Atheist Republic recently released its first book, Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God, by Armin Navabi. With everything AR releases to the public, we expect negative reactions. None of us is a stranger to angry responses on the simple basis that we don’t believe in god. And we’re ok with this. We are strong, outspoken advocates for the right of an individual to speak his/her mind.
This comment is a bit of a different breed however.
Atheists and other freethinkers often lift themselves up as bastions of rational expression and engagement with the world. The reality is that theists and atheists alike sometimes do not do the best job at separating beliefs and individuals. Some atheists don’t just hate Islam as a religion, they hate Muslims. Some atheists aren’t just angry about the abuses committed within Christianity and excused by their theology, they respond hatefully toward Christian individuals. Atheist Republic believes that all peaceful people, no matter how deluded or wrong we think they are, deserve a life of peace and happiness. Freedom from religion and dogma should always encourage us to rid ourselves of tribalism, not help us find new ways to hate others based on religious association. We also believe it’s important to separate religion and culture, and the individual from the whole.
Having said that, Jason and Joshua from the comments above, don't seem to understand that someone who is an ex-Muslim is not a Muslim and someone who is from Iran is not automatically a Muslim. This should have been obvious given the book’s title. Rejecting everything that comes out of the middle east as somehow “Islamic” and hence untrustworthy, hampers our efforts to reach out to atheists and skeptics in these areas.
We are attempting to grow a community of atheists that cares about others and seeks to share an atheism that is not built on tropes, cliches, and stereotypes. We will always fight against injustice done in the name of religion and we will unashamedly call out religion when it is the guiding force behind abuses against secular society. But we do not ever want to encourage hateful engagement with individuals.
If you want to see some of the faces and voices behind Atheist Republic, we encourage you to watch our weekly Google Hangout that airs on Sundays at 9 AM, PST. You can find the hangout link through our Google+ page or you can watch the hangouts on our YouTube channel any time.
In addition to Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God, in the coming months, Atheist Republic will be helping other authors publish and promote their written works. We hope you will check out these books and support them by spreading the word!
What topics would you like us to discuss in our hangouts? What kinds of books do you think would be useful to atheists? Let us know by replying to this newsletter.
