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Permalink Reply by Jesse Maes on October 15, 2010 at 9:42pm

I'm actually a member of a group at my school called the ASC (Atheist Socialist Club), and all the good Americans want to destroy us! Or they would if we lost some of our anonymity.

My point is: Atheist Socialists FTW!

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Lafont on October 15, 2010 at 9:45pm

An Atheist Socialist Club? Awesome! What do you discuss in the club?

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Permalink Reply by Jesse Maes on October 17, 2010 at 12:40pm

It's kind of like a Book Club/Think Tank. We're reading things like The God Delusion and the Communist Manifesto, and talking about why God does not exist, and the free market is a lie.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Lafont on October 17, 2010 at 5:58pm

I only wish that my school was as open as yours is... at my school, you only have one club called "First Priority" which is a Christian club, and would a Atheist Socialist join a Christian Club... you know besides refuting their claims for the lolz...

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Permalink Reply by rationalrevolution on October 15, 2010 at 10:24pm

I haven't run into the issue personally, but I definitely think that it has played a major role in shaping attitudes toward atheism in America.

You'd probably be interested in this article on my website. It's not strictly about this, but there is a section at the bottom that addresses the subject:

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/religious_criticism.htm

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Permalink Reply by Jason on October 16, 2010 at 7:25am

It’s funny this communist/socialist name calling that’s going on in America today. – Psss hey America…. (in my whisper voice) Where do you think we get all our money from? It’s spelled C, H, I, N ,A.

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Permalink Reply by rationalrevolution on October 22, 2010 at 8:04pm

It would certainly have been appropriate to call big "C" Communists atheists, but not the other way around. All Marxist Communists were atheists, but not all atheists were Communists, that's the issue.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on October 16, 2010 at 8:49am

Here is an anecdote that isn't really about atheism but about the prejudices that seem to run through American culture:

I live in New Zealand and I was having a convo with a 20-something American in my World of Warcraft guild. I mentioned that my wife needed to have dental work done and that it was going to cost nearly NZ$1000. He asked if our insurance wouild cover it, to which I replied that medical insurance was not terribly common over here. So he asked how could anyone afford healthcare without insurance? I told him that most of our healthcare was paid for by the government, and explained how this was different to government-sponsored universal health insurance.

Here's the kicker: his completely serious reply was, verbatim: "Wow - I didn't know you guys were communists!"

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Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on October 16, 2010 at 9:58am

Haha - don't worry you're not alone. We use the metric systrem for pretty much everything but, for some reason, no one else thinks it is odd that we still use imperial for tire pressure. It is a giant glaring ommission but no one seems to notice...

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Permalink Reply by Jon Heim on October 16, 2010 at 9:47am

The problem with everyone is that when they hear the word "socialism", they automatically go into a panic.

it is very hard to get insurance if you are considered high risk or have pre existing conditions. well....what the hell do you think we're trying to get insurance for?!

For most people, the easiest way to get health insurance is if you have a job were you are working full time and have these kinds of benefits. but..in today's economy, this is a very rare thing to attain.

This means that the people without health insurance also don't have very good jobs and sources of income.
When these people need medical help, they cannot afford it and are only going deeper into debt.

I know this because I am one of these people.

Fear is no reason to deprive people of the help they need. We need government for a reason, wither we like the direction it's heading in or not.

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