Did Atheists Get Booed At the Inauguration?

Interesting…Erik also went to the inauguration, and he didn’t mention any booing. I’ll ask him.

Let’s hope we show more class if one of our own ever makes it to the Oval Office.

Are you implying that black Americans are more anti-atheist or have different reasons for being prejudiced against atheists than white people do?

I don’t know about the first point – I’d have to see a study by a group like Pew to convince me, personally.

I don’t think it’s any more or less insulting or frustrating when black people boo atheists than when white people do. I don’t think their reasons are any different. It’s all something that we can hopefully clear up eventually, but we certainly won’t clear it up by singling out groups and saying, “Hey, don’t pick on us because it makes YOU hypocrites!”

I don’t think it’s any more or less insulting or frustrating when black people boo atheists than when white people do.

Agreed. My take-away wasn’t that black people booed, it was that non-atheists booed.

And that’s sad if this is an accurate account.

Blacks who “boo” atheists should go to the back of the bus.

I doesn’t surprise me at all that minorities would boo atheists. People of color can’t change what they are, and they are sometimes persecuted for it. Most people would argue that being an atheist is a choice, and it’s a choice they would consider wrong. We as atheists consider own position the correct one, but we shouldn’t expect anybody to support us based on their own status in society. Education is really the only thing that will help us.

I was just reading an old study by Milton Rokeach on race relations and religious belief (done in the 60’s) that found that people tended to favor those who had the most shared beliefs as them over those who were the same race. If a believer was given a choice to spend time with a believer of a different race or a non-believer of their race, they heavily favored the believer. This held true in both the North and South

Obviously, not much has changed. . . shared belief trumps shared ethnicity.

PrimeNumbers said:
Blacks who “boo” atheists should go to the back of the bus.

I get what you’re trying to say, but it’s probably the wrong way to say it.

This discussion is disturbing to me. Please reread the post, everyone. It never says anywhere that black people were booing atheists at the inauguration. Anywhere. The author tried to imply that black people were, but he didn’t say it, because he merely heard a few boos during Obama’s speech (and says that he was standing near African Americans –wow, well, I was there too, and everyone was standing near African Americans, because a substantial portion of the crowd was African American). Please stop speculating about reasons that black people may or may not have booed a mention of nonbelievers because you don’t even know that it happened except that extremely flimsy anecdote!

Or at least accept my anecdotal evidence on the same level as you accept his. I’m a resident of Washington, DC, and I was on the Mall during the inauguration. A substantial portion of the crowd was African American. I didn’t hear a single boo when Obama mentioned nonbelievers. I heard tons of cheers, because people were cheering the entire phrase Obama was saying, his endorsement of religious pluralism in the United States.

Any discussion of race (such as the one above) where people talk about African Americans (or anyone else, including whites) like some kind of monolithic group where everyone has the same opinions and attitudes and holds them for the same reasons is extremely disturbing to me. Look at what Hemant wrote:

If it’s true, though, that’s pretty amazing. Not in a good way, either. On arguably the most historic day in American history for black people, they actually went against Barack Obama — when he dared to include atheists among other Americans.

What the hell does that mean? “They” went against Barack Obama on their historic day? Because some black people (out of a crowd of hundreds of thousands) may have booed when Obama mentioned nonbelievers? And suddenly this stands in for the opinions and attitudes of millions of black people in the United States?

That’s quite an offensive thing to say.

We should all study the passage of Proposition 8 in California, NOT because of race or which races voted which ways, but because it teaches us that a non-popular group can be blindsided by legislation that unexpectedly passes and takes away their rights. Atheists are next on the agenda after gays.

I was there and I didn’t hear any booing

I’d even take it one step further — a few individuals booed.

Agreed.

Blacks who “boo” atheists should go to the back of the bus.

Oh come on now, how is that ANY different from them booing us?

You can’t take this anecdote seriously. It’s hardly a representative sample. Although I wouldn’t be surprised the, “black” demographic is more religious and less educated, and they’d act just like any other group , there’d be more belief in belief, more distrust and disdain for non-believers.

Unenlightened people will not learn a lesson of equality from oppression and discrimination. If anything they’re more readily commit it. The Mormons and “blacks” didn’t think back to past oppression on the subject of marriage when they voted for Prop 8. They’re hypocrites, it just shows that they’re no different to anyone else.

Hemant,

On arguably the most historic day in American history for black people, they actually went against Barack Obama

Do you have to be part of collective thought of your race, culture, or class? Identity politics… *spit* What happened to freethought, humanism, and individualism? Race isn’t even a scientific concept, culture is just tradition, and class is just ancestor worship. I’d be offended if they treated Obama differently to a non-“black”.

I think there is plenty of intolerance and hatred of atheists to go around. I see little merit to focusing on any particular racial groups – we need to overcome it across the board.

If any revelations about Obama’s beliefs about religion are to come out, we will probably have to wait for his momoir after he leaves office.

If he was booed it wasn’t heard on television. I watched it on tv and didn’t hear one boo.