Internationalism
Greta Christina has begun a list of non-pallid atheists, which makes it a global list of atheists, which makes it a list with a lot of friends on it.
Leo Igwe is on it. Kenan Malik is on it. Maryam Namazie is on it. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is on it. Homa Arjomand is on it. Friends and contributors.
The more global B&W is, the happier I am.
So you’re not offering any further names? Boooo. In comments on Greta’s post, I was excited to learn of the existence of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (“Maharashtra Blind faith Eradication Committee”—ha ha!). I’m going to be in that area of India late this year, and if I’m lucky maybe they’ll be holding some kind of interesting event I could attend. I’ve never seen an atheist-group event outside of North America….
Rieux – have a look at the Indian Atheists community (http://indianatheists.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/IndianAtheists). There are meetups (not that frequent, yet) in most of the Indian metros now. If you leave a note on the fb page around the time you’re in the area, I’m guessing you will find people who want to meet up. Atheists here tend to be very isolated, and we usually jump at the opportunity to meet another atheist.
Nice to see more women atheists too, and good to see atheists beginning to unite both locally and globally.
great news! hope we´ll start paying attention to south america as well (im from argentina). unfortunately i could only be described as “palid”. meh, ill be of use for something next time
Thanks, Sunil. I’m going to be in Goa around (hint, hint) Christmas. Any guesses as to whether Indian Atheists does anything in Goa? Not knowing anything about IA, the notion seems to me unlikely, India being such a big place and Goa such a small and out-of-the-way part of it. The main reason I find MANS exciting is that it specifically mentions Goa as part of its territory.
I’m not at all certain that I’m going to be able to attend any Indian atheist event, anyway. During my Christmastime visit I’ll be at the (at least logistical) mercy of my heavily Catholic in-laws, who were scandalized enough when they learned through the grapevine that their niece/cousin/etc. was marrying a Protestant. (Which would have been an accurate report if she’d married me when I was 16 rather than 30.) The full horror might be too much for some family members, such as Uncle Priest and Aunt Nun, to bear—and it might not be a great idea to tempt fate on that point when I’m 8,000 miles from home. So it’s a month in the closet for me!
I would have thought that Catholic prejudice against marrying Protestants was something of the distant past. I never had any religious issues from my Irish catholic family despite marrying a muslim, divorcing her, and then marrying a buddhist! They know I’m an atheist and that’s no problem either.
As for Uncle priest and Aunt nun, I’m afraid you might be in for some trouble, not because they think you are protestant (Catholic priests love ‘talking shop’ with other Christians) but because you will have to put up with Catholic argument tactics. This basically involves holding two contradictory positions in your head at the same time and jumping back and forth between them during a discussion so no matter what point of evidence is brought up you are never wrong footed.
“It’s a metaphor”.
“It’s literally true”.
“It’s merely talking figuratively about something transcendant”.
“It’s an undeniable historical fact”
The verb to denote such theological hopping back and forth is “bunting” – as in “Is Madelaine bunting again?”
Sigmund, I’m afraid you haven’t been around too many Catholic clergy in Goa. Not to put too fine a point on it, but “distant past” is precisely where their theological ideas (plenty of the laity’s, too) reside. Irish Catholicism can’t hold a candle to the Goan variety.
Upon learning of our engagement, Aunt Nun wrote my wife a ten-page handwritten letter warning her of the immense danger of marrying a Protestant. I’ve met her and Uncle Priest once already, during my previous trip to Goa (and the closet); they’re not really the jolly-theological-discussion type. I’m afraid there’s no risk of their wasting energy arguing that anything whatsoever is a “metaphor.”
Rieux, no I did offer further names, but I offered them to Greta directly. I was supposed to do that before she published the list, and I meant to, but I got caught up with other things and dropped the ball. I’m always dropping the ball. That ball spends way more time on the floor than in my hands.
Meera Nanda, for one; Sara Mohammad, for another.
Hey Diego – if you have South Americans in mind, send them to Greta! And to me, if you like.
Oh, I was kidding, Ophelia. No offense intended.
None taken.
Rieux, that doesn’t sound much like modern Irish clergy. It does, however, remind me of the behavior by a member of the Filipino clergy I met last year at the house of a friend of my wife and indeed, there was zero talk about metaphors. Adam and Eve were real people and the Fall (talking snake and all) was a historical event. I was dragged out of there by my wife before I went gnuclear.
I think our wives have something in common, Sigmund. Mine isn’t exactly eager to put me in the same room with that uncle and aunt. (Given that letter she received, who can blame her?)
And I love “gnuclear.”