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Atheist Nay Sayers

Posted on August 23rd, 2010 by Staks

I think this is a problem with any minority group which has had to fight for acceptance so I don’t think atheists are in general pessimistic. In fact, most atheists I know tend to be pretty optimistic. But for some reason, whenever an atheist is trying to make a difference and to do something for the good of the community there tend to be those atheist nay sayers.

Here is a great example. Over the weekend, I wrote an Examiner article about a candidate for US Congress who is openly atheist. While I certainly got a fair amount of people who are encouraged by this and who have decided to donate a few dollars to his campaign, I got far more responses from people telling me how this guy can’t win because atheists can’t win in politics.

Now maybe these nay sayers are just trying to come up with an excuse for not donating to his campaign, but there really shouldn’t need one. No one is guilt tripping them into donating to his campaign (but it would be helpful if they did). The best thing about the internet is it is anonymous. So how the fuck would I know if some other atheist in Nebraska didn’t donate to some politician in Virginia? No one is watching how much money to put into a collection plate if anything at all. I think it is helpful to donate to an atheist politician who values reason and has a progressive agenda. But that is just me.

What isn’t helpful is this bullshit that the guy can’t win because he is an open atheist. It is that type of negative attitude which helps to keep atheists from actually running for office and prevents other people from taking us seriously. We have an up hill battle for acceptance as it is and there are always going to be negativity from religious people about everything we do. We really don’t need Debbie Downers from our own camp.

With that being said, constructive analysis is always welcome and encouraged on any endeavor, but the defeatism is just unproductive. What would these nay sayers have us do, give up and let the Religious Right demonize us unchallenged? Should we just let the Religious Right continue to force their ridiculous superstitions on us and not attempt to fight back or stand up for ourselves?