A recent poll concerning politics in the U.S. reveals that the percentage of the population with negative attitudes toward atheists have not changed recently in spite of an increase in the percentage of atheists in the population. Fully 61% of the population would be less likely to support a candidate for public office who did not believe in god, which is little changed from four years ago.
My previous posts on this subject emphasized the extent to which discrimination against non-believers is pervasive and reflexive--that is to say, literally thoughtless. Many times the person doing the discriminating is not really aware of what he or she is doing--or of the full implications of their actions. Being the kind of people who choose their "facts" based on how they feel about them, they often fully believe the rationalization of their actions that springs forth from their inveterate bigotry.
What I did not mention in those posts, but did allude to in my posts on theocracy and the threat thereof, is the extent to which this discrimination is practiced consciously as part of a political movement. Time and again I have witnessed and heard of religious people given preferential treatment simply because they were religious. I have seen teachers and co-workers hired or promoted into jobs they did not deserve simply because they were of the right religion. I have seen others, including myself, attacked, marginalized, mobbed, forced out of schools, jobs, careers because they did not toe the line.
A recent article by a former member of the theocracy movement confirms what I have warned about. There is an active movement in the U.S. dedicated to seizing political control of the country. Their methods include conscious acts of discrimination and the misuse of the rules of law to cover up those acts.
Bias Against Non-believers
Bias Against Non-believers II
My previous posts on this subject emphasized the extent to which discrimination against non-believers is pervasive and reflexive--that is to say, literally thoughtless. Many times the person doing the discriminating is not really aware of what he or she is doing--or of the full implications of their actions. Being the kind of people who choose their "facts" based on how they feel about them, they often fully believe the rationalization of their actions that springs forth from their inveterate bigotry.
What I did not mention in those posts, but did allude to in my posts on theocracy and the threat thereof, is the extent to which this discrimination is practiced consciously as part of a political movement. Time and again I have witnessed and heard of religious people given preferential treatment simply because they were religious. I have seen teachers and co-workers hired or promoted into jobs they did not deserve simply because they were of the right religion. I have seen others, including myself, attacked, marginalized, mobbed, forced out of schools, jobs, careers because they did not toe the line.
A recent article by a former member of the theocracy movement confirms what I have warned about. There is an active movement in the U.S. dedicated to seizing political control of the country. Their methods include conscious acts of discrimination and the misuse of the rules of law to cover up those acts.
Bias Against Non-believers
Bias Against Non-believers II
No comments:
Post a Comment