The Antichristian Phenomenon

There’s been some talk of atheist movements and how they might work or be organized. I think this is a great idea, and the more push there is for the atheist agenda, the more sane our world will be. I wanted to write a small essay of sorts on how an atheist movement might be accomplished as well as ask for feedback from other writers and readers here at Anti-Christian Phenomenon. Serious change should be the on the minds of every active atheist or anti-theist, because the religious institutions of the world will never stop until everyone else is under their control. Beware, it’s a long albeit badly written, and very much thought out, at least I hope it is. Again, I’m looking for feedback and serious discussion.

Let’s address some serious questions.

First of all, what should the goals of such a movement be? If there is no goal, or if everyone has their own goal, no change will ever come. For a movement to actually move, there needs to be a general agreement on what needs to happen and how things should chance. I submit that the goals of such a movement should be a push for a weakening or even removal of religious influence, a push for critical thinking, and a push for greater personal freedom and acceptance (which could greatly help such a movement, as this is religion’s greatest weakness…more about this below, keep reading) would be perfect for three main goals. The first goal would be of course the main goal, no explanation needed there. The second goal, the push for critical thinking, is a goal which benefits everyone and can help bring members together while simultaneously helping the first goal (any time someone thinks, an angel dies!). The third goal is more subtle…by having greater acceptance than religion, this movement will draw in more people and can help settle the “cat herding” problem as long as the general rule is acceptance of personal choices (which don’t affect others). We may disagree among each other but we should respect each other’s intelligence. The first goal is more radical and may unsettle some, but the second two goals help soften the edge as well as draw in less radical and more “Dawkins” or laid back intellectual types.

Well, what sort of problems would such a movement face? Many! Religions, especially Christianity, are apt to react to their full ability, even violently, to any force which threatens their existence. Need I remind anyone of the Inquisition, witch hunts, and the modern day Church’s focus on stifling anything that threatens it like same sex marriage and evolution? We will need to accept that any successful atheist or anti-religious movement will immediately be received as evil and every effort will be made to stomp it out. Such a movement will need to grow it’s forces away from the mainstream media before it makes any serious pushes in the “real world”.

Such a movement will need some defense against the mainstream religious world, both online and off. Not all of us live in the U.S. or in the better parts of Europe where free speech is still somewhat respected, and even there the Church has a great amount of power and can even take down commercials it finds offensive. Online, precautions such as Freenet should be widely used and known so that all who speak out against the religious institutions can be free from censorship and being tracked by those who wish them harm. Offline, precautions need to be taken such as staying in groups (I’m sure there are more atheists than I who have had experiences where they have been threatened while alone because of speaking out), learning how to protect yourself, etc. In schools, bullying can often happen to atheists or practitioners of alternative religions, and later I’ll talk about school clubs or youth groups that can be formed which can also address this problem.

There’s also the often mentioned problem of organizing atheists being similar to ‘herding cats’. Atheists are by their very nature outspoken, independent, and critical. No one is going to agree on everything–religion’s greatest strength is it’s conformity. But perhaps this spirit can work for the movement, not against it. Read the ‘begin’ paragraph below. Either way, there needs to be a universal focus within the movement for acceptance of the personal choices of others. People of all walks of life need to be accepted, even if there is disagreement. Specifically, this movement should appeal to homosexuals who are being rejected by the religious world. Other fringe and minority groups that are often ridiculed, excluded or cast out such as the BDSM, polygamy, alternative spirituality (here’s a gray edge…alternative spiritualities are rejected by much of the world, and including them could help the movement, as long as they agree with the focus against real religion…something to think about and discuss), single parents, and whatever else you can think of–these groups can become powerful allies because religion and namely Christianity has rejected them and homosexuality specifically is becoming a powerful movement in America. A focus on tolerance of personal choices is key to herding cats. That, and string.

Not to mention the nagging problem of money. Religions are powerful today because they have a great system for getting money and using it–religion itself. Their very existence produces it’s own revenue, which they use to power their movement, and it’s a never-ending circle of greed and idiocy. An anti-theist movement will either have to make rich friends or learn to function, no, to thrive without a powerful funding system. This will be addressed later.

How could a movement like this begin? Those hoping for a widespread atheist movement need to build off of what our ‘elders’, the intellects who have come before us and who are slowly fading from life (otherwise known as getting old!). Namely, Richard Dawkins and his peers, who have cut a crude but workable space for us younger atheists to move around in and begin to get to real work. A respect for past atheists or at least anti-religious folk needs to be encouraged, these people deserve our respect because without them we’d be in a much worse place than we are today.

Any anti-religious or atheist movement needs to begin with the young, because the youth of the world are the source of all change and we (oh hell, it’s starting to become they, help me!) possess a powerfully idealistic and rebellious energy that can be harnessed to power this sort of movement. The youth of the world can be far more powerful in a setting where exploring and accepting their individuality is encouraged, in a setting where rebelling against the system (religion) is really happening. It really is a teenager’s dream, most teenagers that is, to change the world and create revolution, and such a movement could easily harness such individual power.

