Is Atheism Only for the Upper Class? Socioeconomic Differences Among the Religiously Unaffiliated

[BainsBane]

9. It's certainly is a 1st word phenomenon

Obviously there is no single atheism like there is no single Christianity or Islam, but some of the most ardent atheists I have encountered seem particularly dismissive of any culture or practice that differs from their own. They condemn others, particularly outside the US, while showing no capacity to critique injustice wrought by our own imperialism, both military and cultural. Of course Many religious followers do the same. Those who do so embody exactly what I despise about most organized religion: the idea that they are superior to others based on their relationship with belief or disbelief. All, probably not even most, atheists don't think or behave that way, but some do. I personally see no difference between that and the intolerance displayed by adherents of different religions.

I come from a family where we were taught never to speak ill of another person's religion. In the early 20th century, my grandfather, a Catholic, forbid any religious intolerance to be voiced in his house. While I do not attend religious services of any kind, I took that lesson to heart. I don't care what religion a person practices or doesn't practice. What I care about are particular political positions someone takes. I care how that person treats others, and I judge them as individuals, not because I ascribe a certain set of beliefs to anyone I might associate with that group of believers or non-believers. So I suspect the problem is not really atheism at all but the cultural ethnocentrism that characterizes so many in the United States and Britain. People simply evoke different justifications for their own sense of cultural superiority.