# Atheists at the door **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124 "2013-06-04T16:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/21 "2013-06-04T19:56:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > In many places, probably the same way atheist clubs in high schools are treated - [often not well.](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/02/atheists-group-takes-on-high-school-/1#.Ua5Br4FIqAk) Where I live there would be no problem, but I suspect in some places they’d drag out obscure laws and claim that atheist solicitors weren’t covered by the First Amendment. Or else have cops hassle them. Are religious clubs treated the same way in some schools? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/22 "2013-06-04T20:03:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think the OP wants to hear your thoughts on how the general public would react to a more active atheist movement. There’s already an atheist movement. The general public has reacted with a yawn and a shrug, outside of certain internet message boards. If it became more active, the general public would probably continue reacting with a yawn and a shrug. Why think otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/23 "2013-06-04T20:12:04Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > There’s already an atheist movement. The general public has reacted with a yawn and a shrug, outside of certain internet message boards. If it became more active, the general public would probably continue reacting with a yawn and a shrug. Why think otherwise? Because there really hasn’t been any atheist “movement” to speak of, and yet atheism is looked on with disdain by many in the public sector. You seem to think that an actual activist movement that reached out to the public the same way a lot of religions do wouldn’t cause much of a negative reaction, and I’m wondering if that is the general consensus here. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/24 "2013-06-04T20:21:28Z")
I don’t really know what I would do as an atheist activist. Actively not believe in god? Inform other people that I don’t believe in god? Ask them not to believe in god? I get that a lot of people are virulently opposed to atheism and it would be good for society if people could be publicly atheist without getting death threats. I don’t think a door-knocking movement is the way to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/25 "2013-06-04T20:26:35Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I don’t really know what I would do as an atheist activist. Actively not believe in god? Inform other people that I don’t believe in god? Ask them not to believe in god? > > I get that a lot of people are virulently opposed to atheism and it would be good for society if people could be publicly atheist without getting death threats. I don’t think a door-knocking movement is the way to do that. I’m not asking if it would be a good idea(because I don’t think it would be)-I’m asking what the public reaction would be to it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/26 "2013-06-04T20:27:32Z")
I go out of my way _not_ to convince others to join me in atheism. The meetings are crowded as it is; last week I was elbowed upside my head during the orgy and the week prior we ran out of honey. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/27 "2013-06-04T20:35:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m not asking if it would be a good idea(because I don’t think it would be)-I’m asking what the public reaction would be to it. Not really much of one. As it happens, while the precise scenario you envision hasn’t occurred (so far as I know), other situations similar situations have. (I have in mind the atheist bus ads.) What happened, and what we can suppose would continue to happen, is that the media covered it in one of their “Quirky News” segments, and a handful of people complained, and the bus companies said, “Well, the ads get to stay up.” Not much grist for one’s fantasies of persecution, I know. I suppose the door-to-door aspect would get residents to start suggesting “no solicitation” ordinances be passed and enforced more vigilantly, not because of the content of the solicitation, but to put the kibosh on groups (of any kind) thinking that this was a viable way of getting a (any) message out into the public consciousness. ETA: I don’t know that the video is particularly reliable in this case, as most people tend to feel that having stranger’s record them itself is a bit of aggression, so that element likely contributed to excess hostility that would otherwise be absent in the scenario you posit. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/28 "2013-06-04T20:36:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m not asking if it would be a good idea(because I don’t think it would be)-I’m asking what the public reaction would be to it. Did you watch the video that hotflungwok linked too? I imagine that this would be the average response…though I loved the old guy that swung the rake at the guys. 😛 But this was in the heart of Mormonism, so, again, it’s going to depend on where you do it. I imagine that in most places in the US you’d get the same reaction you’d get if you tried to sell a new security system…or were a Mormon coming in at 8 am on a Saturday. Like I said earlier, the only way to really know would be to go and try for yourself. Get a buddy, dress up nicely, and then see what happens if you go door to door. Please have someone with a video camera film it all, and post a link to this thread to let us know how it goes. I think a lot of us would be interested in seeing if some old guy with a rake decides you are really bugging him with your sermon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/29 "2013-06-04T20:37:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Because there really hasn’t been any atheist “movement” to speak of, The article that Voyager linked to mentions an organization of atheists. It has 200 chapters on college campuses and 50 in high schools. There are other such organizations. Looks like a movement to me. > [@](#): > > and yet atheism is looked on with disdain by many in the public sector. I’m certainly aware of some in the public sector [who](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/116680-organized-religion-is-a-sham-and-a-crutch-for-weak-minded) look on religion with disdain. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/30 "2013-06-04T20:40:57Z")
