We Can Promote Humanism - without ridiculing religion - with Survey Results
Humanist Global Charity believes that humanism is promoted best using the guidelines below:
Explain your belief in “Naturalism” also known as “Scientific Humanism.” You believe only natural, scientific laws and forces operate and govern the structure and behavior of the universe. You do not believe in supernatural, spiritual, or religious forces, because there is no proof of their existence.
Promote Critical Thinking. Tell listeners we should question, critically analyze, and doubt any statement put before us, in our search for what is absolutely true.
Explain the ideas in the book Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles. The 10 Principles are: Dignity, Tolerance, Respect, Sharing, No Domination, No Superstition, Conservation, No War, Democracy, Education. These 10 rules provide the guideline for your thoughts and behavior.
Help unfortunate people by assisting them with their needs – provide aid to refugees, orphans, almajiri, the homeless, the sick, the injured, the poor, the depressed. This shows religious people that humanists are kind & compassionate - “good without God.”
Identify yourself as a realist, who sees prayer as a waste of time, religion as indoctrination passed from one generation to another, religious books as fictional stories, and religion as an impediment to progress.
Engage in debate on religion without insult, mockery, or ridicule. Rudeness and hostility do not resonate well with anyone, but civility and politeness does. Criticize ideas, but not the person. Use sentences like; “I understand your point, but this is how I see it.” This can smooth the ground for a calm conversation.
Do not condemn all religions. Do not expect religious people to be reasonable. Be tolerant. We cannot ask theists to tolerate humanists, if we are unwilling to tolerate theists. Peaceful coexistence regardless of ideological differences is vital. Always enhance peace, understanding, reason, and integrity.
Is Ridiculing Religion a Good Strategy to Promote Atheism? - Survey Results
This survey was conducted from May 21-24, 2020. The 84 respondents were obtained by posting the link to survey questions in the following places:
Facebook: Atheist Republic, Support Group for ex-Christians, Ex-Muslim Discussion Group, Haitian Free Thinkers, Freethinkers United for Change, Atheists in Kenya Society, Black Atheists, African Atheists, World Secular Humanists, Freethinkers Philosophical Society, Atheist Universe, Anti Religion, Spiritual Agnostic, “Religion is a Human Disease”, Red Bank Humanists, Harrow Humanists, Apostates of Islam 2, Council of Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka, Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco, Ex-Muslims of North America, United Humanists, Worcester Humanists, Coventry and Warwickshire Humanists, Humanists Africa, Humanists & Atheists of Zambia, No Gods No Masters, No Religion Too, The Atheist Experience, Atheist Ireland, Atheism United, Humanist. Association of Canada, Atheists, Secular Humanism vs. Christianity, Godless Heathens, Escape Religion - Support Group, Ex-Christians for Atheism - and perhaps 10-20 others
Reddit - /ex-muslims — /ex-christians
Twitter - Secular Humanists of Roanoke, and perhaps 10 others
Miscellaneous - perhaps 7
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Other responses: Apistevist / Pagan / Antitheist / Secular Buddhist / Nihilism / Strong Agnostic
Other responses: At best it was unnecessary and at worst it was toxic / Failure of god's power to manifest in any way / Wanting to be a Christian Witness I began to study more and found I didn’t have good reasons to continue to believe it / It never made sense / I stopped believing that it was more likely true than not / Religious claims were not convincing / Nothing made sense / I was poor / Bart Ehrman lectures and debates showed me Christianity was false / I’m a preacher’s kid It’s about $ / It was causing me so much anxiety I realized I would feel better without it / The god claims weren't validly supported / It just never made sense, after reading bible, i realised how full of crap it was! / None of it made sense / Why is Samson fact but Hercules is a myth? I grew out of fairytales / I was miserable because of my indoctrination, I was forced to read the Quran, in a language I couldn't understand and only read. Always being ridiculed for being a bad Muslim, but never praised for doing the right thing. I thought that if that is what Islam promotes and is about, I want no part in it / Contradictory / Cognitive dissonance / I can't believe it, even if I wanted to, all of the above / first thing that drove me out was abusive patriarchy (men). / Saw all the anti science requirements and lack of logic / All of the above plus inherent flaws in the scripture / All of the above / Hypocrisy of "believers", nonsensical bible stories / The final straw was when the minister that taught my catechism class insisted the Mormonism founder Joseph Smith was lying when he said God talked to him. At 12 years old, I thought, the guys that wrote the Bible were probably lying too. It's all lies. / Woke up, Did not feel right and did not make sense / Evidence plus mother falling ill / It never made any sense / It always felt fundimentally false and clearly untrue / The religious arguments didn't make sense to me / An ordained priest told me in 5th grade that heaven and hell were objective and I decided it wasn’t for me / I was always suspicious and skeptical / I Never could Believe in the Bible Myths / The priest said prayer is talk with god, when I tried it I noticed he doesn't even exist / Deep thought on the subject / I understood my thinking was plagued with biases and fallacies.
