Happy Atheist Forum

Hello All I am working on a project and i am looking to get the Top 10 or more reasons why we Atheists organize. Feel free to post 1 or more reasons why, Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Well, one good reason is that we might not trust theist politicians to look after the interests of atheists.

Theists use church and the voting booth to organize.  
Atheists have no such platform.  I feel that there are millions of closet atheists out there, who are too afraid of personal and professional ridicule to make their lack of belief known.  Sadly, polls have proven that admitting one is an atheist is political suicide...the irony makes me squirm, but then sad.  We need Thomas Jefferson 2.0, and we need to vote our own people in.

Maybe I have been missing out.  Do atheists actually get together in real life to discuss things?

Quote from: "DropLogic"Maybe I have been missing out.  Do atheists actually get together in real life to discuss things?

Yes they do, There are hundreds if not thousands of meet up groups out there across the world. I am apart of several meet up groups in my area.  

If you are looking for a meet up group near you Try  http://www.meetup.com/

Many thanks for the tip!

A shared interest.
Shared outrage.
Shared hope.
Shared humour.

Support for those damaged by religion.
Plot and scheme to have minions of Satan rule all nations, bwa ha ha ha.

Quote from: "DropLogic"Do atheists actually get together in real life to discuss things?

Why would you think they don't when they already like to get together and discuss things in all sorts of spots all over the net?

wow I have gotten some really great responses so far thank you all for giving your input.

Quote from: "Whitney"

Quote from: "DropLogic"Do atheists actually get together in real life to discuss things?

Why would you think they don't when they already like to get together and discuss things in all sorts of spots all over the net?

The net is a wonderful medium for anonymous communication; a place without fear of backlash in personal and professional life.  I happen to live in one of the most religious/zealous parts of the country.  I live 4 miles from a city with the most religious centers per sq mile than anywhere on planet Earth.  Some might say, "So move asshole."  Life is not as simple as we wish.  
I was invited to an after work party shortly after asking my wife to marry me.  One of the dept heads, my boss, and his boss the director of my dept, had been made aware of my then recent engagement.  They said their congratulations, and then proceeded to ask me if I was excited to move in with my wife after the wedding.  
With a bit of hesitation I explained that we had lived together since college, ~6 years up to that point.  
All three were taken aback for a moment.  I could see my director searching for a polite way to satisfy his confusion at this development.  He simply asked what church I went to, to which I replied, "none".  
Since that day almost two years ago, I have not received a raise.  I have been passed over for promotion twice, and I was recently moved to another department altogether.  If I appear gun shy to making my lack of belief public knowledge, this is one of a few reasons.

Quote from: "DropLogic"

Quote from: "Whitney"

Quote from: "DropLogic"Do atheists actually get together in real life to discuss things?

Why would you think they don't when they already like to get together and discuss things in all sorts of spots all over the net?

The net is a wonderful medium for anonymous communication; a place without fear of backlash in personal and professional life.  I happen to live in one of the most religious/zealous parts of the country.  I live 4 miles from a city with the most religious centers per sq mile than anywhere on planet Earth.  Some might say, "So move asshole."  Life is not as simple as we wish.  
I was invited to an after work party shortly after asking my wife to marry me.  One of the dept heads, my boss, and his boss the director of my dept, had been made aware of my then recent engagement.  They said their congratulations, and then proceeded to ask me if I was excited to move in with my wife after the wedding.  
With a bit of hesitation I explained that we had lived together since college, ~6 years up to that point.  
All three were taken aback for a moment.  I could see my director searching for a polite way to satisfy his confusion at this development.  He simply asked what church I went to, to which I replied, "none".  
Since that day almost two years ago, I have not received a raise.  I have been passed over for promotion twice, and I was recently moved to another department altogether.  If I appear gun shy to making my lack of belief public knowledge, this is one of a few reasons.

 

So I gotta ask, are you really an atheist? I ask becasue we get many students doings "studies" or "Projects" however they have always been Theists before usually Christians. Now if you are not an Atheist thats fine I'd just rather not be lied to. We like all kinds here however we have just had issues with theists doing similar "projects" in the past usually they have trouble following the rule and end up ruining it for everyone who has the same IP adress.

To answer your question (partialy) there are many Atheist groups for many reasons however the VAST majority aren't part of any Atheist related group at all. In fact organisingAtheists has often been compared with herding cats. It's  very difficult to get most people to want to be a part of a group or get enthused for a group that is the equivilent of a "Santa isn't real club", or "Unicorns are make believe group".

If you are an Atheist welcome and I'm sorry for the akward question I'm a bit skeptical about posts like yours been burned to many times by people whowant to evangakise or tell me I'm going to suffer becasue I think for myself. In this case at worst Ive offended you at best made myself seem foolish.

If however you are a Christian (or other theist) welcome however, lying for Christ....really? Think that's what he would have wanted? You could at least live by the "good" rules as long as your using that book to tell right from wrong.

My $.02...and then some.

Quote from: "Tanker"So I gotta ask, are you really an atheist? I ask becasue we get many students doings "studies" or "Projects" however they have always been Theists before usually Christians. Now if you are not an Atheist thats fine I'd just rather not be lied to. We like all kinds here however we have just had issues with theists doing similar "projects" in the past usually they have trouble following the rule and end up ruining it for everyone who has the same IP adress.

