There's a schism among atheists. Should we be nice or rude? Are we suffragettes or poseurs?
But seriously, athiests are just inconsequential. Sure, people hate us, but not enough to go around beating us up.
The FBI's Hate Crime Stats show some interesting patterns with respect to crimes based on religious bias.
From 1995 to 2005 Jews remain the biggest target of religion-based hate crimes across the US. Muslims started to get attacked after 2001. But athiests are way down at the bottom chugging along at under 1% of total attacks every year--with raw numbers that vary between 1 and 5.
I like being an atheist. I tend towards being a meanie. But c'mon, we're not being persecuted.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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4 comments:
You seem to have discovered an affinity for charts and graphs.
Atheists are the line down the middle of the road. In some countries, or states if you will, you keep to the right, in some to the left. And while no driver has any real strong feelings about that line which is neither left, nor right - other than that the fact that it exists and many times they wish it were removed once and for all - once they venture over the line you're sure to see one spectacular collision.
Are you're going chart-crazy again, Ed? That chart shows hate crimes against Jews exceeding total hate crimes.
Are you're going chart-crazy again, Ed? That chart shows hate crimes against Jews exceeding total hate crimes.
No No No. The total hate crimes is measured on the axis on the right of the chart. Also, the hate crimes against Jews are given as a percentage of total hate crimes.
The idea behind providing the total numbers was to give some context to the percentages in the chart. I may have failed miserably.
Oh, I see. It's interesting that atheists get such a pass, and that Jews are so targeted. But I disagree with your conclusion that atheists aren't persecuted - in some parts of the U.S., they certainly are, even if it rarely rises to the level of reportable violence. Ostracism isn't a hate crime.
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