Response to Massimo's Critique

Massimo Pigliucci posted some critical comments on his blog Rationally Speaking, posted here. Ed Buckner responded here, but I wanted to take some time to address his issues personally. My answers follow. ------------------------------------- I want to start this article by thanking Massimo for his civil tone and frank honesty. The billboard about which he writes has generated a substantial amount of discussion, and many of its detractors have been anything but civil, instead devolving into ad hominem and personal attacks against American Atheists or me. It is my hope that the entire movement can learn how to attack ideas without attacking people from Massimo. I also want to state categorically that Massimo is still counted as one of my friends, a friend of the organization (of which he is a Life Member), and a serious player in the movement. As we all know, atheists don’t always agree, and we will never progress without acceptance of our own diversity. I have learned over the past three months (as American Atheists’ new President) that it is an unhealthy and wasteful use of my time to debate online. I write this reply for Massimo, but I hope all viewers will understand that I cannot get into a back-and-forth on this. First and foremost, yes, all religions are scams. I find it difficult to grasp that there is really any disagreement here, since it is so blatant. They promise an afterlife (which we all know doesn’t exist) and further promise that adherence to some set of rules, which include giving money or power to the preaching church, will somehow improve that afterlife, which is of course a false promise. While some groups claim to be ‘nontheistic religions’, we specify on our web site that these groups are not included in this assertion. Theistic religions are all scams. It makes no difference if the purveyors know they are peddling falsehood – it’s still happening, but some scams are multi-leveled. For example, homeopathy is a scam, always, whether the so-called practitioner believes in it or not. Homeopathic practitioners are either liars or victims, and the same goes with clergy, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that promises are being made and never kept, and the buyers/believers are the victims. But the billboard doesn’t go that far. It challenges people to consider whether THEY know they’re all scams, without making the global statement itself. The implication here is “we know it, and we dare you to admit you do, too,” and frankly, I think Massimo missed the mark here on what it says and the meaning it conveys. He is inferring what is not implied. Massimo’s second and third assertions are really both the same – that this is just an overall bad strategy from multiple angles. I respectfully challenge this as complete supposition and assumption, unsupported by any facts. The good news is I do have facts. I have the fact that our membership is up 20% since November. I have the fact that we’ve seen a surge in purchases and donations. I have a nearly sold-out regional convention – in Alabama. I have more new members in the local Alabama group than they’ve gotten in the past 9 months combined. I have literally hundreds of emails to American Atheists from people who our message has reached, from all over the world, who truly appreciate our efforts. So, quite frankly, the assertion that we are “driving people into the closet” is simply an assumption Massimo uses to support his conclusion that the strategy is faulty. That’s not factual. We are succeeding quite well. But American Atheists is not only about itself, we are about the whole movement. The biggest, A-number-one problem in this whole movement is (say it with me now) awareness - the closeted or unconnected atheist’s ignorance of organized atheism. Please don’t make the mistake that we have eliminated this major issue! This is our immediate need, and our common target market, and the problem cannot be solved without using the press. Press coverage of a billboard substantially increases the value proposition and must be considered when weighing its success. I have reports or mentions on O’Reilly, Colbert, Olbermann, and every major TV news outlet in Alabama as well as many in other states, all from this SCAMS billboard. If we include the first “You KNOW it’s a Myth” billboard, we can add every major news network several times over, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Colbert (again), Saturday Night Live, and national news in 6 other countries. This amounts to over $10M in total coverage, much of which hits our direct market, NOT including web logs and discussion boards ($millions more), all from two billboards! All of this raises awareness, and benefits the whole movement. We won’t get that kind of play with the ‘nicey-nicey’ billboards. We will get it by pushing the envelope of political correctness by challenging the assertion that religion deserves respect, and that religious practice is anything but an exercise in self-delusion. Let’s not get out of hand when we talk about our message. Massimo makes it sound like our motto is ‘American Atheists: F@ck your God’. So please take a moment to reflect. Are we really being THAT offensive? No. We said religion is a scam, and the parishioners are its victims. That’s the message that got out. No profanity. No hate. No insults. Not negative, not raunchy, not even angry. I’m sorry; I cannot believe that our message drove anyone away that wasn’t already leaving. So Massimo’s assertion that this is bad PR is simply wrong. We have all the numbers and active feedback we need to back it up – people do, in fact, know they’re all scams. He doesn’t like our campaign – but he is not the target market! The target markets are the closeted atheists and the press, with whom the billboards are home-runs, thank you very much. This is not to say that Massimo’s comments have gone unheard. We can all see the nuances that separate us on a philosophical level, and we will take this into account as we continue forward. However, the billboards and other ad campaigns will continue. American Atheists is never going to shy away from telling the blunt and honest truth about the greatest scam in history: religion. Disagree if you wish, Massimo, that’s OK (remember, our principle difference here is “all” vs. “some” religions are scams). The next time we get together we’ll talk about the 99% of things on which we DO agree. First round is on me. To everyone else, I urge you to donate your money and time to the movement, and get the organizations with which you most identify to start/ramp up their own ad campaigns. This movement is diverse, and we will never all agree on approach. Instead, we should delight in this diversity, and make it clear to newcomers that atheism has many facets and faces, many angles and attitudes. We are one movement with the same goal, but if we are to succeed (and we will), we must look outward for a fight. I’ll be on the front lines. Sincerely, David Silverman President American Atheists, Inc Voice: 732.648.9333 FAX 908.737.1203