Organized Religion and the Politics of a Pandemic

As much as Joe Biden and many of us on the political left wish this was not the case, the sad fact is that wearing face masks has been politicized in the United States. In fact, the entire COVID-19 pandemic has been politicized in the sense that whether you believe it is happening and how serious it is are closely related to your political orientation. How did we get here? Religious belief certainly seems to have paved the way. After all, believing things that do not reflect reality because they make us feel better is something organized religions have been actively promoting for some time. Still, this tendency to distort reality to conform with our desires probably predates organized religion.

In our modern politically polarized times, it is probably easier and more appealing to many liberals to point the finger at conservative media (e.g., Fox News) and how the Republican Party has devolved since Ronald Reagan. It is easy to understand the appeal of this because it is fairly recent history, and we can pinpoint some of the noteworthy developments. For example, we might point to George W. Bush as an early turning point where our country chose ignorance and mediocracy. Or we might instead point to John McCain's horribly misguided selection of Sarah Palin and insist that this was the moment when everything changed. As tempting as this sort of thing is, I suspect it is too easy. These moments were significant, but I think that is mostly because they reflected how the United States had been changing for some time.

Reasonable Atheists Inspire Me and I'd Like to See More of Them

Every so often, I find myself wrestling with the following question: "What kind of person do I want to be?" It seems like a strange thing to occupy the mind of someone who has been an adult for some time. I mean, don't most people sort this sort of thing out in their youth? I guess I thought I did too, but that hasn't stopped it from coming back periodically over the years. I think that what has made it come back lately has something to do with my online interactions with other atheists as well as what I have observed from other atheists on social media.

When I see atheists being reasonable, kind to others, demonstrating patience in their interactions with religious believers who say stupid things, and expressing themselves in thoughtful ways, I immediately feel drawn to them. These are the sort of people I want to interact with, and I wish there were more of them. This has helped me to realize that I want to be more reasonable, kinder, more patient, and express myself more thoughtfully. I want to cultivate more of the attributes I admire and appreciate it others. At the same time, I don't see nearly enough of this. I seem to encounter more atheists who behave in unreasonable ways, are hostile to others, who are quick to condemn those with whom they disagree, and who express themselves in ways that few would characterize as thoughtful (e.g., name-calling). These are not the sort of people with whom I want to interact, but they have helped me realize that I don't want to be like them. I suppose that has been valuable too.

Moving Past Toxic Division to Create a New Future

I was wrong, and I am damn glad to be wrong! As much as I had hoped to see the Democratic Party learn something from their loss in 2016, I don't think that happened. I think that "the resistance" may deserve some of the credit, but I'd have to give most of the credit for Joe Biden's win to the COVID-19 pandemic and how Donald Trump approached it. Regardless, I think the far more important question now is about how we fix the mess in which we find ourselves, a mess Trump made worse but did not create. Now that a slim majority of voters appear to have gotten what they wanted, what now?

I believe that the United States has a number of challenges ahead and that these are not limited to those caused or exacerbated by Trump. I also believe that many of these challenges are so great that we are not going to be able to solve them without coming together and making the "united" part of United States mean something it has not meant for a long time, if ever. That means that one of our tasks, though certainly not the only one, is going to be one of putting all of this destructive tribalism and polarization behind us. Our future depends on it. And since we have never been free of this stuff, I am thinking of it in terms of a "new future" rather than some return to a past state that has never existed.

Where are the Atheist Women?

Many atheist blogs periodically address the subject of dating. Not surprisingly, some atheists are interested in dating too. Even less surprisingly, many atheists living in predominately religious countries find dating to be a bit of a challenge, although this should be expected to vary greatly depending on where one lives within the predominately religious country. Some religious believers still regard atheists as something less-than-human, and this can make for some interesting first dates. I imagine this is why some atheists have resorted to online dating.

In my travels around the online atheist community, I have noticed that there seems to be a perception among many atheist men that there is a shortage of atheist women. "Where are the atheist women?" Is the atheist community really a "sausage fest," as some claim? And if so, why might that be the case? Perhaps the shortage of atheist women is only imagined. Or maybe it real but highly context-dependent.