03.Nov.2012 - Avoiding Disaster Capitalism, Dark Money Rises, Worst Civil Liberties President, Right to Own, Warrantless Wiretapping Allowed, NSA Claims 'Privilege,' Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson, Debt Collectors to be Policed, Creationism Pushed in Public Schools, Tax Cuts for the Rich, Mormons Elusive About Teachings, Profile of a Police State, Vote for Prop. 37, Syrian War Puppets, GMOs Poison Farmers, Romney Speech Interrupted, Stupid Ohio Voters, Climate Change Debate, Bloomberg Endorses Obama

December, we will be giving away another book! There is no catch besides getting involved. We listed 4 books on the website, so VOTE which book we should give away - One of them can be yours! 

Stay informed. Immerse yourself. Everything affects you and your loved ones. 

To donate to The Dissenting Heretic, use the WE PAY button on our website: http://www.Dustcircle.com

How Hurricane Sandy Will Impact the Election

Thanks to a wave of new voting restrictions passed by Republicans, the 2012 election was already shaping up to be pretty chaotic before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, which left 8.2 million households without power in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/02-0

Avoiding Post-Sandy Disaster Capitalism: On Rebuilding the Right Way

All around America, we've watched the devastation of Hurricane Sandy with a sense of shock and heartbreak. For millions of people who suffered from the storm, some of the hardest questions seem to be about the simplest things. When will the power be back? How do I get to work? When will I be able to send my kids to school?

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/02-7

Dark Money Rises

About a week before election day, a young girl, maybe 10 years old, confronted Colorado House candidate Sal Pace in a pew at his Pueblo church. "She said, 'Is it true that you want to cut my grandmother's Medicare?'" Pace remembers.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/02-2

The Universe Unraveling

The Southeast Asian country of Laos in the late 1950s and early 60s was a complex and confusing patchwork of civil conflicts, changes of government and switching loyalties. The CIA and the State Department alone could take credit for engineering coups at least once in each of the years 1958, 1959 and 1960. 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32919.htm

Who is the worst civil liberties president in US history?
Where do the abuses of the last decade from Bush and Obama rank when compared to prior assaults in the name of war?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/02/obama-civil-liberties-history

Defense attorneys ask Panetta to televise 9/11 trial from Guantánamo

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078362/guantanamo-defense-attorneys-ask.html#storylink=cpy

Lawyers for the five alleged Sept. 11 conspirators wrote Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Thursday, asking him to order the Pentagon to offer national TV broadcasts of their death-penalty tribunals at Guantánamo.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078362/guantanamo-defense-attorneys-ask.html#storylink=cpy

Lawyers for the five alleged Sept. 11 conspirators wrote Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Thursday, asking him to order the Pentagon to offer national TV broadcasts of their death-penalty tribunals at Guantánamo.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078362/guantanamo-defense-attorneys-ask.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078362/guantanamo-defense-attorneys-ask.html


EFF Demands Answers About Predator Drone Flights in the U.S.
Government Shares Drones with Law Enforcement Agencies Across the Country
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-demands-answers-about-predator-drone-flights-us

Your Right to Own, Under Threat
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today in a case called Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, and their final decision could help shape the future of "first sale," a legal doctrine that underpins the right to sell, lend, or give away the things you buy, even if those things contain copyrighted elements.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/your-right-own-under-threat

How the FISA Amendments Act Allows for Warrantless Wiretapping, As Described By Supreme Court Justices
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Clapper v. Amnesty, an important case that will decide if the ACLU’s challenge to the FISA Amendments Act—the law passed in the wake of the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal—can go forward. The Court will essentially determine whether any court, short of a government admission, can rule on whether the NSA’s targeted warrantless surveillance of Americans' international communications violates the Constitution.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/how-fisa-amendments-act-allows-warrantless-wiretapping-described-supreme-court

NSA claims 'privilege' 62 times in 1 court document to EFF!

