Atheist Projects

[Squid]

I've been tossing out this idea here and there and I figured I'd give you guys the low-down too.  The basic idea is this - get a bunch of atheists from all over the internet and in real life to work together on a large project upon a certain subject (such as addressing the "Xmas is a Christian holiday" thing or something similar).

Here's what I posted over at my site's MySpace (HERE) profile:

At the Atheist Coalition, we've come up with the idea of having large, atheist community involved projects. These projects would center around one topic that the participants choose. The participants would then set to work on doing scholarly research upon that subject to create a scholarly work of substantial size and information. The project could also include links to other websites, flash games, power point presentations, flash presentations, interactive websites, music and videos and anything else the participants can come up with that will add to and aid the project. All participants will be recognized once the project is reviewed and finished. If you're interested in the project and would like to contribute, e-mail us through MySpace or e-mail us at solidsquid (at) atheistcoalition.com. Don't forget to replace the (at) with the "@" symbol.

This project would be something I'd look to possibly have included in places like the AN Wiki, the Secular Web and something that can be used by atheist groups all over.

So, whaddya think?  Possible or am I just dreaming too big?

[Asmodean Prime]

Yeah, I think maybe you are dreaming too big, Squid.  Christians have always accepted that Christmas was not based on a Christian holiday, nor are half of the customs rooted in Christian tradition.  What's wrong, though, with Christians taking a pagan holiday, where people used to worship pagan 'gods', and turning it to their advantage, to worship their God?  If, for example, a pagan group uses say, a building to worship pagan deities, why shouldn't we overtake it and use it to worship the Christian God?

And yeah, you do have way too much time of your hands

[Squid]

It was just an example off the top of my head.  The projects could be on many different things.

[iplaw]

Why don't you band together and do something that will create positive change for society rather than dividing people and widening the societal gaps between atheist groups and theistic groups.  Theistic groups spend a lot of time and money giving to worthy causes I.E. Feed the Children, Habitat for Humanity and the list goes on.  I know athesits give to worthy causes, but I don't know an atheist "group" which does.

Why don't you use the collective power of the net to get atheists together to do something that will affect the world and the less fortunate.  I personally would love to serve the less fortunate side by side with atheists or theists.  Maybe it would help both sides to stop painting false portraits of one another and understand the other side better at the same time we are helping build a better world.

[Squid]

So basically you're saying "bad idea".  Gotchya.

[MommaSquid]

Squid, don't listen to the xtian naysayers.  Rock on with your bad self!  

I'm not sure about the "scholarly" aspect of the idea, but atheists do need to have a more active role in the community.  Hiding in cyberspace isn't going to help xtians see that we're not devil worshipping weirdoes.

Maybe it would help both sides to stop painting false portraits of one another…

It doesn't help matters when our President doesn't think we should even be recognized as citizens.

[Big Mac]

Or patriots for that matter. Who's he to call good citizens who did stints in the military unpatriotic? Not that he is worthy to touch their combat boots.

[Whitney]

I sent Squid a pm on his forum so he'd know we don't think it's a terrible idea:

These were my suggestions:

A good topic would be atheists in foxholes.  We could contact every known atheist forum and get a list of atheists (and probably agnostics too)  in the military who are willing to have their information and maybe even a picture used in a video showing that there are atheists in foxholes.  It wouldn't necessarily be scholarly, but we could release the video on various places like googlevideo and youtube.

For a scolarly work, something on the founding fathers which explains why the USA is not founded on Christianity would be a great topic.  Also, since ID is a big thing for theists right now, something easy for them to understand (maybe another video) that explains evolution and why ID shouldn't be in the science classroom would be a good project.  I've had a theist ask me for a video that explains that sort of thing before (without big words...) but can't seem to find anything for free.

As far as atheist chartiy groups go, they already exist as secular charity groups.  I think it would be better to help those that already exist rather than try to create one of our own.

[Aullios]

To be honest... I would have to agree with iplaw here.  Start by doing obviously charitable things.  Work on erasing the idea that atheists are bad people, as many Christians believe.  You won't make much of a statement by rediculing them (as much as I believe they deserve it.)

[iplaw]

Exactly Squid.  Make things happen in the atheist community.  Just use your numbers for affecting positive change for everyone not just atheists.

[iplaw]

MommaSquid.

Do yourself and atheists a favor and stop being so myopic.  I obviously specifically made that statement reciprocal for a reason.  Do you really think you're going to garner support by being militant and reinforcing the biases the majority already has against atheists.

Hmmm.  The majority sees atheists as angry, god-hating nihilists who don't deserve a seat at the table so I'm going to make things better by being angry, divisive, condescending and smug; yeah, that's a way to get people to really listen to you.

[Big Mac]

Maybe if you Cross huggers weren't so close-minded and violent, we would take offense. I can't hate something that doesn't exist. It's like hating Superman, Luke Skywalker (well he is a pussy), and Santa Claus. It's not as if many people are listening to you anyway. Tex.

[iplaw]

As far as atheist chartiy groups go, they already exist as secular charity groups.

It's all about marketing and branding ladies and gentlemen.  Atheists can either participate anonymously within the system or they can make a name for themselves and affect change in the name of atheism.  I know which one sounds better to me from a PR standpoint.

[Court]

From the scholarly aspect, I would suggest a layman's terms, simple introduction to evolution. You wouldn't believe the lack of education on that subject. My mother still thinks it says we evolved from monkeys. And she's 39. Honestly, I think it would be a fabulous idea, as long as it wasn't christian-bashing. It would be a way to make evolution and its evidence crystal clear to the common man.

At the same time, you could make a charitable foundation connected to the project. Kill two birds with one stone...

[MommaSquid]

MommaSquid.
Do yourself and atheists a favor and ....

How about this:  you keep your opinions about my character to yourself and I’ll stop telling you that Christianity borrowed ideas from other religions.  


Laetusatheos, I like your ideas.  If memory serves, we have two guys on this forum who would qualify for this project.  I have an agnostic/atheist cousin who was in the Army.  If this project goes in that direction I’ll contact him.  He’s not a compliant sort of guy, but I guess that runs in the family.

Court, I also like your idea.  

Link

However, it must be stressed that humans did not evolve from living chimpanzees. Rather, our species and chimpanzees are both the descendants of a common ancestor that was distinct from other African apes. This common ancestor is thought to have existed in the Pliocene between 5 and 8 million years ago…

Don’t forget to point out that the earth is more than a few thousand years old.