Wednesday 21 December 2016

Anti-Atheist Bigotry In Modern Day Society

Muslims are bad people...........now what is wrong with that term. Its a vast generalization of a demographic made up of millions of different individuals based on prejudice and ignorance. I haven't met every Muslim in the world therefore who am I to define them as a whole ??. I cannot and for the most part most logical, rational people would agree with me.

However Anti-atheist bigotry is a an issue which is rarely discussed or even addressed. This is very interesting to me because if we are to contrast the prejudices and hate speech directed at atheists in comparison to other belief systems it is clear that there is a disparity in the outrage against it. If for instance an individual argues that 'all Muslims are savages' the majority of people would stand up and berate the individual for being ignorant and Islamophobic, similar reactions also occur with other religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism etc.

However, Atheism doesn't seem to have this sort of societal protection, The very term Atheism is sort of seen as a dirty word synonymous with immorality and heathenism, in fact during the 2016 presidential campaigns, Bernie Sanders whom is culturally Jewish but philosophically Agnostic Atheist, was attacked numerous times due to his beliefs or lack there of and it was shocking to me because it was done so nonchalantly. lets flip it, had Bernie Sanders came out and started criticizing for instance Ted Cruz because of his devout christian faith he would of definitely been demonized and berated by national media and he wouldn't of stood a chance. Its this double standard that aggravates me, its as if Atheists are seen by default as morally inferior. Whats interesting however is the fact that whether or Not you are a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or any of the other 1000s of religions that exist in the world today, you are also an atheist. A christian is Atheist to the Muslim faith, A Muslim is atheist to the christian faith, so on and so forth. But all of a sudden if you choose to not believe in any of these religions you're a bad person.

I bring this issue up not only to bring awareness and challenge your thought process but to also help those who are atheist but live in much less tolerant countries. for example did you know that as of 2015, 19 countries punish their citizens for apostasy which if you didn't know is the abandonment or renunciation of a religious belief , and in 13 of these countries, apostasy is punishable by death. That is insane to me, because i make a conscious decisions to place my trust in science, technology and tangible, testable, verifiable data rather than religious scripture and a so called almighty deity, i deserve to die ??. What makes this even crazier is the fact that the same people inn-acting and carrying out these punishments genuinely believe that they hold the moral high ground. Now who is to blame for this. Whether you like it or not the blame lies in religious scripture because there in lies the messages that indoctrinate people into believing that without faith you cannot be a good person. In fact a study in the USA showed that devout religious individuals believe that atheists are as untrustworthy as RAPISTS. This clearly highlights just how misconstrued atheism is. Just because my moral compass and lifestyle choices are determined by societal interaction, rational thought and critical thinking does't make me a bad person, in  fact i would argue that as an atheist I have a higher potential of being a good person than my religious counterparts because my mental framework doesn't promote conflict with others whereas religions do. For example if you look around the world today and look at the different wars, human rights violations, terrorist attack and civilian killings by totalitarian regimes. it can all be traced back to religious faith for example the Syrian Civil war, although largely influenced by proxy wars and geopolitics between USA, Russia and other global superpowers, it is the conflict between the varying Islamic denominations that fuels the hate and violence on the ground and it can be argued that without this influence, this war would of never even begun. Obviously the Syrian conflict is largely complex with a plethora of varying contributing factors however religion still plays a major role. 

I do not intend to offend anyone who is religious. i believe in individual freedoms and liberty so if being a Christian, Muslim or a Jew makes you happy then go ahead you have every right to, I just want atheists to be shown the same courtesy and intellectual respect because currently this isn't the case. Feel free to discuss this topic further with me as i would be very interested to hear your opinions. I can be reached via Twitter @RonaldTalks1 or simply leave a comment below. Stay tuned, Stay woke. 

Sunday 18 December 2016

RonaldTalks. An introduction.

Hello,

My Name is Ronald and welcome to my blog. In a world where corporations value profit over people, where unarmed black men are shot everyday by same officers meant to serve and protect them, where the worlds top 1% hold more wealth than the bottom 50% it is crucial for those of us able, to rise up and push for change through diplomacy, rational discourse and cooperation. This blog was created in order to address and provide information concerning the issues challenging the world today. This includes but is not limited to Race Relations in western society, Institutional racism, Income inequality, gender inequality, religious conflict and climate change among others.  I hope that through this blog I can provide information and enlighten people on issues they would otherwise not hear about or be misinformed about by mainstream media. I am by no means a decorated Academic however that is something I aspire to be. I hope to one day work as a independent journalist or for a NGO with the same goals and views as myself. I would work as a hired journalist also so long as it was a reputable organisation such as Vice News or the TYT network.

Key thinkers that have shaped my mode of thinking include Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchins, J.S Mill, Jawaharlal Nehru, MLK and Karl Marx among others. I believe as conscious beings we have a duty to maintain and improve the standard of living as best we can while we're here in order to ensure the safety and betterment of future generations. I am currently an international Relations and Politics Undergraduate with a background in Sociology, Psychology and Human Geography. All views are my own,  if you disagree  feel free to provide counter arguments as I believe open dialogue and rational debate are  key components to expanding ones mind. This is my first post and serves more as an introduction, and foundation for what i hope to achieve in the future.  I aim to post here as often as possible, aiming at 3-5 days a week depending on my academic responsibilities. Stay tuned, Stay Woke.