Saturday, September 3, 2011

The Arts are also rife with Anti-atheist bigotry

A recent example of the blind prejudice and ignorance in the arts can be found in Quentin Letts recent review, "Hallelujah! Miracles Do Happen." In praising the play The Faith Machine he notes that, "the Royal Court's latest play is a breakthrough in the religion v atheism battle." Yet, he never provides any breakthrough. Lett's seem to think the play is unique since, "It does not serve up the sort of pro-Darwin propaganda pumped out by the BBC."  If he means pro-evolution he should say so. Using Darwin just shows from the start how ignorant he is. This, of course, makes me wonder if he'd prefer pro-creationist/fairy tale propaganda.

Letts also seems to intentionally ignore some rather major details of the play in order to push his claim that it is unique. He doesn't seem to notice, for instance, that the major character who is the least likable with the most questionable personal ethics and morals happens to be the atheist. The character who is not only the most likable but the moral center of the play is the religious girlfriend of the atheist. This is Letts "breakthrough." It sounds like standard anti-atheist bullshit to me. The moral/ethical dilemmas that drive the plot all seem to be fairly standard both in their presentation and theatrical usage. A slightly more revealing and accurate review can be found at The Guardian.

It is interesting to note that both the play and reviews are from England which is generally viewed as being more open to atheism

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