I was reading an article about a book agent in the US named John Brockman, big success as agent for huge books, and the story said something interesting about how the UK and the USA view atheists or people like that, agnostics, whatever.
How is it different in the UK, what it means to be called an atheist there?
Or Australia or South Africa, for that matter. Or Canada?
QUOTE:
Brockman has a keen sense for interesting ideas, but also for the ways in which they fit into society.
For instance, he would never call himself an atheist, he says, in America: “I mean I don’t believe: I’m sure there’s no God. I’m sure there’s no afterlife. But don’t call me an atheist. It’s like a losers’ club. When I hear the word atheist, I think of some crummy motel where they’re having a function and these people have nowhere else to go. That’s what it means in America. In the UK it’s very different.”
[quote=“Cola”]I was reading an article about a book agent in the US named John Brockman, big success as agent for huge books, and the story said something interesting about how the UK and the USA view atheists or people like that, agnostics, whatever.
How is it different in the UK, what it means to be called an atheist there?
Or Australia or South Africa, for that matter. Or Canada?
QUOTE:
Brockman has a keen sense for interesting ideas, but also for the ways in which they fit into society.
For instance, he would never call himself an atheist, he says, in America: “I mean I don’t believe: I’m sure there’s no God. I’m sure there’s no afterlife. But don’t call me an atheist. It’s like a losers’ club. When I hear the word atheist, I think of some crummy motel where they’re having a function and these people have nowhere else to go. That’s what it means in America. In the UK it’s very different.”
books.guardian.co.uk/review/stor … %2C00.html[/quote]
It’s not that calling yourself an atheist makes you a member of the “losers’ club.” It’s just that, in America, such a label can be a lot like calling yourself immoral or evil. Mind you, this is in a country where religious belief is so deeply engrained, school boards are still debating whether evolution is a valid scientific theory.
i think in Oz an atheist is just someone who doesn’t believe in God, any god. Agnostic is a bit less defined, but my understanding of agnostic is someone who believes in higher powers in the universe (e.g Force of nature, but doesn’t ascribe a personality or thinking ability to it)
The literal definitions hold across the borders - an atheist believes there is no God or higher power of any sort, an agnostic believes in the possibility but is noncommittal regarding specifics. I think the difference is one of attitude toward each, much like what Danimal said.