TV shows generally avoid religion in general, so the characters aren't going to express their religious views very often. It's not like a character is going to suddenly scream "hey guys, I'm an atheist!!" There aren't that many "openly Christian" if we're assuming they have to announce it to be considered such. Also, 23% of the US population is irreligious, so it's unfair to say that they would be ignored if TV shows were more centered around religion. Gays, in contrast, make up 3% of the population, far less than atheists do.

You also seem to be suggesting that atheists belong in the same category as LGBT people and racial minorities, despite the fact that they haven't endured the discrimination that the last two have. Has an atheist's house been firebombed because of their lack of belief in a god? No, they haven't, so it's unfair to put them in the same group.

If religious people aren’t special and don’t deserve consideration, than neither do you.

EDIT: Also, don’t make up nonsense like, “Religious people are atheists to all other gods but their own.” Don’t just make up definitions like that. “A” is a Latin prefix that means “not”. So like how “atheist” means “not religious”, “asexual” means “not sexual”, and “asocial” means “not social”.

So an “atheist” is someone that doesn’t believe in ANY god(s). A “theist” DOES believe in god(s), no matter which deity or deities those are. If you believe in God or any other gods, you’re not an atheist, you’re a theist.

And also if I’m going to refer to the Judeo-Christian God, I am going to capitalize it, because God is literally his English name. I’m not Jewish, so I’m not going to call him Yahweh or Jehovah.

3 hours ago, ShadOBabe said:

So an “atheist” is someone that doesn’t believe in ANY god(s). A “theist” DOES believe in god(s), no matter which deity or deities those are. If you believe in God or any other gods, you’re not an atheist, you’re a theist.

An interesting historical tidbit: Romans often accused the early Christians of being atheists because they rejected the existence of the traditional gods in favor of one. Their standard for atheism, of course, was much different than ours.

Anyway, I rather think it's disingenuous to be a militant atheist. A militant anti-theist makes more sense, but atheism, strictly speaking, simply holds the divine does not exist. Actively promoting the values of non-belief comes across as nonsensical; it is hard for me to imagine someone asking with a straight face, "Would you care to take a moment to not believe in God?" Only when atheism is joined to another cause (e.g., Rationalism; Scientism) does it really make sense to extol the spread of atheism. It needs a positive outlet or justification.

Move to the UK. We don't care about religion much here

16 hours ago, Yellow Diamond said:

"Would you care to take a moment to not believe in God?"

Brohoofed for that interesting historical tidbit and for putting the image in my head of Atheists running around my neighborhood in suits like Jehovah’s Witnesses. XD

Good thing most atheists I see don't preach about it.

At least I know I don't. I'll just say that I'm simply an agnostic Atheist. I don't believe in god but I don't claim to know if a god or gods exist or not.

On 12/10/2017 at 6:25 PM, ShadOBabe said:

Also, don’t make up nonsense like, “Religious people are atheists to all other gods but their own.” Don’t just make up definitions like that.

Alright.  If you don't like how I used the word in this specific instance, that's fine.  I suppose you're correct, technically speaking.  But the more important point I was trying to make is that believers only believe in one specific god.  Theirs.  The one that was taught to them by their parents and culture.  They don't believe in the thousands of other gods currently worshipped, or the thousands of dead gods in the graveyard we call mythology.  Why?  Why does the Christian believe in the biblical god and not Zeus?  That's the point.  Religion obeys borders and cultures.  The atheist doesn't believe in any god for the same reason the Christian doesn't believe in Allah, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, Anubis, Odin, Shiva, Thor, etc.

On 12/9/2017 at 10:58 PM, Varrack said:

You also seem to be suggesting that atheists belong in the same category as LGBT people and racial minorities, despite the fact that they haven't endured the discrimination that the last two have. Has an atheist's house been firebombed because of their lack of belief in a god? No, they haven't, so it's unfair to put them in the same group.

And you seem to be forgetting thousands of years of human history.  Throughout the majority of human history, simply expressing any doubt in a god was enough to get you tortured and killed.  Take the Inquisition for example, a phenomenon spanning hundreds of years, in which countless people were tortured and slaughtered merely because their neighbors might have suggested that they were heretics.