As the old adage goes, trust is earned. It’s not a privilege freely given. The EFF has been battling Jewel v. NSA since 2008 over the mass-slurping up of emails, calls and other electronic communications. When “trust” is used in same sentence as the NSA regarding its Terrorist Surveillance Program, especially when applied to warrantless ‘dragnet’ surveillance of innocent Americans, some brains might not compute and stumble over such a combination. Sadly, it’s no surprise the agency once again claimed that supplying evidence would compromise national security and wanted the case dismissed.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/security/21214/nsa-claims-privilege-62-times-1-court-document-eff

Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson Have Their Say

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: There’s an election Tuesday, and we invite the two main alternative candidates to make a case for why we should take a chance on them in an election that is already too close to call. Also: Mo Rocca and Robert Scheer.

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/jill_stein_and_rocky_anderson_have_their_say_20121102/

Three Reasons Progressives Should Care About the Courts 

Like Hamlet on the battlements, the progressive left is haunted by a question: to vote for Barack Obama with all his faults or, by boycotting the elections or casting ballots for a third party, risk the inauguration of Mitt Romney? To some on the left, disaffected by Obama’s statist posture on national security, his kowtowing to Wall Street and timidity on climate change, there is no appreciable difference between the two major candidates. So why not stay true to genuine progressive values and turn away from Obama, even in the swing states?

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/three_reasons_progressives_should_care_about_the_courts_and_vote_for_obama_/

UAW Files Charges Against Romney for Auto Bail-Out Profiteering

At a press conference in Toledo, Bob King, President of the United Automobile Workers, will announce that his union and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have filed a formal complaint with the US Office of Government Ethics in Washington stating that Gov. Romney improperly hid a profit of $15.3 million to $115.0 million in Ann Romney's so-called "blind" trust.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/14318-focus-uaw-files-charges-against-romney-for-auto-bail-out-profiteering

Debt Collectors Will be Policed by the Feds
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a new rule that will allow the federal agency to oversee and regulate the largest debt collection agencies.
Now those who hound you over unpaid debts will be hounded themselves by the feds.

http://commonlaw.findlaw.com/2012/11/debt-collectors-will-be-policed-by-the-feds.html

At The Ohio Supreme Court, A Teacher Claims An "Academic Freedom" Right to Push Creationism in Public School

The investigation revealed that Freshwater had put religious posters in his classroom, asked students questions about their religious beliefs and the depth of their commitment and even offered “healing” services at meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He had also distributed “work sheets” to students that undermined evolution (but, interestingly, hadn’t let students take the materials home where parents might see them).

http://au.org/church-state/november-2012-church-state/featured/insidious-design

5 Delusional Right-Wingers Certain That Mitt Romney's Headed for a Landslide Win

Mitt Romney can win, but he has an uphill battle. That's not the way these folks see it.

http://www.alternet.org/5-delusional-right-wingers-certain-mitt-romneys-headed-landslide-win

Republicans Try to Hide Study That Shows Tax Cuts for the Rich Spur Inequality

How Republicans in Congress almost killed a non-partisan study refuting GOP talking points.

http://www.alternet.org/republicans-try-hide-study-shows-tax-cuts-rich-spur-inequality

"Please Don't Leave Us!" NYers Desperate for Help -- Latest Sandy Updates, What You Can Do

Staten Island, Breezy Point, Red Hook and Long Beach are in danger of a real a disaster.

http://www.alternet.org/please-dont-leave-us-nyers-desperate-help-latest-sandy-updates-what-you-can-do

Why are Mormons Vague or Elusive About Controversial Mormon Teachings?

Why don't Mormons talk more about some of their more controversial beliefs? Why aren't Mormons more up-front about some of the more controversial doctrines of the LDS Church? The answer is simple: they are taught to be circumspect about many Mormon teachings and to avoid getting into too much detail with outsiders — especially prospective converts

http://atheism.about.com/od/mormomism/a/Milk-Before-Meat.htm?nl=1

American Religion. The Faith of Politics.

