Glenn Beck: Pluralism is a competition!

According to Raw Story, Glenn Beck says that “forces of spiritual darkness” (at CNN) arranged to have Wolf Blitzer ask an atheist tornado survivor if she thanked the Lord for sparing her life. The question was just part of a plan to give atheism more airtime, you see. And of course if that's how the atheists are going to be play, well, Beck wants Christians to fight back by showing that they can out-do us in the nice department:

Beck insisted that he liked atheists, but Christians needed to prove that they were better.

“Have I done anything this week, have you done anything that would make anyone say, ‘Wow, what is it about them? I want to be like that. I want to be able to provide hope to others in dark times,’” the radio host said. “If you haven’t done anything different than what an atheist can do this week then your light is not shining very bright at all.”

(Emphasis mine.) Beck's inducement to Christians to prove they are better than atheists is ludicrous... but it sounds even more ridiculous if you trade the terms "atheists" and "Christians" for any pairing that puts mainstream Christianity in the position of underdog, and gives the place of privilege to any other worldview:

Sonja Eggerickx insists that she likes Christians, but says Humanists need to prove that they are superior.

Miroslav Gavrilović insists that he likes Christians, but says the Catholics of the Serbian Orthodox church need to prove that they are superior.

Zachary Bos insists that he likes Christians, but says the secular citizens of Massachusetts need to prove that they are superior. 

Hey, I like that last one! Let's see how much further we can take it:

“Have I done anything this week, have you done anything that would make anyone say, ‘Wow, what is it about those Atheists? I want to be like that. I want to be able to provide compassion and reason to others in dark times,’” Zachary Bos continued. “If you haven’t done anything different than what a theist can do this week then your Atheism is not shining very bright at all.”

I like this game; it is both easy and subversive. Let's keep doing it! Here's how:

1. Find a piece of sectarian writing that is blind to the privilege of its position
2. Swap the privileged identity with the underprivileged identity
3. Share with friends

What do we call this? #tradingprivilege? #POVswap? #flipthebias? 

Looking for Newton atheists!

From the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts:

There's an event coming up -- the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast -- that the SCMA would like to use as an occasion to talk with various civic leaders about inclusion and SOCAS. If you are a Newton resident who'd be willing to talk with the SCMA about participating in our effort to engage the Mayor's office over this issue, please let us know: massachusetts@secular.org.  

In light of the potential fallout from coming forward as an atheist representative or activist, let us assure you that discretion will be afforded you, as well as anonymity if you require it.

Boston atheists needed to engage mayoral candidates on secular issues!

From the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts:

With the various mayoral candidates' forums coming up, the SCMA would like to know who in Boston would be willing to serve as resident representatives of the local nontheist community. We're going to want to ask the candidates how they intend to represent all Bostonians -- including nontheists -- if they are elected. 

If you are a Boston resident, please let us know if you'd like to be part of the team that puts these questions out there. In light of the potential fallout from coming forward as an atheist representative or activist, let us assure you that discretion will be afforded you, as well as anonymity if you require it. 

Contact: massachusetts@secular.org.

Psychiatrist loses license after diagnosing "evil spirits"

From the Religion Clause blog:

As reported by the Boston Globe, on May 8 the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine suspended the medical license of psychiatrist Raymond W. Kam, saying that his conduct in treating a 16-year old patient last year called into question his competence to practice medicine. Kam last year had already signed a voluntary agreement not to practice medicine. Kam, a Boston Children's Hospital psychiatrist, became convinced that the patient was being hurt by "evil spiritual entities." Kam gave the girl a cross to wear in exchange for a different religious symbol she had on. After the girl was discharged from the hospital, Kam, who had withdrawn from the girl's treatment team, obtained permission from the girl's father to act as her spiritual mentor, taking her to his church and exchanging text messages with her. When the girl was kicked out of her house, Kam offered to let her stay at his house on several occasions. He failed to report to authorities an incident in which the girl's mother pushed her down a flight of stairs and tried to asphyxiate her.  

The state Board also reprimanded a second psychiatrist who had failed to report the girl's abuse to authorities. Kam could regain his license next year if he completes a psychiatric evaluation and enters a 5-year probation agreement.

BA member Gabe McDonald writes:

There far too many instances where faith healing and religious practices are doled out in lieu of modern medical therapy. It is especially unfortunate when such non-treatments are protected by law. Here is a good example of what the repercussions should be.

Gingrich: MA gay marriage 'outlaws' Catholic doctrine

From an article by Zack Ford at Thinkprogress:

In an appearance on Meet The Press this weekend, Newt Gingrich reiterated a claim he’s made many times before that Massachusetts’s legalization of marriage equality discriminated against the Catholic Church’s ability to provide adoption services. In this particular appearance, he offered his most exaggerated description of what happened when Catholic Charities in Boston closed its adoption services, claiming that the state “outlawed” Catholic doctrine. 