Now, this isn't the case in the U.S. anymore, though there are certainly still many places in the world where being an open atheist is the most dangerous thing you can be.  Try being openly atheist in most of the Middle East, and then tell me that atheists don't get the same level of discrimination as LGBT people.  Ask this young woman if atheists get discriminated against and mistreated, and you'd hear quite an eye-opening story.  Now, I certainly haven't lived in the Middle East myself, and nor would I, because I value my life.  But the fact is that it is completely untrue to say that atheists don't get mistreated.  I am lucky to live in what is probably one of the safest places in the world.  Being an atheist here isn't dangerous, though I'm sure if you look, you can find many example of people right here in the U.S. being bullied, threatened, and attacked for their lack of belief.  I'll certainly grant you that In the last half century or so, there has probably been more violence and discrimination towards LGBT people than towards atheists, at least in certain countries, but in the whole of human history, far more people have been killed for not believing in a god, or not believing in the right god.  Studies have shown that atheists are still the most mistrusted group in the U.S., and I'd be willing to bet that if you polled every person in American, you'd probably find that people are more trusting and accepting of gays than of atheists at this moment in history.  This is only a hunch based on what I've observed, however.  I could be wrong.

Also, (and this isn't just directed at you, Varrack, but at everyone) it was never my intention to play the part of the victim.  I have never been personally victimized, discriminated against, or mistreated for my lack of belief.  If my original post came off that way, then I apologize.  But I do hear, quite frequently, that atheism is unnatural, evil, inherently immoral, etc.  I am trying to clear up this misconception, a project that I feel is very worthwhile.

On 12/24/2017 at 9:50 PM, Justin_Case001 said:

Throughout the majority of human history, simply expressing any doubt in a god was enough to get you tortured and killed.  Take the Inquisition for example, a phenomenon spanning hundreds of years, in which countless people were tortured and slaughtered merely because their neighbors might have suggested that they were heretics.

Heresy =/= atheism. Heresy was literally just having an opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine. If you differed from the norm at all, you could be tortured/killed. The Inquisition wasn't directed at atheists, it was directed at anything at odds with what was strictly accepted. 

On 12/24/2017 at 9:50 PM, Justin_Case001 said:

Try being openly atheist in most of the Middle East

Try being openly Christian, Jewish, or anything but Muslim in most of the Middle East. Persecution isn't limited to atheism.

On 12/24/2017 at 9:50 PM, Justin_Case001 said:

but in the whole of human history, far more people have been killed for not believing in a god, or not believing in the right god

Give me one historical example of genocide happening against atheists. Again, skepticism of the strict norm =/= atheism.

On 12/24/2017 at 9:50 PM, Justin_Case001 said:

it was never my intention to play the part of the victim.  I have never been personally victimized, discriminated against, or mistreated for my lack of belief.  If my original post came off that way, then I apologize.  But I do hear, quite frequently, that atheism is unnatural, evil, inherently immoral, etc.  I am trying to clear up this misconception, a project that I feel is very worthwhile.

What was the actual premise of your post then? Was it supposed to be about just clearing up misconceptions? It would've been that until the fifth paragraph where you stated that atheism was the new social frontier following racial equality and LGBT rights. There's no comparison between misconceptions and actually being barred your rights. Saying things like "people are generally cool with homosexuality but not with atheism" is incredibly asinine because one group was actually discriminated against and stigmatized to no end, whereas the other has far fewer problems. I get you didn't mean that, but it seemed obvious when reading that that that was what you meant (lol at those 3 'thats').

@Varrack: I I really want to do my best to clear up misunderstandings between us, apologize for anything I may have said wrong, and reach some common ground.  I believe I understand your issue with my original post.  In the fifth paragraph, I said that we've had social movements to gain racial rights, and then gay rights, and then I implied that atheism should be the next such social movement, which in turn implies that atheists either don't currently have rights, or are the specific target of discrimination.  This would seem to then imply that we need a fight for atheist rights, like winning atheist marriage in court or something.  Obviously, this would be completely bogus.  That's a ridiculous comparison.  I can completely see where you're coming from.  For the whole of American history, atheists have never been denied such rights.  If it sounded like I was complaining that atheists don't have equal rights, then I apologize, because that's obviously not the case.

