A Question for British Atheists
Yesterday’s London atheist meetup event was great fun, and I’ll definitely be attending as many as I can next year. The talk we had yesterday was presented by a member of the Council for Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), and he focused his talk on what we should do about the growing number of sharia courts in the UK, as well as our ties with Saudi Arabia in foreign policy.
Afterwards, 5 of us (myself included) went for a drink at a nearby pub. One of our party, Mark, spoke of his desire to start a group that was openly atheistic and political. In other words, he saw the current groups like the National Secular Society, the Brights, and the British Humanist Association as being all very well and good for advocating secularism, naturalism, and humanism, but they did little to advocate atheism.
The closest the BHA have come is of course their highly successful bus advert campaign, with the words “There’s probably no god.”. What is quite remarkable though, is that although statistics say that the population of atheists in the UK ranges from 25 to 35%, there are no truly atheist organisations for those people. In America, there are the Atheist Alliance International (of which no group in the UK is a member), and the American Atheists. Both groups advocate atheism directly.
So here is the question I’d like to put to British atheists. Would you like to see an openly atheist organisation in Britain? Something like the American Atheists organisation, but for the UK, acknowledging atheism, and promoting it as well as freethought, secularism, in both society and politics.
I’d like to only ask British atheist readers to vote in the poll. I know it’s not a scientific analysis, but I really would like to know the general feeling so I can give some feedback to Mark.
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Athiests in Ireland are already underway with this – http://www.atheist.ie/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=19
I'm one of those atheist that is a member of both the BHA and the NSS (and also the HSS in Scotland) and understand the missions of these organisations to be such that the BHA promotes (mostly secular) humanism and the NSS promotes state secularism. I can't really see an avenue for promoting atheism as such, just as I wouldn't promote aunicornism, afairyism or atrollism.
As far as I'm concerned believers can believe what the hell they like with regards to gods, fairies and so forth, with the caveat that if they try to bring it into the public sphere (i.e. government/law/etc.) in an attempt to enforce or promote their zero-evidence charlatanry then I, via the NSS and (to a lesser extend) the BHA, will fight them on it.
I'm one of those atheists that is a member of both the BHA and the NSS (and also the HSS in Scotland) and understand the missions of these organisations to be such that the BHA promotes (mostly secular) humanism and the NSS promotes state secularism. I can't really see an avenue for promoting atheism as such, just as I wouldn't promote aunicornism, afairyism or atrollism.
As far as I'm concerned believers can believe what the hell they like with regards to gods, fairies and so forth, with the caveat that if they try to bring it into the public sphere (i.e. government/law/etc.) in an attempt to enforce or promote their zero-evidence charlatanry then I, via the NSS and (to a lesser extend) the BHA, will fight them on it.
I'd vote for the last option if I could but I can't, perhaps because my husband has already voted. I agree with nullifidian. I wouldn't be interested in an organisation defined by what its members don't believe in and whose raison d'etre is to advocate non-belief..
I'm not sure it's necessary really since by and large humanist issues are atheist issues. The great advantage of organisations like the BHA is that while they are every bit as pro-atheist and forceful on these issues as you would want them to be, they have many strong links with the organs of government. Humanism, putting forward a set of positive beliefs, seems to have much more fortune in dealing with the government than I think an atheist organisation would.
Incidentally, I think it prudent to point out that there will soon be an organisation catering for atheist issues in the UK, although only representing students. It's called the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS for short) and will be launching with (hopefully) some razmatazz in the new year. The idea is an umbrella organisation that can provide a national campaigning voice for student societies facing hostility from other religious groups on campus or even the universities themselves, as well as providing experience and resources to help new groups get off the ground. Keep an eye out for it in February, as we're hoping to make the news.
I won't vote since I'm an American atheist, but I do suggest that you steer clear of using American Atheists as your model for such a group. Others may disagree, but I just haven't found them nearly as active or effective as the Freedom From Religion Foundation or Americans United for Separation of Church and State. And yes, I am a dues-paying member of all 3.
The point, surely, is to promote "I do not believe God exists" and debate the ethical, moral and political issues that arise directly from that concept. This is very different from the approach of the BHA and NSS, as I understand these two organisations.
Anyway, what is the point of the survey? To do something about it or do nothing?
Let us assume this new organisation is needed until we find out it isn't.