Ask an Atheist: Atheist Culture? (feat. Genetically Modified Skeptic) 

Drew was one of the first RU-vidrs I watch that started my deconstruction. Thanks Drew and FFRF!

Thank you FFRF!

I love the freedom from religion song!!!!!

But he loves you, and he needs your money! -- George Carlin

Keep up the good work FFRF 👌.

Atheist culture to me is a shared standard for what we accept as true and a contempt of christian privilege. I do not like spending time with people that conveniently excuse themselves from reality when it challenges their perspective.

Group think allows for easier control. Controlling atheists would be akin to herding cats.

Drew is the GOAT. His content was such great resource for me during my deconstruction from fundie christianity.

Drew's channel is definitely one of the best! I'm currently up to the 14 minute mark, talking about negative reactions against "atheist culture," and I wonder if it's related to a speculation that I'm sort of fond of. Namely, that iconoclasts are over-represented among atheists because being an iconoclast makes you more resistant to the kind of peer pressure that keeps people IN religion, and therefore it's easier for iconoclasts to deconvert or to resist the pressure to convert. Maybe? Or maybe it's all BS, and maybe iconoclast isn't even the right word, but that's what struck me while listening. I'll go back and listen to more; it's a fascinating conversation.

For those of us who are ‘baby atheists’ and coming out of fundamentalist religious worldviews, I think it’s comforting to acknowledge an ‘atheist culture’. We are still learning that it’s ok to explore different ideas. I guess that sounds weird but idk 😂

I went to an atheist coffee group today. Its a social group not a activist group and they meet up once a month just to sit around drink coffee and talk.

I was one of the dissenters when Drew posted the video, my contention being that "culture" was being described with too broad a brush, that is, it was sweeping into the concept of "culture" things that are not useful in distinguishing between atheists as a whole and non-atheists as a whole. For example, sure, a lot of us think George Carlin is funny, but so do a lot of other people and there are atheists - I am among them - who thought he was funny even before he became known as an "atheist comedian." (I even remember his "hippie-dippy weatherman" and his focus on "goofy s**t.") I don't outright reject the concept of an "atheist culture," but I do say he hasn't demonstrated there is one. I suspect he could form a stronger argument by going back though his list of 29 "features," refining them, and determining which ones can be said to be widely shared among atheists and not widely shared (or at the least not equally-widely shared) among non-atheists - noting the need to avoid being overly-specific. For example, liking certain styles of humor can be aspects of a culture, but something like "atheists like atheist jokes more than non-atheists do" is not really helpful in defining one. Put it this way: Another "feature" Drew cites is science education. Is interest in science education distinctly higher among atheists than among non-atheists? If yes, then "an interest in science education" could be said to be a part of "atheist culture." If not, then it can't. Personally, I suspect it is. But it has to be shown, not just asserted, if we want to talk about a "culture."

Thanks mate

Great episode

Great show, I love the atheist culture crossover.

Paraphrasing, "it's important that were not grouped" is a trait that can perhaps be used to group us. I suppose it's a conundrum of the proverbial "human condition."

I participate in religious naturalist culture. I seek out others whose vision of the universe is similar to mine. I learn from them . I believe they learn from me.

18:00 So deconversion is to atheism as coming out is to LGBTQ culture-different stories with a common emotional path. I never thought of it that way even though I’ve been through both. Maybe because deconversion came first for me, and coming out of Lukewarm Congretionalist Protestantism in junior high was relatively easy compared to many deconversins and to my own coming out. Both were aided by the sf novels of Samuel Delany.

The problem with the use of the word, "culture", is that it literally contains the word, "cult." Atheism has virtually nothing in common with cultism of any kind.

Great discussion!

Hardcore Atheist my whole life even though my parents tried to get me to go to Wednesday School to learn about God and Jesus all the way through from day one of going until it was over I pushed back and let people know that I am Hardcore Atheist and want nothing to do with brainwashing religion and I was only there because of my parents.

I am part of a culture? Who knew? I thought I was just someone who managed to escape from the foolishness that is Christian fundamentalism and just don’t bother thinking about it much anymore. I will admit to knowing more atheists now than I once thought were around. Just the other day I discovered that, of the five of us sitting around chatting at work, four of us had abandoned religious faith. But the four of us had no idea the other three had abandoned religious faith. In my experience most atheists don’t actually think much about being atheists. After all, I don’t think much about not being a doctor. Even when I was a fundamentalist Protestant I didn’t think much about NOT being a Catholic, Muslim, or Jewish.

If I'm going by the definition of `Culture,` as being "the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group," then no, there is no atheist culture. GMS appears to be extending a very narrow context, which would be okay, but it has the propensity to be misrepresentative.

You guys need a better director to tell people which camera is live.

So is there an atheist community in Albuquerque?

What do I have to do to get on this show? I would provide some contrary points of view. I was a self exclaimed atheist at the ripe age of 8, haven't looked back over 52 years, but would challenge the myopic thinking of the majority of atheists that lead to US being, to put it kindly, politically impotent.

As an atheist, much of the 'culture' referred to here is contemporary and of low value. Contemporary art, for example, is of such a pathetic standard when compared to historical religiously inspired art. Hitchens, for example, stressed how much he had absorbed and was versed in much of our British cultural and literary history.

GMS has been progressing towards conservative values pseudo-philosophy and wanting recognition/lifestyle he feels he deserves, and may one day make a fine conservative atheist politician..who embraces people's need [sic] for religion. Stopped watching his channel a while ago, as he gets a bit much. still love matt dillahunty after all this time.

Theirs is a culture of whining.