Those of you who read my posts on a regular basis are familiar with a recurring theme: Politics is the American religion. To be honest I had been using it as a semi-derogatory short hand, a way to encapsulate the inability of most people to even contemplate alternatives to the corrupt system we currently have. My consistent stance has been that the never ending debate about which candidate or party is superior does nothing to address the larger question of the system itself, which is only perpetuated every four years, with minor differences in action and policy.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/American-Religion-The-Fai-by-Lee-Burkett-121101-109.html

Profile of a Police State

Homeland repression is policy. Police state laws target resisters. Elections are farcical, rigged, and illegitimate. People have no say. Corporate controlled electronic voting machines decide for them. 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Profile-of-a-Police-State-by-Stephen-Lendman-121102-564.html

Will Monsanto Rule Our Lives? Vote for Prop. 37

 new poll conducted by the University of Southern California and the LA Times has found that Proposition 37, the GMO labeling initiative has slipped a whopping 17 points since the last poll in September. The proposition continues to lead but only by 2 percentage points with less than a week before the election. Thirteen percent of likely voters are still undecided on whether to require mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms in foods.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/14313-will-monsanto-rule-our-lives-vote-for-prop-37

Superstorm Puts Politics In Perspective

Flooded subways. Over eight million people without power. Around 80 dead in North America – plus another 70 or so in the Caribbean. Fifteen thousand flights cancelled. Atlantic City’s famed Boardwalk washed away. Grand Central Station echoing empty.

http://www.countercurrents.org/taylor021112.htm

Washington Seeks New Syrian Puppets In War For Regime-Change

Speaking in Zagreb, Croatia on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington is reorganizing the front representing the so-called “rebels” in Syria. The shakeup, which includes the withdrawal of US support from the Syrian National Council, is evidently part of the preparations for a more direct US intervention once next Tuesday’s presidential election is over.

http://www.countercurrents.org/auken021112.htm

Growing popular anger as Hurricane Sandy death toll rises to 90

There is growing popular anger in New York, New Jersey and throughout the US Northeast, amidst widespread power outages and gasoline shortages in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The US death toll rose Thursday to at least 90 people in the US and two in Canada. The storm earlier claimed at least 67 lives in the Caribbean.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/nov2012/sand-n02.shtml

A convenient "tie"

A tie that isn't quite what it seems, and a US election sideshow: pundit gut v nerd calculator. 

http://www.opendemocracy.net/magnus-nome/convenient-tie

Free Syrian Army Kills Prisoners
(WARNING: Graphic Violence)

How GMOs poison farmers in the developing world

A visit to "Murder City"

Brought to you by the Drug Wars

Watch Mitt Romney Explain How Jesus Will Reign for 1,000 Years When He Returns, in Jerusalem... and Missouri

Climate Protester Interrupts Romney Sandy Speech

The Stupidity Of Romney Voters In Ohio – Exposed

The Presidential Debate We Never Had: Climate Change

Michael Moore, Please Drop Your Support For Obama

Flooded by Sandy, Residents of Brooklyn Community Red Hook Organize Local Effort for Urgent Relief

DOWNLOAD:  VIDEOAUDIOGET CD/DVDMORE FORMATS

"It’s Global Warming, Stupid": As Bloomberg Backs Obama, News Media Ends Silence on Climate Change

DOWNLOAD:  VIDEOAUDIOGET CD/DVDMORE FORMATS

Bloomberg Endorses Obama for White House Despite Misgivings About President’s Effort on Gun Control

DOWNLOAD:  VIDEOAUDIOGET CD/DVDMORE FORMATS

Residents of NYC’s Chinatown Turn to Community Group for Relief as Elderly, Immigrants Isolated by Storm

DOWNLOAD:  VIDEOAUDIOGET CD/DVDMORE FORMATS

16.Oct.2012 - Part Two: Anti-U.S. Protests in Okinawa, National Debt and Our Children, Israeli ''Preventative'' War on Iran, Welcome to Police State Amerika, U.S. Munitions Cause Iraqi Birth Defects, Politics of Political Harassment, Romney's Religious Devotion, Unfettered Corporate Greed, Americans Who Love Authority, Community Food Justice, Food Can Kill or Heal, End of Economic Growth?

This month, we are giving away a FREE copy of The End of Faith by Sam Harris. Simply go to our Facebook page, and start sharing our posts. The person or organization that shares the most DH posts by Halloween wins the book!  

 

You are viewing this from http://www.dustcircle.com. Also, follow us on Twitter and Facebook for exclusive content.

A wave of anti-U.S. protests in Okinawa

Khury Petersen-Smith reports on unrest in Japan as the U.S. military escalates its weaponry and troop presence in a region vulnerable to war and violencehttp://socialistworker.org/2012/10/16/a-wave-of-protests-in-okinawa

The National Debt and Our Children: How Dumb Does Washington Think We Are?

