Punching Above Your Weight

Who influences whom? How big does a minority be to have a public voice? Plainly some groups acquire visibility and power out of all proportion to their numbers. Obvious examples include the Irish and Jewish communities. Who gives a fig about the huge German slice of the USA population - never mind the Serbs, Armenians, etc? Even the gruesome collection of Irish gangsters and terrorists who seem to have no problems accessing the White House for photocalls with the President have only a tiny organisation behind them - albeit they are backed by plenty of money derived from drug dealing and other racketeering.

I was fascinated to see the figures quoted for the main British atheist organisations - the British Humanist Association, the Rationalist Press Association and the National Secular Society have a few thousand members each out of a population of 60 million plus. Even the poor old Church of England, in its present diminished and fragmented state, boasts anywhere from 900,000 to 1,700,000 "regular" worshipers - depending on which figure you believe and how you define "regular". Catholic and Muslim communities similarly outnumber the atheists. Even the smaller Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist communities dwarf the card-carrying atheists. Yet, the militant atheists are granted regular access to Parliamentary committees formulating public policy and future legislation.

From one viewpoint it is bizarre that such atheist organisations even exist. If you are a tennis player or a stamp collecting enthusiast you may join a club of like minded people. If you have no interest in such pursuits, you don't join a society of non-tennis players or one devoted to denouncing the evils of stamp collecting. As organisations inspired mainly by opposition to something else, atheist groups inevitably have problems attracting people for positive reasons.

Purely rationalist ethical and philosophical theories about how to lead a Good Life are utterly abstract and bloodless constructions with zero popular appeal. There is no such thing as a "non-practising" atheist. Admittedly in the late 19th century there were "Ethical Societies" which held quasi-religious meetings in London for non-believers in an age of widespread church attendance. These were forerunners of the present-day atheist movements. But most run of the mill modern British atheists seem content to wander through life in a state of non-belief without seeking formal attachment to any atheist club.

It is hardly surprising that the professional atheists end up adopting some ludicrous positions in opposition to Christian organisations, even those with the most marginal Christian influence. My favorite recent example was the campaign about the Scouts' oath mentioning God. The ever wickedly funny Bryan Appleyard (I recommend his demolition job on Princess Diana) had huge fun putting the boot in. See Oh Grow Up!

After all, if the atheists want a world wide atheist youth movement, there's nothing to stop them putting their money where their mouth is and doing just that, rather than bullying an organisation which had Christian foundations. Admittedly the history of non-Christian youth groups is not encouraging: the Hitler Youth, the Communist Pioneers, the Red Guards...all crumbled to dust like a vampire at dawn.