To answer your question (partialy) there are many Atheist groups for many reasons however the VAST majority aren't part of any Atheist related group at all. In fact organisingAtheists has often been compared with herding cats. It's  very difficult to get most people to want to be a part of a group or get enthused for a group that is the equivilent of a "Santa isn't real club", or "Unicorns are make believe group".

If you are an Atheist welcome and I'm sorry for the akward question I'm a bit skeptical about posts like yours been burned to many times by people whowant to evangakise or tell me I'm going to suffer becasue I think for myself. In this case at worst Ive offended you at best made myself seem foolish.

If however you are a Christian (or other theist) welcome however, lying for Christ....really? Think that's what he would have wanted? You could at least live by the "good" rules as long as your using that book to tell right from wrong.

My $.02...and then some.

No I am definitively an Atheist I even got my Own Facebook Page to prove it http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/The-evolved-Atheist/115838668458057?ref=mf . I completely understand and your post made me laugh so thanks for that. I am working on a power point for A theist Friend of mine that got me pissed off after a debate we were having. He is the typical I am a strong believer in god(the Jewish one) But I don't follow any of my beliefs and there must be a god because how else could we have gotten here. Ya That Guy!!!

So I asked him if he would like to learn about Atheists and Atheism Because I said he clearly knew nothing about either And his persistent ignorant arguments were irritating. Here is one and I Quote "Atheists is a Religion". So I have been Working on this project for a few days now and just wanted to get some material directly form the source so here I am. The Power point is Titled "A" Theists Guided to understanding Atheists And Atheism, When it is done I will post it here and If anyone is interested I could use a proofread in the meantime.

If it helps, here is what we came up with for theists who visit HAF:

For Theists What is an Atheist: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=830 (http://www.happyatheistforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=830)

Theists: Guidelines for a smooth discussion:  viewtopic.php?f=2&t=92 (http://www.happyatheistforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=92)

If any of it is helpful I don't mind if you copy it since it's for personal use; most of it is borrowed from elsewhere anyway.

We organize so that we don't feel alone.  Now we just need to hold meetings, maybe on Wednesdays to be original

Quote from: "SerpentKiller"We organize so that we don't feel alone.  Now we just need to hold meetings, maybe on Wednesdays to be original

wednesday is no good for me.

I thought about it a little.

...and I can't think of a reason to organize.

all of the reasons religious people get together just to be around each other are all the reasons we don't.

we don't care about comparing who has the best suit or the biggest hat.

it doesn't cost ten percent of our income or any sort of donations to be one of us, so we don't get together for that.

we don't think everybody who's one of us needs to learn our favorite songs so we don't need a choir.

we don't talk to an invisible man in the sky, so we don't need to get together to do that.

we don't have a class system, from pastors to ministers or rabis or deacons or elders or whatever so we don't hang out and tell them how awesome they are in a massive stroke-fest

ya know what?

we should start our own football leauge.

I would def' meet up with you guys to toss the pigskin around.

Our local freethought/atheist groups get together to socialize since for many it is not possible to safely/comfortably speak openly if they were to go join a random dinner club (for instance).  And when I say speak openly I don't just mean about being an atheist; freethinkers tend to just be more open minded and able to rationally approach topics so it also is a safe place for almost any discussion to happen without it becoming an emotional argument.  

Many people also enjoy a local atheist book club which focuses on books which would not be selected if one were to join a book club at random; like the god delusion and other books which are critical of religion.

The organization where I'm Operations Director (Fellowship of Freethought) has the following mission statement:

QuoteTo create a positive impact on our shared world, our mission is to provide a community that values and promotes a freethinking life unencumbered by the biases of tradition, dogma, and authority and that encourages people to live a reason and evidence-based life characterized by close fellowship, ethical contemplation, critical thinking, community service, and the appreciation of scientific knowledge and understanding of the universe and our place in it.

And as many speakers said at this last weekend's Texas Freethougth Convention; if we ever want to be accepted in society at large we need to be out of the closet and we need to find some way to organize to dispel common negative stereotypes.

I would also say that humans simply have a natural tendency to seek out like minded individuals as friends and having organized ways of doing so tends to extend from this natural desire...why do LGBTs organize?  They don't have any of the reasons to get together that a religion does yet they find benefit in numbers.

I haven't seen much in the way of atheist organization, not compared to any of the major religions in America.

Quote from: "TheWilliam"I thought about it a little.

...and I can't think of a reason to organize.

I don't know what you mean by organize, or organise for that matter.
Talking to people with ugly prejudices makes me tired.
Visiting HAF is about as organised as I get.
For me organisation means talking to people I don't want to hit on the head with a brick.
I have never hit anyone on the head with a brick.

Quote from: "The Magic Pudding"I have never hit anyone on the head with a brick.

That's a very specific set of modifiers there.

It's tough not being yourself all the time.

At work, I'm a boss, so I have to be careful. Many of my employees are clearly non-believers, but others are believers. I have to tread carefully there.

At home, my wife is very tolerant of my worldview, but doesn't really want to talk about it. Her mother lives with us, and has very strong opinions the other way. We don't discuss it.

My older daughter is definitely leaning toward non-belief, and while I encourage gently, I don't want to push. I want her to find her own way.

And just this week my best friend revealed to me that he'd had a vision and was now a Christian. He was my one outlet for honest spewing of my frustrations. Now that's gone.

Like it or not, we evolved as social creatures, and we need some sort of outlet or we explode.

How's that?

Quote from: "ablprop"Like it or not, we evolved as social creatures, and we need some sort of outlet or we explode.

How's that?

Amen