As that survey abt right-wing authoritarianism has been going around, I’ve been... really dismayed by the number of people I’ve seen saying that they probably scored higher than they should because they don’t think atheists are better than religious people/don’t think religion is inherently bad.
The test doesn’t imply either of those things anywhere. It has a question that asks whether atheists are “just as good” as “people who regularly attend church,” and one that mentions abolition of school prayer as an example of fighting for free speech. (Which it is, considering the context is not “ban all religious expression at schools” but “schools shouldn’t force their students to practice Xtianity,” ‘cause they fucking do that here in the US.)
The fact that I keep seeing people interpreting “Being an atheist doesn’t make you immoral” as “All religion is bad/atheists are better than theists” is deeply concerning. Not to mention the times that I’ve felt pressured by agnostic satanists and pagans to identify as just agnostic instead, even though it’s inaccurate, because they have a stereotyped view of atheism that I don’t fit, or they think it’s hubristic to have an opinion. (I am agnostic - an /agnostic atheist/. Almost all atheists are technically agnostic atheists because it doesn’t actually mean “has no opinion.” But people think it does, so I don’t call myself that.) At the same time there’s such a blunt unwillingness to understand young religions from atheists who are not religious, and as a religious atheist I feel exhausted and othered by both crowds.
Please do not clown on my personal post about my personal experiences & alienation from both atheists and agnostic or theistic pagans, please and thanks.