Memo to SMAD (typos fixed): Quakers Heart Atheists

[kirby urner]

Like Anita, I have no real interest in the racism thread.  I'd say Multnomah still suffers from racism but we're not going to get to the root of that in SMAD.

Bigotry against Atheists is something I'm interested in, starting with the history of demonizing Soviets for being Godless and deliberately mixing "atheism" with "left wing symp" in the McCarthy period.

Now that we're entering Cold War 2 with maybe-has-Asperger's Putin the new evil villain, I'm looking for signs of "godless commies" again, in the Fox News waste stream for example.

I invited the president of the Humanists of Greater Portland to join MMM-PSC (which he did):  Dave DiNucci.  Several in our meeting know him, not just me and Christine.  We've had dinner lately and I expect to see him again at Friendly House tonight where I'm attending the Roy Zimmerman concert.

Quakers get excited by cases of obvious bigotry but some may have a blind spot in this area.  Given our sect is not the usual Protestant "head trip" of commanded beliefs and pledges thereof, we're in a good position to prove receptive to atheist memes.

Plus I'll make the larger point, as a denizen in the Buddhist ghetto, that polytheisms are oft lumped with atheisms since what the Godders really want us to embrace is some version of monotheism as that's what's dumbed down enough for Godders to understand.  They attack whatever is smarter than they are.

I would like to see Quakerism infused with the intelligence of anti-Godders.  I'm tired of weak-minded Protestants and their monotheistic fixations.  They've ruined the country and imposed Prohibition for way too long.  If we still disowned, I'd be in tempted to disown militant Godders as a disgrace to our religion, but then I'd remember my liberal heritage and that there is that of Intelligence (Light) in even the most dumbed down of Friends.

Kirby

[David Chandler]

Quakers get excited by cases of obvious bigotry but some may have a blind spot in this area.  Given our sect is not the usual Protestant "head trip" of commanded beliefs and pledges thereof, we're in a good position to prove receptive to atheist memes.

I tell people that Quakers (or at least our form) has one central "belief" in our belief system with two alternate expressions, one in theistic language and one in non-theistic language:  the belief that there is "that of God" in each person, and the belief that in each person there is an "inner light."  I see those as equivalent statements in different verbal garb.  From attending an FGC convention (a few years ago in Tacoma) I know there is an organization of Quaker atheists.  My sense is there is no need to even bring the subject up.  In most Quaker contexts I have experienced no one ever even asks.  In the Visalia Meeting (where I came from before MMM) anyone using too much Jesus talk in Meeting for Worship would be eldered to tone it down because some people find it offensive.

There was an issue in the early church, recorded in the New Testament, which has, I think, a parallel among Quakers today.  Christianity was originally a sect within Judaism.  The issue back then was whether new converts had to become Jewish in order to become Christian.  Paul answered in the negative.  I think today the question is whether you have to become a Christian in order to become a Quaker.  Again, I think most Meetings (that I am aware of) would say no.  Not everyone comes to Quakerism from a Christian path.  (If you engage in God talk around Connie, be careful to stay away from masculine pronouns.)

[kirby urner]

Makes a lot of sense what you say below David.

I agree that Quakerism, of all obscure sects, is one of the least likely to give a Friend (or tourist-skeptic) grief simply because they don't worship some male projection of their own psyche.  We're a scholarly group that does its homework.  Gnosticism is not a strain to be exorcised, but included.

However, bigotry against atheists remains a cultural / societal issue even if Quakers have largely overcome their own bigotry. 

We need to do more than just rest content with our own conscience. 

We need to actively seek social justice e.g. agitate for an atheist USA president if one comes along, if said candidate meets other criteria we care about:  equality, pacifism, integrity.

Kirby