{"id":279,"date":"2009-05-18T07:42:05","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T12:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=279"},"modified":"2009-05-18T07:42:05","modified_gmt":"2009-05-18T12:42:05","slug":"putting-a-face-on-atheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=279","title":{"rendered":"Putting a Face on Atheism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, I was on the ReasonProject.org<\/a> website and someone suggested that a good public relations move might be to put a more person face on atheism. Even though more and more people are starting to come out of the closet and let those around them know that they question the existence of God and other superstitions, it still seems that a lot of people don\u2019t really know atheists in their families or in their communities.<\/p>\n

One thing that has helped to put a more personally and more public face of atheism is that several big named Hollywood celebrities have made their atheism public. Among them are Bill Maher (of course), Joss Whedon (creator\/writer\/producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and The Dollhouse), and Seth MacFarlane, (creator\/writer\/voice actor of the Family Guy).<\/p>\n

But those big names aside, we still need to let more of the mainstream public know that atheists are real people who don\u2019t eat babies and\/or worship the Devil. The more the mainstream people get to know their friendly neighborhood atheist, the less likely they will demonize our lack of belief in deities and other superstitions. Once the emotional component is taken out of the picture, we can have a reasonable discussion of the facts.<\/p>\n

Someone else on the ReasonProject.org<\/a> forum suggested we run a campaign similar to the \u201c25 Random Things\u201d note which frequents FaceBook and MySpace. With that in mind, I created the very self-serving \u201c15 Questions for atheist\u201d so that we can pass them around and let theists know more about us. Before I will present my list, I want to be sure to mention that I want everyone to feel free to pass it around to other atheists that you know and to pass your answers on to theists that you may know. Feel free to maybe even suggest more questions an share with us your experiences and reactions from theists after you have distributed your answers to them. So without further ado:<\/p>\n

\u201c15 Questions for Atheist\u201d
\n1. What is your Name?
\n2. Where do you live?
\n3. Would you consider yourself to be a charitable person?
\n4. How moral would you consider yourself to be on average?
\n5. List five values that you feel are important.
\n6. What did you want to be when you were young?
\n7. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
\n8. At what age did you realize that there was no God?
\n9. How did your family take your realization?
\n10. What led you to doubt the existence of God?
\n11. Are you happier now that you no longer believe in a God, or do you wish you still believed?
\n12. On average, how many babies would you say you ate since you began doubting God\u2019s existence?
\n13. Do you worship the Devil?
\n14. Have you ever read the Bible?
\n15. Have often do you visit DangerousTalk.net?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>