Here in Virginia there would probably be an uproar to ban door-to-door atheists, to stop their ‘war on Christians.’ It might even pass, if I know my state. Muslims, as someone already mentioned, would probably get it worse than atheists though. Maybe they could team up and do a ‘there are alternatives to Christianity’ drive. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/31 "2013-06-04T20:56:59Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > You and most everyone else. I think our OP wants to hear that people would be WAY more up in arms about atheists doing something when in reality people pretty much despise anyone who tries to go door-to-door with just about anything. I’m reminded of [the Onion article about Marilyn Manson going door to door trying to shock people](http://www.theonion.com/articles/marilyn-manson-now-going-doortodoor-trying-to-shoc,459/). ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/32 "2013-06-04T21:07:36Z")
Yeah, it’s amazing how some atheists are so wrapped up in this fictional narrative that their existence provokes shock, anger, and violent oppression from Christians. The truth is that atheists are free to say and do what they want in the USA or any other country with a Christian majority. In Muslim countries, on the other hand, … ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/33 "2013-06-04T21:13:50Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The article that Voyager linked to mentions an organization of atheists. It has 200 chapters on college campuses and 50 in high schools. There are other such organizations. Looks like a movement to me. > I’m certainly aware of some in the public sector [who](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/116680-organized-religion-is-a-sham-and-a-crutch-for-weak-minded) look on religion with disdain. Yep-Jesse Ventura is certainly a well-respected public leader that represents what his state thinks about atheism. Y’know, I’m not really in the mood to play “Who can find the stupidest person with an opposing view and put them forward as an official representative”…that would be more of a BBQ Pit thread. I got that you don’t think there would be a great deal made of a more activist atheism movement, and I haven’t really contradicted you. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/34 "2013-06-04T21:16:52Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Yeah, it’s amazing how some atheists are so wrapped up in this fictional narrative that their existence provokes shock, anger, and violent oppression from Christians. The truth is that atheists are free to say and do what they want in the USA or any other country with a Christian majority. Who exactly in this thread are you [(over)reacting to? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/35 "2013-06-04T21:21:41Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I don’t really know what I would do as an atheist activist. Actively not believe in god? Inform other people that I don’t believe in god? Ask them not to believe in god? > > I get that a lot of people are virulently opposed to atheism and it would be good for society if people could be publicly atheist without getting death threats. I don’t think a door-knocking movement is the way to do that. What do you mean by saying you’re “an atheist activist”? Not making fun of you or anything, just honestly curious. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/36 "2013-06-04T21:22:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are religious clubs treated the same way in some schools? If they were, O’Reilly would be in orbit. I think I’ve heard of cases where support for normal clubs was stopped to avoid allowing a gay support club to meet, but I don’t recall hearing anything like that for religious clubs. I live in a district which used to have an atheist congressman, and religious clubs were fine here. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/37 "2013-06-04T21:24:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Who exactly in this thread are you reacting to? Posts 2, 15, and 30, for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/38 "2013-06-04T21:28:34Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I’m certainly aware of some in the public sector [who](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/116680-organized-religion-is-a-sham-and-a-crutch-for-weak-minded) look on religion with disdain. Yeah, that well know statesman and career politician Jesse Ventura. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/39 "2013-06-04T21:32:00Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > What do you mean by saying you’re “an atheist activist”? > > Not making fun of you or anything, just honestly curious. I can’t speak for **Inner Stickler** but I thought s/he was saying he/she is **not** an atheist activist and wouldn’t really know how to go about being one. The idea is that the OP is speculating about how a more activist atheist element in society would interact with the larger culture, and **Inner Stickler** doesn’t really see how atheists would be “activist” in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124/40 "2013-06-04T21:38:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think the OP wants to hear your thoughts on how the general public would react to a more active atheist movement…but that’s just my opinion. Then perhaps the OP could first explain what he meant by the claim that communities were “accepting” of door-to-door evangelists from the Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses. Anyway, I think most people would probably assume this was a joke or that the person doing this was trying to piss them off the way the Australian guy in the linked video was. In most cases they’d probably get what Mormon and Jehovah’s Witnesses get. A “no thanks, I’m not interested” followed by a slammed door if they persisted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-at-the-door/660124.md?page=3)