Other responses: Am not sure if it promotes atheism. It can be therapeutic / Not as a strategy but it shouldn't be avoided when needed / Yes, but it depends HOW its used more than how much / I think it should be used carefully, by reminding the believers, it’s the religion that is being ridiculed and not them. Most of us were former believers / No. I feel it is counterproductive / It does not promote Atheism but it is a morale booster and way to vent the oppressive attitudes toward Atheism / Yes, but not in a vulgar way. / Sometimes. When ridicule highlights obvious flaws / Ridicule is a tool in the toolbox to use selectively. / sparingly. Use reason and critical thinking instead. / why not? religious people have no problem in reminding atheists that we are all going to hell!! / It's fun with like-minded people, but only hardens the dogmatists. And it's off-putting to neutrals I think, unless it's genuinely witty. / It should be used on the same level religion thrusts their beliefs onto others / Ridiculed? Yes. But in a way that is also thought-provoking / I think ridiculing or criticizing religion has it's place but I prefer to promote secular humanitarian efforts and normalize atheism. Definitely advocate for separation of church and state. / It should only be used to disprove the religion. / Ridicule only those that expect more rights than others / it does not promote atheism, but it can be therapeutic. / I’m not sure it is a good method to promote atheism but it is fun / Ridicule is a valuable tool, reducing things to absurdities can show a failure in internal logic but we should try to avoid being cruel with it. / It is necessary at times in order to point out the absurdity of "faith".
Other responses: doesn't endanger all atheists but doesn't make things better anywhere / IMO making fun of people’s religion does not change their minds. It is funny though / Ridiculing religion shouldn't be used because it makes atheists look like insecure jackasses. / It can be used to amuse other atheists, but is not useful for public discourse. / It is stupid to talk trash / ridicule will never work to convince anybody of anything its just counter productive / Ridiculing religion is not productive. / Religious ridiculing should be done judiciously. / No / I believe it is counterproductive / perhaps / I do not think it is appropriate to ridicule religion among those who place value upon religion. I think it is unkind and unproductive. I can express that I do not subscribe to a religious belief without ridiculing what another person believes. / I think the UN should resolve the issue of freedom of speech being repressed / It just doesn't work, it's hard to reason with people when you start by telling them they are idiots / It is the choice of the individual but all actions have consequences. / No, but ridiculing is unhelpful regardless / It's a childish waste of time. / You don't ridicule something that seem false, you only educate those who find it hard to use logic to reason. Ridiculing religious beliefs sounds like we are competing with them for acceptance while we are not. / Ridicule is a poor strategy for advancing ones own goals. Atheism lacks an independent goal, eg humanism.
Other responses: At this point in time atheists have bad name anyway. / Ridiculing religion is useful within the atheist community but provides no really value on converting people / Atheists have given themselves a bad name without ridiculing / Atheists get a bad rep no matter what we say or do. Be brave and speak truth. / again why? thest's have no problem in reminding us atheists that we are going to hell!! and abusing us! / Only to those who are religious / It does give us a bad rep, but if we don't ridicule it, religion may never be eradicated. / Challenging and questioning yes, ridicule only oppressors / Yes. Ridicule at the expense of others creates a "mean" reputation. Religious ridiculing atheist to atheists are mean. Atheists ridiculing religious to the religious are mean. / This is a reason it SHOULD be used. / Ridiculing religion is valid and important and I really don't give a fuck about a bad reputation. / Who cares / There are far too few options here, the survey feels steered towards a conclusion.
Other responses: Generally think it's not effective. The truly religious are fanatics and will only dig in. Ridiculing religion maybe only helps those people are having serious issues with religion, but maybe feel trapped or feel they can't freely express themselves / No, when you mock religion, people buckle down and don’t hear your message / theists have no issue with insulting, abusing and reminding us that we are all going to hell! / People will leave religion on their own merits, or stay in it / Sometimes it is needed just to get people to think / It gives people the freedom and 'permission' to express themselves.
