Welcome back to Atheist Digest 2011. The summer diary series rolls on with a look at two things that seem pretty disparate on their surface. I was musing about a few different aspects of comparison between these two and decided that it might make an interesting diary for this year’s series. Here we are. Before we get in too deep I’ll lay out the areas I’m going to cover:
- Conservative Deprecation/Antipathy
- Christianity and Capitalism
- Empathy and Moral Hazard
There should be plenty of room for you to add to these in the comments. Without further ado we slide into the curly abyss…
Conservative Deprecation/Antipathy
The first comparison I can make between Atheism and Socialism, and the one that got me thinking of writing this diary, is the way they are viewed by those that look upon both unfavorably. I can’t help but feel sad when it seems our society has let hateful, small-minded right wingers define two philosophies as benign as these two. There is no shortage of Republican politicians willing to take full advantage of the perception that creeping secularism (in my opinion this is a dog whistle that screams “DIRTY ATHEISTS” to the religious right) and socialism are great existential threats to our nation.
They boiled Atheism and Socialism down to caricatures that no longer need to be argued against. They only need to evoke the idea among friends and anything or anyone the labels ‘atheist’ or ‘socialist’ is affixed to is assumedly mocked. For Atheism, those people or ideas that are so unfortunate as to be tarred with the moniker are God-hating, insidious, un-American, and conceited. Socialism is gifted with similar adjectives. Socialism and the failed fascist pseudo-communism of the old soviet empire are instantly conflated, leaving no room for intelligent debate. Scars of the cold war still play hell with our public discourse.
What strikes me as eerily similar about Atheism and socialism is that I could in no way envision having a rational discussion with a religious conservative should I say either: “I’m an Atheist,” or “I’m a socialist.” So loaded with preconceptions are these two concepts that they suck all of the oxygen from the room.
Christianity and Capitalism
To the right, anything that isn’t overtly or surreptitiously infused with Christian privilege, is the result of either smug Atheists or subversive Muslim terrorists trying to take their apple pie, burn their flag, and abort their babies. That or, gasp, undo all the work they’ve done to construct a de facto Christian theocracy at every level of government.
The words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ are often used as adjectives right next door to each other in GOP stump speeches and Christian fundamentalist screeds. To them, socialists are, by their very nature, godless because they want to, double gasp, ensure equality of outcome and work against the proliferation of oligarchy. After all, it was Jesus who said rich men should be allowed to buy giant gilded needles their camel skin upholstered Escalades can drive through on their way to the spa resort. No? It was something about needles and camels and cucumber scrubs anyway, I forget.
Despite being seemingly in stark contrast to the teachings of their Christ, Christians in the western world have fully embraced capitalism and consumerism. Sure, they also are responsible for many charity efforts, but very few eschew the gathering of wealth at the expense of others. I don’t see the ideals and outcomes of socialism as antithetical to the ethos of loving and taking care of your neighbor.
Atheists, like me for example, are often secular humanists. This means slightly different things to different people, but to me it means embracing and reveling in the amazing things humanity offers. It means not wasting our fleeting time on earth punishing ourselves but living as responsible citizens and cultivating a better existence for ourselves and those around us. I find that the philosophy I subscribe to, when translated into economic theory, most closely resembles socialism. Of course I don’t have to clarify socialism to most people here. To be honest, as I alluded to above, I don’t think most New Testament philosophy naturally translates to unfettered capitalism. Well regulated capitalism can do good things for society. That, paired with democratically instituted socialistic programs makes for about as good a political/economic system as humans could devise on a large scale.
I wonder if the reason many leaders of the religious right are quick to associate Atheism and socialism is that they can easily tie them both to the same anchor. If you can link all the things you don’t like together, you can kill all your birds with one stone, even if some of those birds aren’t perceived as much of a threat by your flock.
Empathy and Moral Hazard
Atheists are not unique in their capacity for human empathy. There are many religious traditions, though, that do not consistently extol empathy for all people. Most of the right wing brands of Christianity, and extremist sects in other religions, openly despise or oppress others for such reasons and gender, sexual orientation, other religious heritage, etc. Atheists, for the most part, don’t have any of those hang-ups to get in the way of loving our neighbors. Socialism is an economic system built on empathy. For capitalism, on the other hand, empathy is sand in the gears. It gets in the way of proper invisible hand jobbing.
The empathy discussion links to the mostly hollow criticism of both Atheism and socialism: moral hazard. Something like moral hazard anyway. Socialism, it is presumed by those who don’t understand how it works, robs people of their incentive to work. I don’t have the time to get into how many ways that assumption is wrong historically and philosophically. Similarly, Atheism, it is presumed by some theists, robs people of their incentive to be morally upstanding. It is assumed that there must be some threat of massive punishment or promise of everlasting reward in the afterlife to force us to be good people. Both false assumptions rely on ignoring other motivations beside purely selfish ones. They don’t take into account the fact that we are social animals that respond to the responsibility of upholding a social contract. As an Atheist I won’t kill someone even though I don’t fear eternal damnation, and as a socialist I would still work even if I didn’t get to keep a large portion of the fruits of my labor.
I think I’ve gone on long enough. Now it’s your turn.
Discuss!
Series Schedule
8-5: I Didn't Choose to be an Atheist
Tuesday Evening, 8-10: On Anders Breivik
Sunday Evening, 8-21: Unpacking the Homosexuality Comparison
TBD: Conclusion