Does Atheism need a symbol? (anto scarlet A thread)
Posted on: August 30, 2008 - 8:06pm
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Does Atheism need a symbol? (anto scarlet A thread)
Does anyone here seriously believe atheism needs a symbol? Like the "scarlet A". Seeing as atheism is only merely not believing in God, and any Tom Dick and Douche Bag can be one. Do I really want to be under the same banner as all the atheists out there who believe in unicorns and psi balls? What about a symbol for atheist skeptics? Like a scarlet "AS"? But that would be too close to "ASS". Which would be a good thing, because asses rule.
For the record, I hate the Scarlet A. It's pants, and so is the one on PZ Meyers' blog that looks like a star treck symbol.
Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.
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Joking aside, symbols are a part of what we do. Xainity chose the cross partly as a rebelion against the Romans style of brutal execution and intimidation. A perfect symbol of anything, for everyone, is of course impossible. Heck , the cross shouts atheism to me, as does E=Mc squared, and a picture of the sun. ETC.
Atheism Books.
Atheism does not need a symbol. It's not "a thing" as much as it is "a lack of a thing", for one. More importantly, in and of itself it's not a movement or a cause.
But, a movement to make atheism "mainstream" or a movement to protect the rights of the non-belivers-in-god(s) will find a symbol useful, even important. Whatever it takes to be recognised at a glance.
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
Here ya go, a symbol,
*
Atheism Books.
Do you mean that represents SOMETHING? Or to identify each other? If it's the later, I think we might have a few, other than that, I'm not totally sure why we'd need one. However, I'm open to the possibilities.
god -- I tried you on for size.... you were a little long in the crotch, loose in the waist, short in the length and you made my butt look extra flat. I had to take you back for an exchange.
RRS
How about:
^[Aa].*[Zz]$
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
I can idenify with that , A thru Z, all there is.
Hey, that was a star, hun, yeah you knew, you fun thing ....
Atheism Books.
How about
? Or make it 'reality'?
why the hell would atheism need a symbol? isnt that a religion thing? lulz
a symbol for atheism? no
a symbol for scepticism and naturalism? yes. I'd like to design one, but my design skills are more tailered towards the picture in my avatar. perhaps the invisible pink unicorn could suffice in the mean time?
When god gives you lemons you FIND A NEW GOD 1 Thessalonians 5:21
<My art> <not my art><MS>
Oh, there's already plenty of symbols out there to choose from. Since atheists are only defined as a group by their shared disbelief in god I would think that finding one symbol upon which a majority would settle would be... difficult. I don't care for symbols so I find the search, if there is one, unimportant.
BigUniverse wrote,
"Well the things that happen less often are more likely to be the result of the supper natural. A thing like loosing my keys in the morning is not likely supper natural, but finding a thousand dollars or meeting a celebrity might be."
I guess that would make every sports team a religion, along with most businesses, tv channels, etc.
How's about one of those " Calvin peeing" things, with him urinating on a cross or the word god or something?
You could have a "Calvin peeing" sticker urinating on a "Calvin praying" sticker.
Yeah, and if we could have Cal just kneeling with head bowed, instead of hands clasped together, why then, he could be holding a bible in one hand and a cross in the other.
Plenty of pee to go around.
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
I like having a symbol as a universal, simple statement. But people tend to interpret atheism as a religion for some strange reason, even though it is simply lack of religion. A symbol might muddle it further. I do like the Darwin fish, though.
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby
It's because religious peoples can't help but to classify atheism as a religion. It is a philosophy regarding belief in God. The fact that the philosophy can be summed up in "don't believe in-" is beside the point. It just makes it easier for them to comprehend if they put a name tag on it that doesn't scare them.
Atheism does not need a symbol. That is probably the last thing it needs. Some unifying mark to blame everything on.
Like it was said before, an action, a movement, that's what will and does need a symbol.
