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Atheists get positive portrayal on Australian TV
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Skeptic Michael Shermer is among the featured
subjects of the program.
(Photo: Loxton/Wikimedia Commons)
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's program Compass (described as a show "reflecting and exploring faith, belief and values in Australia and around the globe") takes a half-hour look at modern nonbelievers in a piece called "The Atheists." On the whole, it's a remarkably fair, and even positive, examination of the various worldviews of the nonreligious.
It seems to be a little too interested in the differentiations nonbelievers make in their nomenclature (with guests defining themselves as skeptics and agnostics), but I think that it is generally a very good introduction to atheists for those who might be unfamiliar with them, or at least usually subjected to prejudice or stereotypes regarding atheists. Its interview subjects are the likes of Michael Shermer and Phillip Adams who make atheists seem quite likable and accessible.
My only real gripe -- other than its overly-gimmicky transition effects, which I assume are not exclusive to this episode -- is that it allows for too much of what I think is misinformed disparagement of the New Atheists (Dawkins and Hitchens are the ones mentioned specifically). The featured nonbelievers lament the "atmosphere" created by the New Atheists by vastly overgeneralizing and mischaracterizing their approaches, and with no response from them or their defenders.
But that aside, it's a worthwhile bit of television from the other side of the planet, and a good way for the person wary of atheists to have some unhappy illusions challenged. None of the nonbelievers here are in danger of coming off as "militant."
There's no embedding option for the video, but you can click here to view (with a hat tip to Jeff Olsson for highlighting it).
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