Why is it that there are more Atheists at Science Fiction Conventions than there are at Atheist conventions? Here I am with my family at Balticon, and the place is swamped with nonreligious people. As usual. It’s like a RAM (Regional Atheist Meet) with a theme.Here’s a great link I should have posted a while ago — Paranormal restraining orders!Stay away from Za’haduum, and may your warp bubble always be stable. Don’t forget your sonic screwdriver, your light sabre, or your Guide to the Galaxy.
From Balticon
Great question. I asked a similar question when I was President of the local PTA. Why would parents say that a 7 PM meeting was to late for their kids, and yet take them to the kids softball game that started at 8?
I guess it comes down to what most people find important…
Maybe because people know about the sci-fi conventions more than they know about atheist ones? I knew all about Star Trek, LoTR conventions, etc…before I even knew American Atheists existed. I wish AA would do more advertising, then maybe the numbers would go up. However, now that I know about the atheist conventions I plan on going to as many as I can…$$ permitting of course.
Paranormal restraining orders? If it’s on the internet it must be true! I’ll have to get one. I think Big Foot is stalking me.
Well Dave when I finally get my sorry self to an anime convention I plan on handing out fliers for American atheist and the flying spaghetti monster I would think there would be a willing audienece.
Science Fiction, like most fiction, is entertainment, little or nothing more. I have hear it described as ?brain candy?. People like to be entertained, especially when it allows them an escape from an unwanted reality.
Atheism, on the other hand, IS the unwanted reality. I have never been to an atheist convention, but I imagine it is much like this blog: people coming together because of the need for kindred spirits, or because they see that something important needs to be done. I suspect happy nonbelievers who are good at connecting with those around them or do not see their unbelief as something important probably do not get involved either place.
When I went to church, it seemed more than half entertainment: singing, feeling good about yourself and your future and so on. Perhaps we need to find ways to focus on the positive emotions and make nonbelief something enjoyable. Even the humor here tends to be of the darker sort. Not that I make any claims to having added any entertainment value?
My wife once made the GALACTIC mistake of getting me star trek convention tickets instead of Ozzy Ozborne concert tickets once. I still have a hard time even comprehending this.. Lets be clear.
-Ozzy
-NFL
-ComicCon
-Monster Truck
-Star Trek Con
-Atheist Con
-Christian Con (Although I think I could make this fun, with some danger to my life though.)
maddogstu, I agree, American Atheists should try to spice up its conventions.
Maybe regular intermissions with topless nuns, or something.
Ahmen… er..whatever we say.
My guess would be that there is an extreme Left bias at Atheist conventions making it uncomfortable for Objectivist-types like myself to come. Also, there is a disturbing tendency towards extremism at the conventions. Michael Newdow is a self-righteous jerk, not a hero. I don’t live my life worrying about ‘Ten Commandments’ monuments or mangers at Town Hall so long as I get my building permit. If the broadcast face of atheism were the more measured type that represents the vast majority of American atheists and agnostics rather than some clown with too much facial hair and a whole closet of axes to grind we’d be far better off.
Hmmm, Maybe AA can get Ozzy to perform at a convention?
Dreamer Lyrics
“Im just a dreamer, who dreams of better days
Your higher power may be God or jesus christ
It doesnt really matter much to me
Without each others help there aint no hope for us”
While I’m also of the objectivist/libertarian ilk, I’m *glad* that AA and its allies are out there “worrying about ‘Ten Commandments’ monuments or mangers at Town Hall’, so that others can go merrily about their oblivious lives, worrying about nothing more than their building permits.
Rah62,
I understand what you are saying but I have been dealing with municipal and state civil servants for about 2 decades now. When I was in college, I managed to develop a rapport with the clerks at the Manhattan Surrogates Court because I was a baseball fan, enabling me to get documents in an afternoon, what took fancy-schmancy law school graduates two weeks to get. I was known as ‘Bart the Red Sox Fan.’ In later years, I’ve found that when I bring in cheese danish for the women in the Tax Collector’s Office, I get a much better response when I want info on a property that is going up for auction. I don’t sit around denying human nature. When you deal with the cogs in the government wheel, a smile, a good nature and a sense of humor go a lot further than any ideological bias. In my community, I’ve been asked by Republicans to run for school board or even council and served on Zoning and Planning Boards. As atheists or agnostics, I believe we can get further by being ladies and gentlemen than by being ‘in your face.’
PARANORMAL RESTRAINING ORDER?Seems to me somebody stayed in his or her TARDIS TOO long(a Dr. WHO ref)
Some wag once said that religion is the opium of the masses. Then anothe wag said that Science Fiction is the opium of the atheists?
You’ll see this same trend in conventions of scifi, fantasy, comics, anime, and I’m probably also guessing sex cons, too. (Yeah, I was surprised to hear about that last one, too.)
It ties into the question of why there are more GLBT people at such conventions, or why the political spectrum is shifted towards the left, or why the demographics are often skewed towards the younger. (Anime cons probably have a median age of 17.)
Basically, people attend these conventions as much for the content as the environment. They go to be with others like themselves. It takes a more open mind, a greater willingness to experiment and accept other ideas and positions to get interested in such “fringe” hobbies. (Even if comics, games, scifi and such are all somewhat mainstream these days, they still pale in comparison to sports, outdoor activities, and more traditional hobbies like photography, collecting, gardening, and so forth.)
In other words, it’s often the poeple that didn’t fit in as well in their given social circles that go out and seek alternatives. Attendees at such events also have a very high return rate; the social aspect quickly expands beyond just the convention, across the country in many cases. It’s a semi-viable alternative community. Certain areas of San Fransisco and New York are very alternative-friendly, so they attract “outcasts” much in the same way.
I can’t speak for all atheists, of course, but I have a nagging suspicion that it is simply one of the few things that we have in common.
The truth is, unlike theists, we have no unifying belief. Disbelief just isn’t strong enough. I could form a club for people that disbelieve in the IPU or FSM but, aside from that, we’d have little in common ideologically. It does seem that a lot of atheists are politically inclined to the Democratic Party. This is probably the closest thing we’ve got to a common view (besides Sci-fi) and we have to share it even as a minority to the theists in the party, and even I wouldn’t fit in being a Libertarian.
It may be that science fiction fandom serves as a kind of substitute for religion. People join churches for both religious and social reasons. Joining a science fiction group and attending conventions fulfills the social needs that motivate many people to become involved in organized religion.
thats because most atheists, and i really mean most, are career nerds, dorks, geeks, and dweebs. lets face it most atheists are like comic book dude on the simpsons or vampires who believe in the dark side. ewww scary.
if you dont believe the comment I wrote on top, look in the mirror or the picture of the guy who created this site. jeepers creepers that guy looks like the poster boy of nerdom. how many times do you think that guy was target. better yet how many times do you think guy has been on a date. even better than that, how many attractive women or men do you think that guy has been on a date with. my guess is 0. what do you guys think.