Over the past few years, the "New Atheists" have launched a counter-attack against the Christian Fundamentalist movement. Books like "The God Delusion" and "God is Not Great" have risen to the top of the bestseller lists. And yet, after all the heat and noise, the New Atheists remain a political and social non-entity. Why?
For any political movement to be successful, it must answer three fundamental questions right at the beginning. Those are:
(1) what is it that we want to gain?
(2) who can get those things for us?
and
(3) how can we force them to hand it over?
The atheist political movement as a whole, though, can't even answer the first, and most basic, question. It has no idea what the hell it wants. That's why, despite all the heat and noise it has generated over the past few years, it's real-world practical accomplishments have amounted to a big fat zero. Atheism is no more accepted by mainstream society today than it was before; the percentage of atheists in the US is no higher now than it was efore; no tangible social or political benefits are readily apparent for atheists over the past few years. In a word, it's accomplished nothing. Nothing at all.
So it's long past the time when the atheist political movement needs to stop evangelizing, and start organizing. Until it does, it will always remain marginalized and ignored by mainstream society.
And what is it that prevents the atheists from effectively organizing? Because, like the Maoists, they value ideological purity above all else. Many of them have an irrational hatred of the very people they must to organize WITH in order to gain any influence or support.
I have my doubts that screaming "religion is for deluded retards, and you should give it up!!" at 85% of the population, is going to win you any significant political support. Just a thought.
Yet for many atheists, this is all they are capable of doing. Indeed, they think that's all they NEED to do.
It's the basic reason why atheism is so weak, impotent, and has no social or political influence whatsoever.
The latest polls seem to show that the number of atheists in the US has, despite all the "New Atheist" tomes that have appeared in recent years, not gone up. At all. As to its political and social effect, the "New Atheists" are, basically, a nonentity.
Part of that is because they don't have a clue what the hell it is that they WANT. Some of them want to defend the separation of church and state. Some of them want to win respect and social acceptance for atheism. Some of them want to evangelize and convert everyone else to their opinions. Some of them want to stamp out religion, in all its forms. And some of them just want the emotional satisfaction of calling people who disagree with them, "deluded".
Those aims are all at cross-purposes.
Until the atheist political movement gets its shit together and stops trying to run in twenty different directions at once, it will continue to have zero effect.
Of course, if its goal is to stamp out religion and convert everyone to atheism . . . well . . . good luck with that. I won't hold my breath waiting.
If its goal is just to feel good by calling theists "deluded retards" . . . well . . . good job. What has it gotten you?
If its goal is to win respect and acceptance for atheism (the only goal that I would support), then they need to learn a few elementary things from, say, the gay rights movement. Did the gays write book after book titled "The Straight Delusion"? Did they declare that straights are retards, or that everyone should convert to being gay? Nope. Why not? Because they would have fallen flat on their faces -- just like the atheists have.
A little reminder to The New Atheists out there: you dudes make up less than 15% of the population.
Think about that for a moment.
One in six.
You're outnumbered 5 to 1.
You don't have enough population to elect one of your own as dogcatcher in Podunk, Illinois.
Even if you pick up guns and dynamite, you STILL ain't gonna accomplish anything with just 15% of the population.
If you want any political and social influence whatsoever, then you need the support of at least 50% of the population. And since you are only 15%, and since theists make up all the rest of the population . . . well . . . there's only one place that you CAN get enough support to reach 50%.
You need the political and social support of all those deluded retards that you hate so much. You will accomplish nothing without their support. Like it or not. So suck up and get used to it. You, uh, don't have much choice in the matter.
Fortunately for you, many of those theists would indeed wholeheartedly support any efforts on your part to gain social acceptance and respect for atheism. UN-fortunately for you, they probably won't convert to atheism to do it, and probably won't take kindly to being called "deluded retards" if they don't convert to atheism.
So, you can either (1) work with those theists who are willing to work with you, and make some political and social gains, or (2) continue with your pointless screeds at the "deluded retards", needlessly alienate 85% of everyone around you, and continue to be isolated and powerless.
I know which I would choose . . . . (shrug)