The author quotes an academic named Chris Miller:But there is another gang of hyper-confident male atheists for whom knee-slapping humour is front and centre in their atheist proselytizing, far more than science or intellectual debate. . . .
As it often does on the schoolyard, their cruel mockery conceals an insecurity, and it offers a pop cultural case study on the ancient human tendency to demonize and vilify people who think differently.
Another quotation from Miller reads:In his paper on these comedians, Chris Miller, a PhD student in religious studies at the University of Waterloo, uses the term “boundary maintenance� to describe a sort of social therapy by which human communities reassure themselves about their own beliefs by “describing another group’s world in the language of one’s own.� Thus are religious people painted not as the normal adherents of ancient traditions, but as “laughable and confused at best� and “manipulative or harmful at worst,� Miller said.
The author also quotes David Feltmate, a sociologist of religion at Auburn University, Alabama, who says:“These and other comedians defend their particular worldview by negating or critiquing the worldview of others,� Miller said. “When atheists make fun of religious people, they are therefore pointing out what they believe ‘should’ be seen as normal.�
As I said, the statements are provocative. Is there any validity to them?. . . this type of humour relies on . . . “ignorant familiarity,� the idea that people think they are familiar with matters about which they are woefully ignorant. Other people’s religion is a classic example of this.
As Feltmate put it: “When enough people share an ignorant familiarity, they can go ahead and act collectively on their ignorance, without being checked, or having to suffer serious consequences for their prejudice.�
The complete article is here:
http://nationalpost.com/news/the-new-ga ... t-religion