I was recently skimming through my Instagram feed and I had to do a double-take when I came across a photo of The Young Turks’ host Ana Kasparian being awarded the “Humanist Media Award” by American Humanist Association, one of the most well known humanist organizations in the world, which happens to use the slogan “Good without a God.”
I wasn’t appalled about Ana Kasparian winning an award, but rather about American Humanist Association (AHA) awarding Kasparian, out of all people. This event shined a new light, and I suppose a new low, on American Humanist Association, an organization that claims to be “advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists and freethinkers.”
Kasparian has reaped plenty of criticism during the last few years for making condescending comments towards people who do not share her political views, and has ultimately become known for having a definite “left-leaning” approach to issues. One of her most popular clips is of her talking about her distaste for women who voted for Trump, and how they are “fucking dumb.” In another clip she can be seen yelling at college students while participating in a panel discussion at California State University, Northridge, where, surprisingly, she teaches journalism. Many viewers have discredited her as a journalist, and have ultimately discredited The Young Turks, a Youtube channel that is mired in conflict beyond Kasparian [1][2][3].
Humanist organizations are also becoming more politically involved and are uniting with many general atheist organizations, such as Secular Coalition for America, American Atheists and Secular Student Alliance. This unity makes the U.S. atheist community appear to be strictly “progressive,” which is a false presentation. Atheist organizations have praised Democrat congressman Jared Huffman for being “openly atheist,” when in actuality he labels himself as “humanist.” Huffman also introduced the Freethought Caucus, which states one of its priorities is to “oppose discrimination against atheists, agnostics, humanists, seekers, and nonreligious persons.”
With American Humanist Association awarding Ana Kasparian, one must wonder how the humanist movement is working towards opposing discrimination against atheists? In actuality, the humanist movement is discriminating against atheists who have conservative values, and is stimulating discrimination against atheists in the general public by aligning atheism with a strict political agenda. How ironic that their efforts are actually creating even more discrimination against atheists!
Needless to say, increasing numbers of atheists are becoming weary of “humanism” as it continues to falsely present itself of being “inclusive” of all atheists. Awarding Ana Kasparian was a bizarre move that I have yet to understand.
Lauren Ell is an American blogger born and raised in Southern California and is currently based in Sweden. She discusses Epilepsy, Politics and Fun. Professionally Ell is an Online Marketing Consultant and Virtual Assistant. She is also founder and president of Republican Atheists. Connect with Lauren on Facebook and Twitter.