While much of the country is focused on the presidential race, the Wall Street gang is waging a different battle; they are preparing an assault on Social Security and Medicare. This attack is not exactly secret. There have been a number of pieces on this corporate-backed campaign in the media over the last few months, but the drive is nonetheless taking place behind closed doors.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/national-debt_b_1968868.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief

New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli “Preventive” War on Iran

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is planning to press the Senate next month to pledge U.S. troops, money, and political support to Israel should Bibi Netanyahu launch a preventive war on Iran.http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/new-senate-push-to-pledge-unconditional-support-for-israeli-preventive-war-on-iran/

The Former Nation of America Is Gone, Welcome To Police State Amerika

The Bush regime was a catastrophic horror. He did away with habeas corpus, and that was bad enough. In essence, he scrapped the Magna Charta that had been central to our western values for the almost eight hundred years. It is part of our own Constitution. These two values were taken from it.
http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto161012.htm

Another 1 Billion Can Be Fed By Halving Food Loss

An additional one billion can be fed from our current resources, if the food losses could be halved. This can be achieved if the lowest loss percentage achieved in any region could be reached globally*.

http://www.countercurrents.org/cc161012A.htm

Race, Class, And The Immigration Issue In The U.S.

It is astonishing to see how immigration is transforming the United States. Hordes of illegal immigrants are being driven across our southern border every year by the dire macroeconomic circumstances brought on by NAFTA. The result is startling.

http://www.countercurrents.org/fryett161012.htm

Horrors of war: US, UK munitions ‘cause birth defects in Iraq’

US and UK weapons ammunition were linked to heart defects, brain dysfunctions and malformed limbs, according to a recent study. The report revealed a shocking rise in birth defects in Iraqi children conceived after the US invasion.

http://rt.com/news/birth-defects-iraq-report-385/

Western spies get discreetly involved in SyriaWestern intelligence agencies are quietly at work supporting the Syrian opposition from Turkey. While governments officially deny involvement, media reports paint an ever clearer picture.

http://www.dw.de/western-spies-get-discreetly-involved-in-syria/a-16304302-1

The Politics of Political Harassment: Might It Need A Law Too?

There are right places to discuss politics and wrong ones. Work is a “wrong one.” A job should never be place where you worry about being outed for your political beliefs, nor is it a place where you should be forced to listen to anyone else’s; certainly it’s not a place where you should be browbeaten into political submission in order to maintain your employment. There are enough reasons to sweat your job these days; politics shouldn’t be one of them.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/15/the-politics-of-political-harassment-might-it-need-a-law-too/

Does Romney’s Religious Devotion Make Him More or Less Trustworthy?

Most religious people like to think so. In fact, many Christians believe that when they are taken up to heaven and the rest of us are Left Behind, the world will descend into an anarchy of deceit, exploitation, and violence. In the words of the New Testament writer, Christians are the salt of the earth, a light shining on a hill –a beacon in an otherwise vast moral void. In this view, nonbelief is associated with moral bankruptcy, but the right kind of religious devotion makes people honest and good. In the U.S., a confession of atheism can be thedeath knell for a political candidate. By contrast, a Jesus fish in a business logo says, “We are to be trusted.” Even people who think that religion isn’t true often think that it’s a good moral influence. That is why Chris Rodda’s book title, Liars for Jesus, had a particular bite.

http://awaypoint.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/does-romneys-religious-devotion-make-him-more-or-less-trustworthy/

5 Ways America Is Being Hollowed Out by Unfettered Corporate Greed

There's no free market -- just businesses doing whatever they please with virtually zero accountability.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-ways-america-being-hollowed-out-unfettered-corporate-greed

Why Americans Who Love Authority Are More Likely to Vote Republican

Question authority? Obama's your man. Uncomfortable with ambiguity? It's Mitt -- or so says election data.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/why-americans-who-love-authority-are-more-likely-vote-republican

American Bombs in the Muslim World: The Real Reason Why U.S. Citizens Were Killed in Libya

While the Republicans make political hay from last month’s killings in Libya, the real source of U.S. woes in the Middle East goes unsaid.

http://www.alternet.org/world/american-bombs-muslim-world-real-reason-why-us-citizens-were-killed-libya

