Religion
Related: About this forum‘Living the Secular Life,’ by Phil Zuckerman
By SUSAN JACOBYDEC. 19, 2014
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For now, though, many atheists find it impossible to eschew a slightly defensive tone, calibrated to show that they are as virtuous as anyone else. Zuckerman, whose previous works include Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment (2008), is no exception. He extols a secular morality grounded in the empathetic reciprocity embedded in the Golden Rule, accepting the inevitability of our eventual death, navigating life with a sober pragmatism grounded in this world.
The Golden Rule (who but a psychopath could disagree with it?) is a touchstone for atheists if they feel obliged to prove that they follow a moral code recognizable to their religious compatriots. But this universal ethical premise does not prevent religious Americans (especially on the right) from badgering atheists about goodness without God even though it would correctly be seen as rude for an atheist to ask her religious neighbors how they can be good with God.
Zuckermans interviews especially with nonreligious parents trying to raise children in highly religious regions of the country provide ample explanation for the reluctance of atheists and agnostics to come out of the closet.
Tonya Hinkle (a pseudonym) is a mother of three who lives in a small town in Mississippi because her husbands job is there. Her children were harassed at school after it became known that the Hinkles did not belong to a church. When Tonyas first-grade twins got off the school bus crying, she learned that this one girl had stood up on the bus and screamed right in their faces that they were going to HELL. That they were going to burn in all eternity because they didnt go to church.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/books/review/living-the-secular-life-by-phil-zuckerman.html?action=click&contentCollection=Sunday%20Book%20Review®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article&_r=0
PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)many religion and sadly many religions forget to teach it.
I have known people who had the Bible or the Book of Mormon on their desks and they were far removed from being practitioners of the Golden Rule. These people hide behind their religions feeling superior yet are a bunch of scared, small minded petty and vindictive characters.
And, of course, the "Hinkle" family would probably get the same reaction if they were Jews, Mormons or from another Christian church that wasn't accepted by these church goers in their area.
My sympathy to the "Hinkle" family that must be so difficult for them.
Warpy
(111,138 posts)and my parents did go to a church, just the wrong one for Dixie. I never came out as an atheist to most people there in high school, just to a few select friends who also thought it was all a crock of shit, mostly fellow math and science nerds.
Adults were a little more reasonable and my folks had an easier time of it than I did, although their frequent complaint was that they were still trying to win the Civil War down there. However, the kids I went to school with were little savages who were completely intolerant of anyone who didn't conform to southern culture.
I was out of there as soon as I'd saved up enough money and I'll never go back.
I sympathize with this Hinckle's kids, I know exactly what they're going through because I went through it, too, 50 years ago. I hope she has feelers out for jobs in a more tolerant part of the country.
mmonk
(52,589 posts)than anyone to insure they most likely won't be in danger of later becoming too religious.