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Question 54

What do you, as an atheist, think of a media that jumps to accuse someone of having committed a crime due to their being an atheist, especially when it turns out that they aren't?

• I think it sucks. I've seen this at least twice in the last year with kids accused of having shot up their schools and/or killing friends and family. None of them were atheists, though the accusation was made and widely reported. (Michelle Malkin #1)

• I think the same thing that I think of the media who assume that Muslims are behind every act of terrorism, who make note of "black-on-black" crime but never talk about "white-on-white" crime, and who prattle on endlessly about cigars but don't bother discussing perjury.

  I think they reflect the interests, desires, and prejudices of the majority of society. That makes me very sad. (Natalie Ramsey #222)

• I object to the news equating 'christian,' with 'moral.'

  = He wasn't christian, he wasn't moral.

  = For moral leadership, we look to the church.

  = If he had religious upbringing, he would have been more moral.

  = We should have religion in the schools for moral instructions.

  I write letters to the editor whenever I see that. I seem to see less of it in our local rag now. "You shall not kill," was a rule before it became a part of the 10 commandments. Try telling a xtion that. (Jerry Sturdivant #1288)

• Not much. But then, I am greatly disturbed by the media's (this especially applies to the electronic media) tendency to rush to judgment - offering conclusions before there are facts to support them. The incidents you mention are troubling but not unique. You may recall that after the Oklahoma City bombing, early press reports indicated the authorities were looking for suspects from the Middle East and a number of U.S. residents from that region were harrassed as a result. In this age of almost instantaneous communications, news gathering organizations are all to quick to rush to the airwaves with information that has not been properly verified and may be inaccurate.

  Such incidents also reveal the ignorance of the media - which only mirrors they ignorance of the general public - about atheism. If they understood what it is, they also would understand that it *could not* lead anyone to commit a crime of any description. (George Ricker #146)

• I think it is extremely vile and smacks of gross opportunism. Naturally, the underlying premise of such a statement (that the perpetrator was an atheist) is that it is indicative of all the others who hold the same lack of belief.

  Of course when the truth is finally discovered, it never seems to get the same attention from the media, nor is used in the same manner. But then it doesn't fit in with the "our world's gone to hell because people aren't following Jesus" argument.

  But regardless of what the person's beliefs are, they are usually not important, unless the belief/lack of belief played a role in their actions. Even then, it only will explain what their thought processes were, and is not indicative of others with the same belief/lack of belief.

  It reminds me of revisionist history, it is mockery of the truth to fit someone's warped agenda. A good case in point is the thread about Hitler. Hitler was a theist and an Xian. Some Xians can't deal with this truth, so on come the revisionists who will go through mental, factual, and historical gymnastics to twist and turn him into an atheist. After all, no theist (and certainly not an Xian) could be that evil, therefore, he had to really have been an evil atheist (they have no morals, after all), regardless of what he personally wrote about his beliefs, and regardless of how it helped shaped some of his "policies". (Keith Brannen #713)

• Well it leaves me with little respect for a lot of the media, but I lost that long ago while watching one after another so called "hard news" show put up dishonest information, and not fairly representing both sides of the argument. We need to understand that the media is made up of people, and people tend to be biased and in the god-soaked US, they are generally biased towards the christian view point.

  Christianity doesn't want to admit that there is a fundemental flaw in their belief system, and so they find a scape goat. For many centuries it was Jews and other of different relgions, but it just isn't okay to use those groups any longer in the era of Political Correctness, and so they tend to go towards those who are still not quite socially accepted, and that would be atheism. It is not deemed politically incorrect or unaceptable to blame the atheists. it is a sad turn of events.

  The media is not a reliable source in many instances, and that is sad, but I think it is always a wise choice to question what you are fed through the media (as well as other places), and not just accept it because the balding guy in the nice navy suit with the pleasant marroon tie and the lady with the well manicurred hair said you should. Think for your self is all I can really say. (Chani #1118)