This discussion illustrates the biggest obstacle Atheists face in actually doing something about the religious fanaticism we all hate. We are a pretty damn big minority which should have considerable political power, more even than the Jews have. We should have enough to keep religious nutbags like Sarah Palin (Dominionist, creationist, end times nightmare.) out of the white house. But we won't excersize that power in any cohesive way (I'm not talking about simply voting, not all of us will even bother to do that anyway.) We should have had the power to keep W out of office with his 100+ white house employees straight from Pat Robertson U., or at least made sure he didn't get a second term. We didn't. Why didn't we? Because we use the old fall-back of "the only thing we have in common is minus x" instead of coming together to keep the extremists from gaining power. This is our crutch. We don't have to actually get off our asses if we don't want to and organize as long as we lean on our crutch. Instead of always focusing on the fact that we only need have this one small thing in common to be Atheist, focus on the views most of us share as a result of our Atheism. Example: Is there anyone here that doesn't agree that Sarah Palin would be a certifyable nightmare for us, if Mccain got elected and kicked the bucket? Is there anyone who doesn't agree that the religious right is a huge danger? People, if we don't come together, us Americans will end up in a Theocracy, and the entire world will suffer from it. We should assume that. Hell one could argue very effectively that it is already happening.
Focus on organizing against this crap, we have more than enough stroke to combat it, but we make excuses. I mean what's it going to take to get us together... Republican presidential nominee John HAGEE???? We should pick a goddamned symbol already (pun intended)
Personally I like the Atom with the A in the middle.
"They always say the same thing; 'But evolution is only a theory!!' Which is true, I guess, and it's good they say that I think, it gives you hope that they feel the same about the theory of Gravity and they might just float the f**k away."
I agree, "we" should unite and fight against the things you mentioned. The problem is that atheism is not a platform, it is a neutral point. There are wonderful organizations out there that don't contain the word "atheist". If we want to do some good we should join them.
http://www.aclu.org/
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer
http://www.democrats.org/index.html
A symbol that people wear who claim to be atheist won't help. It will really just give more opportunity for wild flakes to make atheism look like a mad religion.
This is a tough one for me, but I don't think symbols that advertize atheism hurt more than help. A universal symbol is not so much needed, but most all that says we exist is good. How about a symbol for truth, or knowledge. Umm, damn, the letter T looks like a cross.
Any hoot, slogans are cool. A's for truth, A's for knowledge, A's for peace , happiness, and shit, even A's for god!!!, is a personal favorite, that gets my friends thinking.
Lot's of, A's for jesus, for buddha ..... A's for common sense, then A's against , lies, the devil, hell, superstition, dogma, etc ....
Atheism Books.
My wife wears a thumb ring as a way to let other women know that she digs chicks. It works.
I don't know about any of you, but I get really jazzed when I meet another atheist...the laughs come easy and the conversations are usually terrific. Having a natural aversion to religious and political topics in a social setting, it's sometimes difficult to know whether you share a rational philosophy with someone you're talking with about aluminimn siding, or whether you are hoping to engage in carnal knowledge.
Christians and Jews can spot each other from across the mall with those crosses and stars...they can engage one another in the joys of guilt and sorrow....bundle of laughs that they are. I don't know the answer...but considering how I would love to garrotte most people I meet to death with piano wire... I'd love an easier way to spot an active brain.
www.RichWoodsBlog.com
How's about one of those "
Submitted by Lefty13 on September 5, 2008 - 11:00pm.How's about one of those " Calvin peeing" things, with him urinating on a cross or the word god or something?
This immediately made me think of a sticker with PZ Myers peeing on a eucharist
How about tattoing 666 on the hand?
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
I really like the Darwin fish, although it only refers to the creationist/evolution "debate".
Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first.
It's a valid point Rich.
We should make a habit of wearing FSM hats or IPU shirts... that kind of thing. So that we can be identified as atheist (or at least irreverant) if that's what we want.
Still, to me, this is more appropriate. I really hope that an atheist symbol doesn't catch on. I LOVE the mock religions FSM and IPU because they give me an outlet and a good laugh. I don't, however, condone identifying marks for the neutral state of non-belief. Do as you will, of course, but I think giving atheism a universal symbol will be at attempt at making it a movement. Atheism is not a movement. It is the natural state of being. If we dress it up like a religion it will eventually be mistaken for one (hell, it already is!).
And for the long term I think this will do much more harm than good.
I actually agree with you Marcus. The symbol thing would probably become bastardized over time in some way. It's probably best that we continue to identify each other by our attention spans, dental work, and through proper usage of noun/verb/noun configuration.
www.RichWoodsBlog.com