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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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On the rationalist right, there is more skepticism around the practicality and utility of polyamory, promiscuity, substance use, and atheism. There is more sympathy for Christianity, having children, and the genders adopting their respective gender roles.

In the words of some commenter from I-don't-remember-where: I've retrieved my fedora from storage. Soon it will be time to don it once more.

Atheism and Christianity are not lifestyle choices like the other items on this list. I am an atheist because I am convinced that there are no immaterial mental entities within the causal domain that includes me. And likewise Christians are Christians because they are convinced that Jesus died and was raised (etc.).

I know that not everyone sees it this way. Back in the day I used to get into arguments on /r/atheism whenever someone would post an article about gay marriage or abortion - I would say (perhaps naïvely) "This has nothing to do with atheism" only to be met with dumbfounded replies to the effect of "Wait, why else would you be here?" I just came for the metaphysics; I didn't realize I needed to join your orgies as well!

More recently I've encountered people (like the author of this piece) who endorse Christianity tactically, in a post-modern, Jordan-Petersonian way - "This church seems to share my conservative values, so I'm going to join them and maybe their belief will rub off on me."

For me, conservatism is (and always has been) inseparable from atheism. The way of thinking that led me to agree with the "dissident right" is exactly the same as what led me to seek a naturalistic explanation for things and to see value in the long-term future of the material world. If I were willing to put faith in a loving Sky Father just because it made me feel good, I would also be willing to accept that "all men are created equal" just because it'd be nice if that were true. If all I cared about was being fashionable among my peers, it would've been so much easier to adopt the "woke" position on everything.

Some conservative Christians see atheism and conservatism as antagonistic. I disagree, but I would say, if you forced me to choose, I would choose atheism over conservatism. At least atheists pretend to be receptive to evidence. But Christian conservatives I can only ever see as fair-weather friends - maybe we're allied on this particular political issue, but if your social milieu had gone another way, then we would've been enemies.

At least atheists pretend to be receptive to evidence. But Christian conservatives I can only ever see as fair-weather friends

I mostly agree with your post, but this contrast is comparing the groups using non-exclusive descriptions. An atheist tankie is a fair weather friend to me: they'll support my right to be an atheist, they won't support my right to be a capitalist. A theist conservative is also a fair weather friend to me: they'll support my right right to be a capitalist, but down the line I know that my atheism, especially my right to profess that atheism, is on their list of targets. Both groups tend to be allies only insofar as they are weak. The ideal circumstances for our freedom are where these groups and their respective enemies are all weak enough that they will at least consider mutual tolerance as a solution, and weirdos like us can sneak tolerance of us into the picture.

The same is true for receptivity to evidence. The atheist tankie will I fucking love science when science goes their way and become a Skeptic when it doesn't. The same is true for intelligent Christian conservatives, who will be happy to use the scientific method in, say, extrapolating from the failures of communism and not when extrapolating from the absence of supernatural beings in the systematically observable universe to the non-existence of certain other hypothetical supernatural beings. I sigh, remember that I am myself often just as bad as either group, and try to do better myself.