Quote: (05-30-2013 04:06 AM)sixsix Wrote:
Part of the disagreement in this thread is the result of Atheism and Christianity, Islam and Judaism being different in our countries. The groups have different rules and traditions, and attract different people.
Atheism in the US:
Surprisingly, the default in the United States is still religious belief. It plays a very big role in every day life and public perception. While most people don't go to church that often, religion is a very big theme in media and politics. It affects people, e.g. the anti homosexuality sentiment, which is also common on this forum.
Consequently, atheists in the US are often people that were once religious and got burned. The outcasts, the weirdos, the too-smart-for-their-own-goods that did not fit in the local religious community. As a result, you guys see many atheists as being the socially awkward deviants.
Atheism in Western and Northern Europe:
In contrast, the default over here is a lack of religious belief. It just doesn't play that much of a role. Normal people are non-religious and don't care about it, most educated people are interested in it as an anthropological curiosity. The religious groups are seen as backwards. However, while the intellectual basis for religion is laughed at, the value of traditional mores is appreciated by many.
In America, an atheist is the snarky, fat, feminist skeptic blogger that says fuck five times a sentence.
In Europe, an atheist is Aristotle, Nietzsche, Schoppenhauer and those hot chicks over there.
Do you think all religions get equal amount of disdain in Western and Northern Europe? I always found it curious that a lot of these European intellectual types who don't care for religion tend to focus mostly on Christianity, which is on it's death bed in Europe. If they wanted to keep religion out of their lives you would think they'd be more about the spread of the more vital Islam.
I can understand why someone living in the US would feel the need to push back against Christianity due to it's political power that came about it's alliance with the right-wing but what sort of influence does Christianity have in Europe? Some countries still have state churches but even these churches have female priests, gay priests, and in general have very similar values to what a typical SWPL would have.