David Silverman's speech at the 2018 American Atheists convention
At the 2018 American Atheists convention (see: 2018 American Atheists National Convention), David Silverman, the ex-president of the American Atheists organization, declared:
| “ | It is a hard time to be an atheist activist. This has affected us. And it has affected our community...
...it has really affected us. We are suffering a level of defeatism that I have never seen before... We feel the loss. And we feel like we have lost. We feel like we lost the election... We see this cascade of attack coming down at us over and over from all different directions and we feel like it's over. I have heard so many times it makes me sick. It makes me sad. It feels like we lost. The apathy that follows. It doesn't matter. We can't win anyways. It's useless to fight. This apathy is infecting us. It's hurting us. And people are reacting to each other now. And so that is causing a division. Lots and lots of division in our movement. Hard, bad division... And that has resulted in a splintering and factioning of the movement that I have never seen before and none of us have. In other words, we're in a bad situation and it's getting worse.[1] |
” |
The American atheist activist Eddie Tabash said in a somewhat similar vein at the 2010 Michigan Atheists State Convention:
| “ | In every generation there has been a promising beginning of a true vanguard movement that will finally achieve widespread public acceptance for nonbelief. Yet, in each generation there has been an ultimately disappointing failure to actually register the naturalistic alternative to supernatural claims in the public consciousness...[2] | ” |
In 2011, atheist Jacques Berlinerblau declared: "The Golden Age of Secularism has passed."[3]
Atheism and public speaking
See also: Atheism and public speaking and Atheist conferences
On the whole, Christianity has a better reputation when it comes to public speaking compared to the atheist population (see: Atheism and public speaking).
The news website Vox reported about Reason Rally 2016:
| “ | It is clear, too, that almost nobody who takes the stage at Reason Rally was ever trained as a preacher. The whole thing is languid, urgent words in measured tones. The goal is an "end to bigotry," in the pitch of a polite request, to "reject" a supernatural worldview with all the force of tepid applause. Jamie Raskin says the job of politicians is to "listen to scientists" and closes with "Put your thinking caps on America!" Penn Jillette struggles to get a video playing, chokes up over Hitchens, then plays a Bob Dylan knockoff about his love for all people. The Amazing Randi devotes half an hour to a muted jeremiad against the obscure "facilitated communication" hoax. Peter says he does not know what "FC" is, but he'll look into it.[6] | ” |
The atheist Jerry Coyne said about atheist conferences which he attended:
| “ | But to me the speakers and talks have often seemed repetitive: the same crew of jet-set skeptics giving the same talks.
...a few things bothered me, most notably the air of self-congratulation (which I excused on the grounds of enthusiastic people finding like-minded folks for the first time), the “fanboyness” directed at some of the famous atheists (they hardly let poor Richard alone, and I’m not sure he liked that!), and the lameness of quite a few of the talks. Again, how much new can you say about atheism?[7] |
” |
See also
External links
- David Silverman - How the Mighty Get Back Up (David Silverman's speech at the 2018 American Atheists convention)
Notes
- ↑ David Silverman - How the Mighty Get Back Up
- ↑ Atheists Speak Up - Eddie Tabash
- ↑ Berlinerblau, Jacques (February 4, 2011). "Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast". The Chronicle of Higher Education/Brainstorm blog. Retrieved on May 29, 2015.
- ↑ Are there too many atheist meetings? by Jerry Coyne
- ↑ Are there too many atheist meetings? by Jerry Coyne
- ↑ American atheists are on the rise. They have radically different visions of the future, Vox
- ↑ Are there too many atheist meetings? by Jerry Coyne