You're also right that the historical, as well as current, persecution, murder, and genocide by any religious group in power was not, and is not, specifically targeted towards atheists, but simply at anyone who does not share the beliefs of those in power.  This includes atheists, of course, but the majority of people who have ever been killed in the name of religion were killed for simply being the wrong religion.  This only stands to reason as, after all, the majority of all people who have ever lived have been religious to one or another degree.  That's just how times were.  Atheism wasn't really something that existed until recently, for the most part.  Perhaps in was inaccurate and irrelevant of me to provide the specific examples I did.  If so, then I apologize.  And I can't point to any genocide or other such event that was specifically targeted against atheists.  Again, all such historical events, to my knowledge, were simply targeted towards anyone who wasn't the religion of those in power.  I think my frustration with religion, with irrationality, and with misunderstandings about atheism probably led me to post some examples (like the Inquisition), that weren't really relevant, and didn't serve the purpose I intended.  So, again, apologies.

All that said, my purpose has always been to try to teach people that atheism is not immoral, evil, or unnatural, which is something I frequently hear.  Atheists haven't been denied rights in America, but they are by and large mistrusted and regarded with extreme suspicion.  I still believe it to be an accurate prediction that if you polled all Americans, you'd find that there is more tolerance and acceptance of gays than of atheists.  For example, if you asked all Americans which group causes more problems in America [gays or atheists], or which group is ruining America [gays or atheists], and so forth, I believe you'd get more people saying that atheists are the bigger problem.  I predict you'd find a lot more people saying that atheists are bad, immoral people.  This is just my prediction, mind you.  I have no facts to point to.  I'm basing this prediction on what I've observed day to day, and what I've seen and read online, and seen on TV.  I could be wrong.  Perhaps more people hate gays than atheists.  I don't know.  However, it is absolutely true to say that there is a very large amount of mistrust and animosity towards atheists.  This is something I seek to change.  That is the purpose of this blog entry.  I proposed a way to help do this, and that was to have more openly atheist TV characters, like we do gay characters.  I believe that the media has a strong influence over the way the public views various groups, and I believe that mainstream acceptance of gays started to rise a lot more when we started seeing more gay characters on TV.  It began to seem less strange and more normal.  People started realizing that gays are just normal people, too.  I believe that atheism could enjoy those same exact benefits from more media exposure.  My comparison of atheist to LGBT issues was meant more in this fashion--to point out that positive TV exposure could do for atheism what it does for LGBT people.  (Which, btw, is not to say that gays and trans are the same thing and should be lumped together.  I know they're different, and have nothing inherently to do with each other.  Sometimes it's just more convenient and effective to use the LGBT abbreviation.)  My comparison of civil rights and LGBT to atheism was also meant to simply point out that those battles have been largely won, and I think I think it's time to open up much more conversation about atheism.  (Also, I'll point out that I'm squeamish about using the word "won" in that last sentence, because I know that the battles are never over, and there's always much more work to be done.  But I think it's fair to say that racial and LGBT issues have improved, like a million percent in the last several decades.)  I didn't mean that atheism is the same as civil rights or LGBT rights battles.  It's not.  (And yes, I realize that I may sound a bit like I'm contradicting my second post, in which I basically just doubled down on the first.  I probably didn't think it through enough.  Apologies.)  I think homosexuality is talked about more than atheism.  I think atheism is still more taboo for many, and we need to open up the conversation about it.  I think that LGBT issues have enough steam, enough momentum at this point, that they'll continue to progress without needing to fight quite as hard, meaning we can afford to turn some attention elsewhere.  I submitted atheism as the next worthy project, the next thing to turn attention towards, but I didn't mean this to say that we need a fight for atheist rights like we did for civil or gay.  I really do just want to clear up gross misunderstandings about the subject.

I hope I answered your questions and addressed your issues.  I appreciate your input.  I really do want to improve my writing and my arguments, and be more accurate.

@Justin_Case001 ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up.

I believe the reason for the high distrust toward atheists is due to America's high degree of religiosity. Naturally a country will be more averse to a group when there's less of it. In Europe, where religious numbers are lower, I highly doubt that atheism is as distrusted as it is here.

I definitely agree with you that atheism isn't immoral or evil, being irreligious myself. Misconceptions should always be fought. I have no issue with your post if that was your premise.

THis topic doesn’t feel comfortable for me.