The essential point of Gingrich's argument: "It is impossible for the Catholic Church to have an adoption service in Massachusetts that follows Catholic doctrine." The essential point of the rebuttal, as put forward by Ford: "Catholic Charities could continue to operate, but if it wants to continue receiving state funding, it has to comply with state laws."

As elsewhere, the supposed cultural conflict between secularization (equal protect and privilege under the law for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation) and religion (here, the Roman Catholic church and one of its charitable initiatives) is a product of misrepresentation rather than irreconcilable values.

Mike Sullivan: Bombing attack a "horrific, cowardly and godless" act

Former United States Attorney Michael Sullivan, a current Republican candidate for US Senate from Massachusetts, told MassLive.com on Tuesday that the Boston bombing was a "horrific, cowardly and godless" act. Thank you to Hemant Mehta for alerting us to the story.

A Secular Coalition for Massachusetts representative spoke with staff in Sullivan's campaign office earlier today, and explained that we'd like to think the candidate failed to realize how his words deepened the hurt of those of us who actually are godless as well as patriotic, ethical, and hurting.

We asked if someone could get back in touch with us by close of business, and emphasized that we're eager to give the candidate the benefit of the doubt. This is hopefully a careless injury, rather than an expression of prejudice, and if that's so it can be remedied with good will, an educational conversation, and a heartfelt apology.

Staffer Bill Rivers told us that the campaign is shut down in light of the today's police activity, and that he doesn't know how long it would take for "a decision" to be made or for that decision to be communicated to us. We'll keep you posted.

How do YOU feel about this comment, and the attitudes it reflects? Let Mike Sullivan know, on Twitter: @MikeSullivanMA. Tag @BostonAtheists and @SecularMass so everyone in our community can join the conversation and lend their perspective.

This is what we tweeted from the Boston Atheists account:

@MikeSullivanMA, we're concerned you don't know how your comment about Monday's 'horrific, cowardly and godless' attack deepens our hurt.

The Secular Coalition for Massachusetts is also alert to the situation:

@MikeSullivanMA Please don't associate nontheism with terrorism. The godless people of MA are hurt and grieving too.

Humanist asks: "Am I not a resident of this city?"

From a Patheos post by James Croft, a Research and Education Fellow at the Humanist Community at Harvard:

At times such as this, when a spirit of solidarity and mutual support is essential, it is critical that any publicly-sanctioned expression of grief, any public ritual to heal the psychic wounds of terror, be completely inclusive of all people. Any public response which privileges one religious view above any other, or which excludes anybody due to their beliefs, could add insult to injury, making them feel other, not part of the society which is struggling to put itself together again. [. . .] there is no excuse – no excuse whatsoever - for the divisive, exclusive, and insulting “interfaith” service which President Obama today attended alongside the dignitaries of Boston at Holy Cross Cathedral. The program is almost exclusively Christian, with nods given to Jewish and Muslim representatives. All the readings are from the Judeo-Christian tradition. There are prayers aplenty. The Processional is Praise to the Lord, Almighty. 

I am not one of those atheists who is allergic to religion. In fact I often find religious ceremonies moving and powerful. Often, I am happy to attend. But this is a publicly-sanctioned, widely-reported service advertised by the State as “an opportunity for the community to come together in the wake of the tragic events at the Boston Marathon”. It is being attended by the Governor and the President himself. It is the symbolic response to the attacks: the seal of the state adorns the program, and the service is called “Healing Our City”. Yet it completely excludes many Bostonians: those who are not religious, and those whose religions are not represented in the program. This is not a service I would choose to attend even given my love of ritual and ceremony, and my deep need to process what has just happened: I wouldn’t feel safe there. I wouldn’t feel respected. Nothing on that program speaks to me, makes me feel I’m wanted as part of this society. Am I not a resident of this city? Am I to be denied healing?

On why we couldn't have been invited to the Boston Marathon interfaith service

A statement from Josiah Van Vliet, President of the Boston Atheists:

This week a secular event in a very secular city was visited by a terrible human tragedy. And in response to this nationally significant event a service was coordinated; a service where the representatives of many different belief systems would be given the chance to speak to their own people and on behalf of their perspective. At this service the non-theistic perspective was not given voice. And I think it is our responsibility to fix what made this outcome inevitable.

It should be noted that the representatives of the secular perspective did every bit of outreach they could have to get us a seat at the table. I know personally several of the people who worked on this and there is no additional amount of leg work that could have made a difference. What we (as non-theists) needed was to have had different relationship with the country at large. And there are two things that I think we need in place for next time.

First we need to have a creed that outsiders can understand. I mean creed here like mission statement, not an object of faith. We need a few sentences that sound nice that can be “what we are about”. These few sentences would be public relations and not gospel. It would be important to get them right, to have them be something that we feel comfortable supporting, but not something that needed to be perfect. It would serve as the greeting card from atheism to the country; something to help us introducing ourselves to people who still just think that we are satanic communists.