Other responses: Each person and scenario is different. / Sometimes reason works. I’ve never seen ridicule work, nor heard from an atheist that ridicule worked to convert them. The biggest way is to counter the emotional and societal reasons people need their religion / Conceding the possibility of your own error increases the likelihood of them conceding theirs. That's an essential first step. / It all depends on what effect you are going for. I think politeness is good if the effect you want is to portray atheists in a good light. / No one likes being ridiculed, but I also believe firmly entrenched Theists can be convinced anyway. / Ridicule is one of many discussion tools in an atheist’s box. To win hearts and minds people must usually feel safe. / People are going to believe what they want to, until they independently see for themselves
Other responses: No. Non dogmatically Explaining your own reasons for not believing works well. / Be good because it's the right thing, not to get points for the afterlife. / I prefer this way but need to stand up for separation of church and state. Some criticizing of religion to point out its faults. / I think being good without Religion is more polite and very convincing since most people are aware that there exists so many religions but are unaware that there exists so many gods. / it doesn't do it any harm. / Both. You should lead by example but also promote well-being through naturalistic means.
Other responses: Am not sure that I like this survey. You're basically trying to lead people to the answers you want. Not helpful if you're trying to do a real survey and obtain feedback. My answer: Yes, promoting science education will help some people to become atheists / Science and religion are not in opposition, and it is counterproductive to behave as if they are. / I don't have any interest in promoting atheism. I think science education is good for other reasons. / Depends on the forum and the person you’re talking to / There are many good reasons to promote STEM subjects, being good without god is another. Religion Must be challenged to break it’s claim of controlling morality / ALL religion should be taught, as well as scientific principles / Science education alone isn’t a better way to promote Atheism, people need to be taught about Atheism, when it started, by whom, why its important. People should also get to know some knowledge on religion and of course citing the dangers or harm religion causes on humanity / What exactly is a religionist? This survey seems to be trying to deliberately push atheists to choose either harsh answers or wishy-washy ones. This feels very contrived.
Other responses: No. The priority is free speech. The focus should not be abolishing blasphemy laws, even if it's a good outcome. / Some nations have blasphemy laws, some don't. Some enforce them, some not. This question has no universal answer. / Only in countries with such laws. All other countries needs other strategies / Blasphemy laws are blasphemous by themselves. They suggest that their god cannot take care of himself.
Other responses: This question has no universally applicable answer. / It's very important. / The UN should be utilized for this not private people, we should demand it / too few options to describe complex situations. Survey creator is steering again.
Other responses: It is only a 'better' strategy because ridiculing religion—as a strategy—sucks. / These are not either/or. Part of promoting secular schools might involve mocking what sectarian schools teach. Humor works if applied correctly. / These groups are most important, they have ideas and opinions but are too afraid to express them because religious education teaches them that God will be angry if they become blasphemous so we need to teach children that it is alright to form opinions and to express them. / Education helps remove the extreme anti science. Big thing is to teach how to determine pseudoscience from true science / Ohh tough one, i honestly don't know.
Other responses: Every person should find their own best strategy, then collaborate with others
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Additional comments posted on Reddit Ex-Muslim
from AvoriazInSummer
Ridicule and critique are both tools with different applications. Keep the audience in mind.
Ridiculing religion is a shock tactic that can sway a group of non-believers better as it draws their attention quickly and effectively to the bizarre, morally bankrupt and illogical aspects of it. But care should still be taken to use truthful arguments and remain credible.
Constructive critique is good for people who are interested in joining or leaving the religion. They have an open mind for your argument, but outright insulting the faith will turn them off.
Committed Muslims will not be receptive to either. For them there’s techniques like street epistemology that can more gently introduce other modes of thinking.
from Joylar7
Neither logic or ridicule help
Best persuasion is through emotion
And the best work is to do nothing at all
People don’t respond well to facing info they didn’t voluntarily look for
from MrSteelar
Ridiculing is not effective, because it adds emotion to the conversation. Even watching atheists debate religious people and they start by saying 'I grew up' or 'how stupid do you have to be to seriously believe in this' its super off putting because its not a strong argument.
from rafay19
I think it just makes people double down when their views are ridiculed. If you just politely tell them the problems you see in their beliefs, they will probably be more inclined to listen to what you have to say.