Communities Take Food Justice Into Their Own Hands, One Plot at a Time

In some neighborhoods, home gardens are a way to improve food security, environmental responsibility and community engagement one plot at a time.

http://www.alternet.org/food/communities-take-food-justice-their-own-hands-one-plot-time

Ohio AG files response urging Supreme Court to hear early voting appeal 

Ohio officials on Saturday urged [brief, PDF] the US Supreme Court [official website] to approve its request for an emergency stay of an injunction against the state's new early voting regulation. The brief was filed after US President Barack Obama's campaign staff [campaign website] and the Democratic National Committee(DNC) [advocacy website] filed a brief [text, PDF] Friday calling on [JURIST report] the Supreme Court to reject Ohio's request. 

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/10/ohio-ag-files-response-urging-supreme-court-to-hear-early-voting-appeal.php

Food can kill - or heal. Info to help you choose wisely.

Just label it!

The End of Economic Growth?

Next 9/11 Might Be Virtual Warns Experts

Should Atheists Slam Religion or Show Respect?

AlterNet / By Valerie Tarico

As the atheist movement expands, we need to consider whether non-belief will gain more traction if prominent atheists are more respectful of religion.

 

 

 

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A Midwestern atheist tells of sitting in her lunchroom at work and listening as conversation opened up around her about religious differences. Her co-workers included several kinds of Protestants, a Catholic, even a Jew. Sensing they were in risky territory, they worked to find common ground. “At least there aren’t any atheists around here,” one woman said in a warm inclusive tone.

What’s a girl to do in a situation like that? Should she out herself or just keep quiet? In his seminal book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, sociologist Erving Goffman posed the perennial quandary of stigmatized persons: “To display or not display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where." (p. 42)

Disclosure feels risky because it is. In 2008, Atheist Nexus gathered “coming out” stories from over 8000 visitors who described themselves as atheist, humanist, freethinker, agnostic, skeptic, and so forth.  Some of the tales are painful to read. One woman said, “I've had people literally, physically BACK away from me upon hearing I am atheist. My children were told to run away from our evil home." A man’s confession of lost faith almost cost his marriage: “My wife told me that I'm caught in Satan's grip, and confessed that after I deconverted she considered leaving me. I believe the only reason she didn't is because she's financially dependent on me.” Elsewhere a young woman tells of losing thirty-four Facebook friends when she announced her lack of belief.

The consequences of anti-atheist stigma are public as well as private. Most self-described atheists are acutely aware of survey results showing that U.S. atheists are less electable than reviled minorities including Muslims and gays. Seven states still have laws on the books that ban nonbelievers from holding public office.  A Florida minister whose deconversion recently made national news said that job interviews were cancelled when prospective employers found out.

In the minds of many believers atheism is linked with immorality, and despite mounds ofevidence to the contrary, religious leaders reinforce this stereotype. I once attended a Palm Sunday service at a popular Calvinist megachurch in Seattle. The minister was determined that his congregation should believe the resurrection of Christ to be a physical, historical event. He said, “If the resurrection didn’t literally happen, there is no reason for us to be here. If the resurrection didn’t literally happen, there are parties to be had. There are women to be had. There are guns to shoot. There are people to shoot.” I found myself thinking, if the only thing that stands between you and debauchery, lechery and violence is a belief in the literal resurrection of Jesus, I’m really glad you believe that. But what are you saying about the rest of us?!

Anti-atheist stereotypes work to bond believers together in part because many Americans think that they have never met an atheist. A stigmatized minority can be the nameless faceless “other” that people love to hate as long as members remain nameless and faceless. But as the gay rights movement has shown, things get more complicated—and attitudes start changing--when we realize we are talking about our friends, beloved family members, and co-workers. Coming out has been such a powerful change agent for gays, that atheists (along with other faceless groups like Mormons and women who have had abortions) are explicitly taking a page from the gay rights movement and launching visibility campaigns.  

That is easier than it sounds. Among atheist and humanist leaders, passionate disagreements have erupted about what kind of visibility will actually help advance acceptance and rights for those who eschew supernaturalism. 