Secondly we need representatives. We need people that our community has endorsed, who speak for us and to us in times of tragedy and celebration. Again we can’t wait for the perfect person who everyone got along with about everything, but someone to say what many of us are thinking, so that we can feel that we are heard. These representatives would not be telling the world what we as individuals think, we the represented would not be obliged to agree with, believe, or follow what is said. But like having a politician you voted for speak, they would be our stand in for the public conversation

Having such a public persona and publicly understood mission statement would have made our representation at the upcoming interfaith service possible. Without establishing our public presence in a “day in day out” way, any time we want to be included is going to look like a shocking introduction that will make our inclusion about us “suddenly” being included. We need to be talked about as just another identity of Americans in an ongoing basis so that people get used to us being out and proud. And having a recognizable secular persona who isn’t known for confrontation would make that person’s inclusion in an interfaith service make sense. Someone needs to be out there talking about our community’s perspective in a way that gives us voice without making us look like bomb throwers. Hitchens, Dawkins and Harris are great and have done great things for the Atheist position, but I’m not sure they have done much good for the atheist community.

We have enough debaters; I think we need a communicator.

So what I am suggesting here is that we start to put ourselves forward in a positive way. I am not saying that we forcibly retire Dawkins, or cease to criticize where criticism is necessary. Just that we also start to engage with the majority of our country, which is religious. Religions and religious people are here to stay, but so are we. And when tragedy strikes, it would help if we were already seen as the important part of the American fabric that we already are.

Boston secular groups join community response to tragedy

From http://bostonatheists.org/news. 

Boston’s nontheists have been working to help those affected in Monday’s bomb attack. The Secular Coalition for America, the Boston Atheists, and the HumanistCommunity at Harvard are local sponsors of a secular fundraising effort with the group the We Are Atheism, which has raised over $20,000 to assist victims. $10,000 of this money has already been pledged to the One Boston Fund.

Members of the Harvard Humanists have additionally played a lead role in raising over $140,000 for a fund to help two individuals with ties to their community who suffered severe injuries.

Josiah Van Vliet, President of the Boston Atheists, said “I want to reach out to all those who do not have a church or a pastor, to tell them: You are not alone, and that there are others like you out here. We are also upset, and scared. Although your viewpoint may not be expressed at a prayer vigil, it is one that it shared and sympathized with throughout the country.”

Georgina Capetillo, Boston Atheists Director of Diversity, agreed. “In the wake of tragedy, it’s important that atheists be included in a positive way. We are all part of one community, and we sympathize with the victims of the attacks no less than any Americans.”

Scott Romanowski is an organizer with the Atheists of Greater Lowell, one of the partner organizations of the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts. He said, “In tragedies like this all Americans, secular or not, come together to help each other. We can work to prevent such violence, we must also be ready to respond in a unified way when our community suffers a tragedy like this.

“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and to all of those affected by this senseless act of violence,” said Edwina Rogers, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America, of which the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts is a state chapter.

Plans are being made for a secular memorial service—a gathering for those disinclined to attend an event organized under a religious or inter-faith banner—to take place in Boston this weekend. An announcement with the time and location will be posted to Secular Coalition for Massachusetts social media pages.

Local interfaith efforts profiled in HuffPo

From an article by Jaweed Kaleem, profiling a few of the ways Boston's ethical communities are responding variously to the Monday attack, with prayer vigils, special services, fundraising, and so on: B

In Boston, home to some of the nation's oldest churches and one where a stroll on any given street block often includes passing historic Protestant congregations, churches have also reported opening for shelter to house displaced residents or out-of-towners visiting for the marathon, as well announced plans to offer counseling. The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center has said it has relief volunteers and counselors available, while Temple Israel of Boston, a Jewish congregation, will also open Tuesday for a prayer vigil. 

The Boston Atheists and the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts have also voiced their support for victims, saying that although "prayer isn’t for us an option," differences in religious beliefs "pale in comparison to what brings us all together as members of the community."

"Victim in bomb attack humbled by ‘raw humanity’"

A small bit of uplifting testimony, from an article in the Boston Herald quoting a victim of Monday's bombing:

“Raw humanity at the core has the ability to be kind and helpful if we would just let it” [...] 

Erickson was lucky to have not one, but two guardian angels on her side. A woman at the Mandarin Hotel comforted Erickson until medics were able to get her to treatment. That woman later texted a touching message. 

“Helping me, helped her, and it was just amazing,” said Erickson. “That happened all over and it’s very humbling. It’s very humbling, and I hope we all can learn from this.”

#ActForBoston

In order to help facilitate the participation of our members in the larger community response, we are encouraging Twitter users to use hashtags like #ActForBoston rather than #PrayForBoston. We're further more emphasizing the need to set aside divisive topics so that we can all focus on the matter at hand: the need to act in solidarity, and with compassion, to react constructively to this act of senseless violence.