Ardent Atheists Spread Their Reverence For Disbelief

[rug]

The San Diego Coalition of Reason opened this booth in Balboa Park to support the atheist community and to evangelize nonbelief to religious people. (Claire Trageser /NPR)

February 26, 2014, 3:35 AM
by Claire Trageser
from KPBS

Stroll through the plaza of Balboa Park in San Diego, and you'll pass religious groups spreading their beliefs and looking for converts.

But you'll also see a table draped with a large banner that reads, "Relax, Hell Does Not Exist." Approach, and you'll hear evangelical atheist Rob Hudson engaged in religious arguments.

"If you're an atheist, you don't believe in heaven or hell," a teenager tells him.

Hudson responds by saying the concept doesn't make sense. "Who in their right mind would choose to go to hell?" he asks.

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/26/281450206/ardent-atheists-spread-their-reverence-for-disbelief

3:41 audio at link.

[longship]

1. "Ardent atheists". Well, at least they didn't use "strident atheists".

This is outreach, not evangelism. Just like the LGBT community has been doing for decades, now finally bearing real fruit. To portray it as anything else is to misunderstand what atheism, in general, is about.

I don't care what other people believe as long as they do not interfere with my rights. But, atheism is under attack from multiple factions. That is enough for me to support anything which would help get the word out that non-believers are just people. They live in your neighborhoods; they go to your schools; they are your relatives and friends.

If the world realizes this one thing, that would be a huge victory for humankind.

[cbayer]

2. I agree with you about outreach and support those efforts.

And I think the most effective outreach can be done without claiming a superior position.

One of the members of this group who was interviewed is the one apparently using words like evangelizing and deconversion.

The director, on the other hand, has a very different and positive perspective.

[longship]

3. Agree.

I am an out and loud atheist. But I don't go door-to-door in my community. I also don't try to convert those who do go door-to-door in my community. I merely tell them very politely that I am not interested. Then I wish them a good day.

I would like religion to have less influence in the socio-political sphere. My thinking is the best way for that to happen is not evangelizing, but outreach. There are far more non-believers in the world than anybody could imagine. The cultural and political impediments to professing non-belief are just now beginning to break down. Who knows where this will take society, but the recognition of a rather large segment being loud and proud cannot hurt.

That is a goal that benefits everybody, I think.

[cbayer]

4. IMO, you are exactly the kind of person these kinds of booths need.

Giving support and guidance to those that want to not be discriminated against because of their lack of belief is a good cause.

I think we are headed in the right direction on this issue and hope to see substantial change in my lifetime. I think it's already happening.