"Positive Atheism" Groups Flower on College Campuses
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- DeliaTheArtist
- added this
"Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with "socialist."
Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.
"A lot of people on campus either don't know we exist or are afraid of us or hate us," says Bodnar, president of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. "People assume we're rabble-rousing, when we're one of the gentlest groups on campus."
As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.
At Iowa State, most of the club's roughly 30 members are "former" somethings, mostly Christians. Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason.
"The goal," said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, "should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers."
"This is not a group of angry atheists. It's a group of very exuberant atheists," said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos, a secular humanist and well-known Biblical scholar who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. "Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It's more live and let live."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9145342
Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.
"A lot of people on campus either don't know we exist or are afraid of us or hate us," says Bodnar, president of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. "People assume we're rabble-rousing, when we're one of the gentlest groups on campus."
As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.
At Iowa State, most of the club's roughly 30 members are "former" somethings, mostly Christians. Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason.
"The goal," said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, "should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers."
"This is not a group of angry atheists. It's a group of very exuberant atheists," said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos, a secular humanist and well-known Biblical scholar who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. "Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It's more live and let live."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=9145342
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- Community, Culture, Current Tonight, Science, 6 more
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sugarlilly
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i'll turn over in my grave if pepperdine, my alma mater, ever allowed such a thing. they currently deny the pepperdine gay group any university recognition on an annual basis.
- 2 years ago
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sugarlilly
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tangibleparadox
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fantastic! :D
- 2 years ago
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tangibleparadox
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samthesixth
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That is cool. Atheists tend to get labeled as being against things.
- 2 years ago
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samthesixth
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annazoe
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I've never met a positive atheist...
- 2 years ago
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annazoe
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DeliaTheArtist
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annazoe:
How many atheists have you met? I think that's the point of groups like the one they are starting, to get rid of the angry/self righteous stereotype that surrounds atheism.
- 2 years ago
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DeliaTheArtist
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artemis6
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Sounds like fun . Good for them .
- 2 years ago
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artemis6
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InformedTexan
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Positivity in any sense is real and good. Any group sharing common understandings can accomplish more together. This is very cool and an indication that people are becoming more comfortable in their own skin and with others.
- 2 years ago
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InformedTexan