How can we begin to harness this power? Those who attend colleges and high schools can gather their anti-religious or atheist friends and begin to group together. A goal of these groups would be to become a recognized campus club, which would put them at the same level as the religious clubs on campus and encourage more to join them. At these clubs, there should be a focus on reading (like book clubs!), movies (documentaries mostly, as well as anything moving or anti-religious, but also religious movies and of course text should be viewed and talked about), critical thought and skepticism (perhaps holding or joining school debates about religion, working together to help out other on campus clubs such as the LGBT Alliance, culture clubs, and any humanity-type clubs…perhaps even attending Christian club meetings and watching the hilarity), talking about experiences with religion, etc. These clubs need to take both a social and politically active stance, with the social stance coming first to power the political stance. These groups should get support from the rest of the movement, and we should help each and every one of these small school groups to get an online (and thus louder) presence–we should help provide them with blogs (so they are more empowered to speak their own opinion) , regularly talk to them, and even try to help spread “gear” (because we all know that is the best way to get through to a teenager!), specifically Dawkins’ OUT gear which will definitely appeal to teenagers and college students and doesn’t require any work from us.

Working from simply gathering up and becoming small groups, to group activism should be easy. If youth groups manage to take off and get that youthful energy pumping, there should be no problem in getting that rebellious teenage anger and turning it into protests, debates, actively questioning the beliefs of those around them, and even actively rejecting Christian or religious customs such as the U.S.’ ‘under God’ part in the pledge of allegiance. This energy could easily turn more aggressive than needed, however, so it’s very important that older anti-religious groups gently steer them towards words instead of less legal activities. This is where blogs come in–blogging is a powerful and wonderful way to get your voice heard, and ultimately that is what a lot of teenagers want. Whether it be simply writing, speaking via film, using art, or other forms of communication, every person involved in the movement needs to have the support to get an online presence, and needs to be supported by the rest of the movement. I.e., comment and talk to them a lot, and make them heard. Getting the youth involved is the easiest and best way to power a cause.

Besides colleges and high schools, older folk need to be able to get involved. The primary goal of the older generation should be to provide support and help power up the younger generation, while perhaps taking the more intellectual stance. Atheists and anti-religious people of this generation should still get together and get in groups, but it is not such an important goal as it is with the younger generation. It would be helpful if this group were to gather more in a general area and meet less frequently than the students, but stay in contact and keep to similar activities as the student groups. These groups can work together with the student groups by providing materials and clearer organization, book and movie sharing, establishing themselves to the younger generations as older but still fighting against the religious system. The older groups–alright, I’ll admit I’m at a loss here. I’m not in this generation so I can only give vague, not very helpful suggestions. Moving on!

What sort of symbol or identification could such a movement employ? Richard Dawkin’s OUT CAMPAIGN symbol (see left) works perfectly. It’s already in production and used by a considerable group, and is already recognized by many atheists. And since red seems to now be the common color for atheists, well, there you go. It is commonly associated with revolution, rebellion, communism and (for some odd reason) conservatism, so it’s both a blessing and a curse. Personally, I would have chosen violet or indigo as the color of anti-religion, because it is a color of deep thought and intelligence. The “A” symbol is also useful because it is closely linked to “anarchy”, which while it has little if anything to do with the movement, is a symbol of idealist rebellion and already widely known. A variation of the “A” symbol should be used, however, as this is less a symbol and more a letter with a cute touch. Perhaps a mix between the anarchy and the atheist symbol, for a symbol of anti-religion? Either way, even speaking out through (more obvious than Dawkins’ symbols hopefully) bumper stickers or patches can help.

Now…what social values should this movement honor? If the movement doesn’t honor certain values, it will likely fail because there will be trouble within the ranks, as Christianity is now experiencing. As mentioned in the goals paragraph, this sort of movement should focus on critical thinking, skepticism, and personal freedom/choice. This means also allying with causes that seemingly have nothing to do with such a movement, like better and easier to obtain education, acceptance of personal choices and preferences (like homosexuality, alternative lifestyles like BDSM and polygamy even if personally you might be opposed to it), etc. There is a definite potential for some serious splits however, as on certain issues like gun control, and on these issues the movement may experience serious trouble and split. Hopefully, however, the members of the movement will be intelligent enough to allow room for political opinions differing from their own.

How exactly can this movement weaken religion? A widespread call, similar to the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements, can be surprisingly powerful in affecting government policy as well as political opinion. I’m sure there were those who thought, “oh, no, blacks can’t be organized!” or “oh, no, women can’t be organized!”, but they did it and they changed the world forever. Loud and proud anti-religiousness can help support politicians who are closet atheists or just not really Christians as they claim they are (we know they’re out there, but thanks to Christianity’s hold on politics and public opinion, saying otherwise is a death sentence), and hopefully more will come out or run for office. Actively asking members of these groups or just friends to support anti-religious measures as well as supporting fellow anti-religious sites can help more than we’d think.

Some more questions to consider…

-What tactics will religious organizations and individuals use to stifle such a movement?

-Where might this sort of movement be more powerful, in the U.S. or in Europe? Are there countries where this has already happened, or where religion has no influence?

-What issues could unite this movement, and which issues could destroy it?

-Would you consider this movement already started but weak, already started but dead, or never started?

-How can groups of this movement raise money, and how can they both use and gather it?

-Would the first goal be at all possible, ever? Would it be possible to completely remove it from the government in the U.S. and European countries ever, or in our lifetimes?

-What other movements or groups that have been rejected by the Church can this movement ally itself with?

-What are some core values or ideals atheists or anti-religious people can agree on?

Let me know guys.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Religion, SocioPolitical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.