As a social cause, rather than just a life stance, atheism was catapulted forward by 9-11 and the ascendancy of the Religious Right. Cognitive scientist Sam Harris says that he began writingThe End of Faith the morning after seeing the trade towers bombed with jet fuel and airline passengers. Biologist Richard Dawkins, who had previously hosted a gracious series of televised interviews exploring faith and non-faith, shifted tone and became a patriarch of anti-theistic activism. Journalist Christopher Hitchens wrote his scathing indictment, God is not Great. Doubters started coming out of the closet. I, myself, began publically challenging Evangelical Christian teachings when George Bush pointed to heaven to indicate where he had sought advice before invading Iraq.

It takes energy and guts to buck taboos and norms as strong as those surrounding religion, and so the first out the door were anti-theists who felt so strongly that they were willing to throw themselves into the fray, do or die. The “New Atheists” attracted a preponderance of young males who largely fit godless stereotypes: some defiant, some nerdy, many hyper-intellectual.  All were, for one reason or another, either impervious to rules protecting faith from criticism or willing to pay a price for breaking those rules. 

Some of these firebrands can be counted among today’s leaders, and many have kept an edge that is honed by the seemingly relentless assaults on science and civil rights perpetrated by Christian and Muslim fundamentalists. They remain fiercely defiant, unapologetic about their scorn for religion, willing to use shock tactics if that’s what it takes to break what they see as a terminal religious stranglehold on society.  Several years back, a group called the Rational Response Squad promoted a “blasphemy challenge” urging people to videotape themselves denying the Holy Spirit because one Bible writer calls such blasphemy an unforgiveable sin. In 2010, a Seattle cartoonist launched “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” after learning about death threats against Trey Parker and Matt Stone for depicting Mohammed in Southpark . This winter American Atheists provoked quite an outcry with a billboard that quoted a Bible verse: “Slaves Submit to Your Masters – Colossians 3:22.” 

The organizers of these irreverent events see them as advancing values that they cherish deeply --perhaps one could say values they hold sacred: freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom from cruelty grounded in dogma or superstition.  And yet, criticism of such in-your-face attacks on religion has often come from people who share their goals. As the atheist visibility movement has expanded, quieter, more diplomatic leaders have emerged.  Many of them insist that aggressive confrontation does more harm than good –that atheists need to be changing stereotypes, not reinforcing them, and that there is such a thing as bad publicity.

Biologist P. Z. Meyers and Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein have staked out two very different positions in the naughty-or-nice controversy.  Meyers writes a popular blog,Pharyngula, which evolved from a primary focus on biology and politics to include broad-based uncensored anti-religious news and commentary. Meyers doesn’t suffer fools lightly and makes no bones about letting people know that he finds most religion not only destructive but also stupid. Epstein, by contrast, seeks to build ethical and spiritual community that builds bridges between faith and non-faith. His Humanist Community Project encourages humanists to develop the traditional virtues of religion: communities built around shared values and social service. Where Meyers might rail against “faith in faith,” Epstein’s colleagues find common ground with open, inclusive religious groups like the Interfaith Youth Corps.

Blogger Greta Christina has said that atheists should “let firebrands be firebrands and diplomats be diplomats.” She argues that both confrontational and collaborative tactics made the gay rights movement stronger and will do the same for non-theism. But what kind of confrontation? Ugly partisanship can backfire. For example, Fred Phelps and Sean Harris give homophobia such a vile face that they trigger disgust, pushing people in the opposite direction. Some atheist activism may do the same.

Even reasonable confrontation tactics can backfire –especially in the hands of a hostile journalist. Cathy Lynn Grossman of USAToday attended the April Reason Rally in D.C.,  a gathering she described as “hell-bent on damning religion and mocking beliefs.”  There she found plenty which, when taken out of context, could be used to reinforce stereotypes.  Herarticle headlined with a quote from Richard Dawkins, encouraging nonbelievers to “show contempt” for baseless dogmas. It was accompanied by a picture of Jen McCreight  cheerfully carrying a sign that read: Obama isn’t trying to destroy religion, I am. Other speakers were depicted as ornery, offensive and more than a little scary. 

