology and its merits then I suggest that this letter, and this diary series are probably not for you. I’ll apologize in advance for the generalizations I’ll be making that may not apply to you. Please feel free to ignore anything in my letter that doesn’t accurately represent your position. I have to make some generalizations because I am not able to get to know each and every one of you and speak specifically to you. By all means, please take issue with anything I say in the comments section of the diary and I’ll try to address all of them.
Liberal theist, I like you. Not only do I like you, people like you make up most of my friends, and family. We have a lot in common. Many, if not most of us are politically progressive, or at least neutral. Most of us consider the Bible and other holy books to be important literature, containing some very positive messages, and some not so good ones. Most of us recognize that religious institutions are capable of doing much good in the world; some of us also admit that they have been behind a lot of evil acts in history. Most of us share distaste for fundamentalists of all stripes, be they Taliban, or Westboro Baptists. You are wary, as are we, of people making claims to knowledge of the unknowable and untestable, and attempting to illicit action based on that ‘knowledge.’ "God commands you to drown kittens" is not a command either of us are likely to take seriously. You are not the ones who shoot abortion doctors, or bomb things in the name of God. You most likely don’t give credence to the notion that homosexuality is perverse and immoral. I would go as far as to say that we probably have more in common than any of you do with fundamentalists. That fact notwithstanding, I would venture a guess that you would be reluctant to speak up in defense of atheists should we be spoken ill of in your religious community.
I make this accusation knowing full well that there must be exceptions out there, and perhaps some of those reading this are responsible for them, but I just want to shake things up a little, and get us all to think about the social dynamic between the fundamentalist, moderate theist, and atheist. Like it or not, you also share a lot in common with the fundamentalists of your religion. You worship the same God, follow many of the same liturgies, use much of the same language, and have similar sympathetic reactions to expressions of your faith. There is no doubt that the most militant of fundamentalists have a dislike for what they see as your watered-down faith, some may even hate you, but I don’t think anyone can seriously argue that those same fundamentalists don’t hate us more. My point, dear moderate, is that your religion should not be the first consideration when deciding whose side you’re on. The only difference between us is that we reject the concept of a god as unsubstantiated, and you don’t. We could argue about that all day long, and we have elsewhere, but think about it: take that away and there is very little to tell us apart. I feel it’s necessary to reiterate this because in my time here at Daily Kos and doing this series I have noticed many attempts by moderate theists to generate a false equivalency between atheists and fundamentalists. There is a suggestion that we are a mirror image, or negative doppelganger to fundamentalists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dogmatic absolutism is not the mirror image of rational inquiry. Suppression of dissent is not the mirror image of encouraging dialogue and open discourse. We have nothing to hide and no empire to protect.
I reach out to you, moderate theist, because I know that we atheists need your help. We are not the enemy. If we are to have equal standing in American society we need you in our corner. Not to adopt our philosophy, but to support our right to hold it openly in society without being marginalized. If you wonder, as I often hear many of you do, why atheists seem ‘obsessed’ with religion despite the fact that we have none. It is simply because we don’t have a choice but to live in an undeniably theistic system, and ignoring that reality doesn’t improve things for us.
Imagine living in a society where your religion constituted 15-20% of the population and think about how easy it would be to ignore the dominant religion around you. Now imagine that your religion didn’t have an established structure, networking system, representation, or political power. How would you feel about the open-minded "moderate" members of the dominant religion that were willing to see you as a human being despite your theological differences? The bottom line? We’re not going to see eye to eye on dogma, but there is a lot of playing field on which we can still move the ball in the same direction.
I enjoy arguing with you, or at least those of you who don’t insist that I shouldn’t argue on this subject. I know that I’ll likely not convince any of you to be atheists, but I hope I can at least shed some light on what it means to be an atheist and what it’s like to be one in this society. Let’s come together and be civil, and have some fun discussions about our similarities and differences. If you don’t want to participate in all or part of them, I’ll understand, but please acknowledge my right to engage in them. Thank you for reading this and I wish you well.
Sincerely,
Me, the atheist.
Previous Atheist Digest Diaries:
You can access all of last year's diaries by way of the Original Atheist Digest Series Wrap Up Diary
This Year's Entries:
Intro and How I became an Atheist By Xneeohcon
Glossary By Rieux
On Christian Claims to Moral Superiority By Xneeohcon
Debunking Dogmas, Part I: Creationism By wilderness voice
The believers' path to Atheism By Brahman Colorado
Atheist Digest ’10: Ben Stein is a Moran: The Retrospective Improbability Fallacy By XNeeOhCon
Atheist Digest '10: A Theist's View By commonmass
Dubunking Dogmas, Part II By wilderness voice
Atheist Digest '10 Extension: "The 'Militant' Atheists" By XNeeOhCon