But no one I've seen talking about atheist evangelizing is actually limiting it to "atheists who consider themselves activists." And, well, to a certain extent, any atheist activism that centers around atheism has a certain evangelical aspect to it, in the sense that you're working for acceptance of atheism and for decisions to be made from a secular (and, in some cases, explicitly atheist) position. Note, again, that I'm not by any means saying that this is something EVIL or even that I'm necessarily opposed to this goal, but I think acknowledging that most atheists have some interest in convincing others of their conclusions isn't unwarranted.
The issue isn't that there aren't substantial evangelizing elements in the atheist community, it's that evangelism is an atheist swear-word (for some good, or at least understandable reasons) and the set of jerks on the theist side are capitalizing on this. If you drop the religious connotations, all evangelize means is to try and convert someone to your position; the correct response to the "you're evangelizing" is "Well, yes - because I believe this is so, and want to convince you. If you aren't convinced, well, I guess we're through here. Goodbye." Note that I'm not saying this is a working script or something; just that "We don't want to convince you" is a weird message to try and send.
He's only "calls a spade a spade" if you already agree with him. Otherwise, he's telling you that your deeply held beliefs are hokum, in so many words, and that the church group you go to on Sunday is a source of evil. He's also prominent and massively, massively quoted by both the irritating fringe with the internet megaphone AND the polite, reasonable mainstream. Thus making his name both legitimately associated with bad behavior AND a convenient handle to lump all atheists together.
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chiming
Re: I wish this was true, because it's very well stated.
Date: 2011-03-15 04:51 am (UTC)From:The issue isn't that there aren't substantial evangelizing elements in the atheist community, it's that evangelism is an atheist swear-word (for some good, or at least understandable reasons) and the set of jerks on the theist side are capitalizing on this. If you drop the religious connotations, all evangelize means is to try and convert someone to your position; the correct response to the "you're evangelizing" is "Well, yes - because I believe this is so, and want to convince you. If you aren't convinced, well, I guess we're through here. Goodbye." Note that I'm not saying this is a working script or something; just that "We don't want to convince you" is a weird message to try and send.
He's only "calls a spade a spade" if you already agree with him. Otherwise, he's telling you that your deeply held beliefs are hokum, in so many words, and that the church group you go to on Sunday is a source of evil. He's also prominent and massively, massively quoted by both the irritating fringe with the internet megaphone AND the polite, reasonable mainstream. Thus making his name both legitimately associated with bad behavior AND a convenient handle to lump all atheists together.