Secular hypocrisy
Ian | 10 May, 2009 | 17:18No, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Secular humanists in New Orleans recently got a Day of Reason proclaimed by their city council.
Is it just me, or does anyone else see a minor bit of hypocrisy in getting civic governments to endorse your worldview while complaining about when they endorse the religious ones?
Sure, a “Day of Reason” may be mostly secular, or a-religious, but when the chair of the secular humanists there calls for the following:
Why can’t any atheist organization with a City Council at least ask for something like this?
You have to stop and catch yourself.
Yes, atheists, humanists, and secularists want religion out of government, but we cannot become hypocritical and instill our own values on governance.
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Don’t think it’s so much hypocritical as silly. Although I do see your point in another sense. I don’t appreciate anyone imposing their day on me, secularists or not.
But is it really an imposition or is it just recognition?
I would agree with you had they tried to make it an “Atheism Day” or (to a lesser extent) “Secularism Day”. This doesn’t seem to be forcing values on anyone.
Just because an secular humanist organization promoted it, and is encouraging other atheist/secular humanist organizations to do the same, does not make it an atheist day.
I have to agree with you. I was very happy to enjoy my little life of Atheist freedom and not really get too vocal about it. I’m gay, so feeling that way comes naturally to me.
I spend enough time fighting the big religion machine as a gay man without bringing up the question of god, or intelligent design (still the biggest oxymoron I’ve heard to date), and it all comes down to faith, for them.
I can relate all the empirical experience and knowledge I want and no matter what I say, someone who has never really read the bible will quote it and say I am wrong and that’s all they need to know. Because what I do looks like faith to them.
As long as we stick to our guns and not bother celebrating our lack of faith, we don’t fall into the cult trap. We don’t really to celebrate our lack of faith, knowledge needs no celebration.
Why is it hypocritical? If you believe in extending reason’s sway over human affairs, stand up and say it, support a reason day and oppose days that promote or recognize non-reason. It’s not hypocritical – it’s your position. Presumably, you support reason…for a reason…one of which is that non-reason’s influence is negative and that reason has some sort of universal, foundational status. Reason and non-reason/religion are not epistemic equivalents, so there’s no hypocrisy in supporting a reason day and opposing officially sanctioned or supported religious days.