Ad campaigns by nontheist organizations reflects a struggle to find messages that connect with either teetering believers or closeted skeptics while avoiding backlash. In 2009 a London publicity campaign went viral internationally with bus ads proclaiming, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”  A variety of billboard campaigns have followed, some more provocative than others:  “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence,”  “You Know It’s a Myth.  Solstice is the Reason for the Season.”  “In the Beginning Man Created God.”  “We are all Atheists about Most Gods; Some of Us Just Go One God Further.” “Don’t Believe in God? Join the Club.”  All have drawn protests or vandalism from indignant theists.  

It may be almost impossible to avoiding causing offense while challenging the religious status quo. Nontheist organizations have traditionally ignored communities of color, but African Americans for Humanism recently launched an outreach campaign with the tag line, “Doubts About Religion? You’re one of many.” Billboards and posters show faces of familiar Black leaders – as well as ordinary group members. Coalition of Reason organizer, Alix Jules of Dallas says that even this understated approach is plenty controversial for two reasons:  Almost 90% of African Americans express certainty about the existence of God, and honoring religion is seen as a matter of loyalty.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia, Humanists of Canada wanted to run a bus campaign that said, simply,You can be good without God . But the public bus agency refused the ads because they “could be too controversial and upsetting to people.” One reader commented,

I think we should make atheist ads as innocent and non-confrontational as possible. Not because we should avoid controversy, but because it we will get the controversy no matter what we put up, and the kinder and gentler our message the more obvious the hypocrisy of our critics. I’m hard put to think of one more innocent than this one, though.

Humanist blogger and speaker James Croft, a doctoral student in educational philosophy at Harvard, insists that it can be done:

There are ways of conveying our values that are both strong and civil, which avoid insults and (except in certain cases) ridicule without giving one inch of ground on the battlefield of our core values. All the evidence shows that this hybrid approach is more effective than simply seeking to be likable, or relying on confrontation alone.

In their effort to find the balance that Croft calls “strong and civil,” the Freedom From Religion Foundation has moved toward more personal messages, ones that offer a glimpse into a godless individual (or family) rather than some form of universal claim. Since 2007, they have purchased billboard space for messages including “Imagine No Religion,” “Beware of Dogma,” and “Thank Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief.” But their latest campaign, “Out of the Closet,” puts real names and faces together with simple statements of values or disbelief: “Atheists work to make this life heavenly,” says Dr. Stephen Uhl of Tucson on one sign. “Compassion is my religion,” says Olivia Chen, a Columbus student whose appears on another.  A recent campaign in Clarkville, Tennessee, merely shows a young woman identified as Grace beside the words, “This is what an atheist looks like.”

Atheist visibility is more than ad campaigns.  In 2009 psychologist Dale McGowan, author of Parenting Beyond Belief, launched the Foundation Beyond Belief , a tool that lets the non-religious visibly contribute to nonprofits working on education, health, human rights and the environment. Last year, the foundation add a donation category called “Challenge the Gap” that builds bridges by contributing to the work of religious groups with shared values. Hemant Mehta of “The Friendly Atheist” hosts news and commentary of interest to young nonbelievers—absent the edge that characterizes an earlier generation of blogs. He brings more humor than anger when he talks with secular student groups about outreach.  Small local groups are doing their part. Seattle Atheists dress as pirates and carry a Flying Spaghetti Monster in summer parades. But they also participate in food drives and blood drives. They hand out water during an annual marathon. The aim is not only to make themselves more visible but to show that they too are compassionate members of the community of humankind.

As nonbelievers gain recognition as normal and ethical members of society, I think we will find that confrontation diminishes and bridge building grows.  It’s not only that both are necessary but that one paves the way for the other. The Stonewall riots and San Francisco drag scene laid the foundation for Feather Boa Fathers and It Gets Better and  pride parades that include local businesses and church banners. Early feminists who stayed defiant even when beaten and jailed made way for the apple pie tactics of Moms Rising, which has stenciled messages on onesies and delivered cookies to congressmen to get their equal pay message across.  In the words of Ecclesiastes, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” The questions are in each case, to whom, how, when, and where.

Greta Christina has estimated that atheist visibility is about thirty-five years behind the gay rights movement. That sounds close. We’ll have caught up when a majority of Americans know they know a nontheist – and that friends, family members, and fellow citizens really can be good without God.

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington and the founder of Wisdom Commons. She is the author of "Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light" and "Deas and Other Imaginings." Her articles can be found at Awaypoint.Wordpress.com.

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