Are Atheists Just as Bad as Religious Organizations?
That seems to be the theme of some threads here in the Religion Forum. If someone points out an institutional issue with religious denominations or organizations, like misogyny or sexual assaults or pedophilia, someone else is sure to come along and point a finger at some individual atheist who did the same thing, more or less.
Naturally, it's always possible to find an individual example of just about anything bad. But, there is a difference between individual wrongdoing and institutional abuses that are either covered up or even endemic. Individual actions are just that - individual. Institutional or organizational actions involve a much broader pattern.
When it comes to atheism, there really aren't any institutions that have any authority. Atheism has no central organization nor any established doctrines. It is simply non-belief in deities and other supernatural entities. The vast majority of atheists are not affiliated with nor represented by any organization at all. So, if some atheist does a bad thing, that's the responsibility of that individual, and has little or nothing to do with other atheists.
When institutions have fundamental issues, like misogyny or covering up of sexual abuses, the impact is much greater. It's not a function of an individual, but is doctrinal, organizational or part of the hierarchical system. In some cases, such negative actions have deep roots, sometimes extending back to the origins of the organization.
Comparing institutional misdeeds or problematic doctrines with individual misdeeds is a false comparison. There is no equivalency.
Finally, if something is bad with regard to an organization, in itself, there is no benefit to an argument that it is less bad or is somehow justified because some individual also did something bad. An action or attitude is either bad or it is not.
Asserting that an organization that has institutionalized something bad is OK or justified, as long as some individual not associated with that organization did the same bad thing. Both are wrong. The difference is the scope of the effect.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's hard to imagine why people would form an organization about not believing in something. There's the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but that's not so much about atheism (although they state that one of their goals is to promote "nontheism"
as it is about getting religion out of government. Their only "doctrines" seem to be that it's OK not to be religious and that religious beliefs should not influence the laws of a secular government. There are some, certainly the likes of Mike Pence, who ardently believe religion belongs in government and would therefore think this organization is bad because it is trying to influence people to believe otherwise. But atheists can be good or bad just like everybody else. The difference between bad atheists and bad believers is that when atheists are bad they don't claim God condoned or ordered their bad acts.
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and a second point: Atheists are not organized nor are they an organization.
