Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy? Forum

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jkpolk

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by jkpolk » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:13 am

thederangedwang wrote: all human culture and values descend from religion..its only a matter of what religion it descends from...since you are atheist, by definition you cant have values or culture
Amen brother Wang, honored to share a thread with your cogency and articulation

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by cjcregg » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:13 am

Even as a fellow atheist, I think this is silly.

First and most importantly, you already know atheists are victims of prejudice. For that reason alone you shouldn't risk antagonizing admissions officers that may be prejudiced against atheists (especially in Texas). This is often a more polarizing issue about politics. I would also caution against spouting a partisan political ideology in a personal statement.

Second, you have to at least demonstrate occasions where you were seriously disadvantaged because of your beliefs. Being forced to participate in a school prayer for example is not abuse anyone will shed a tear for.

Third, if you were actually physically bullied for being an atheist, the reasonable thing to do would be to shut up about being an atheist. Unlike LGBT and race diversity, atheists can keep their beliefs to themselves and almost always avoid abuse. Law schools and law firms are not looking for antagonists and rabble-rousers (who are rational and logical from my perspective) who don't know when to shut up.

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Mr. Pancakes

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by Mr. Pancakes » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:13 am

JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote:
JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote:OP is retarded.
And why do you think that?
because you thought being an atheist could possibly be considered an URM.
why could LGBT be considered and Atheist could not? If minority status is not a purely skin-color related attribute, cultural identity is not a far off identifier.
You obviously thought LGBT could be considered an URM.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by TurtlesAllTheWayDown » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:14 am

JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote:
JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote:OP is retarded.
And why do you think that?
because you thought being an atheist could possibly be considered an URM.
why could LGBT be considered and Atheist could not? If minority status is not a purely skin-color related attribute, cultural identity is not a far off identifier.

For the rest of your "atheist don't have moral compasses" bit, I'm just going to assume you're a troll and wait for you to be banned.
Because you aren't disadvantaged in any way because of your atheism, short of having to endure some awful faux-intellectual conversations. Minority doesn't equal disadvantaged. I'm not sure what part of Texas you are from, but I don't think I've ever seen any persecution of atheists.

It's been my experience that any "persecution" an atheist experiences is due to how intolerable they are about being an atheist (not implying that you are this way). Same thing for Christians or anyone else who feels strongly about anything, really. It's not persecution if people dislike you for being an asshole.

Write about your economic hardships. That's more compelling, anyway.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by dpk711 » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:14 am

where this thread is going

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StrictlyBusiness

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by StrictlyBusiness » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:15 am

JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote:Lgbt isn't considered as an URM
Yet many here have stated it's worthy of a Diversity Statement. Which was part of my question.
This would likely piss off more people than it would win over. Not everyone is diverse, just play the white boy card and see what happens.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:17 am

thederangedwang wrote:
JohnV wrote:
thederangedwang wrote: all human culture and values descend from religion..its only a matter of what religion it descends from...since you are atheist, by definition you cant have values or culture
Lol what? Humanity had culture before religion was even a thing. The ancient Greeks had one of the most sophisticated cultures this world has ever seen and plenty of its highest intellects were atheist. Values descended from religion? You must not read much philosophy because only an idiot with no sense of history would make that statement.
are you seriously using the greeks as an example of atheism???
Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by thederangedwang » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:18 am

we were talking about culture and society...not individuals...do you deny the greeks as a civilization/culture were atheist?

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jkpolk

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by jkpolk » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:18 am

JohnV wrote: Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.
How is a belief in truth and form different from a belief in god?
Last edited by jkpolk on Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by bjsesq » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:19 am

Being an atheist is hard. I can understand why you would want to tell schools of the burden, or cross, you bear.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:21 am

Because you aren't disadvantaged in any way because of your atheism, short of having to endure some awful faux-intellectual conversations. Minority doesn't equal disadvantaged. I'm not sure what part of Texas you are from, but I don't think I've ever seen any persecution of atheists.
Are you kidding me? You know how volatile this topic is in Texas? I mean look at this forum, I asked a simple question and the first couple of post assumed I was a hedonistic demon spawn. There are PLENTY of cases of people being fired which lead back to their atheism coming to the forefront.
It's been my experience that any "persecution" an atheist experiences is due to how intolerable they are about being an atheist (not implying that you are this way). Same thing for Christians or anyone else who feels strongly about anything, really. It's not persecution if people dislike you for being an asshole.
That's true on some cases, probably less so where I'm from. I don't know where you are writing from but I get a lot of the "You don't have morals" kind of talk any time I let people know that I'm not part of their club and it's a pretty compelling reason for employers (or any social function) not to allow you access.
Write about your economic hardships. That's more compelling, anyway.
I most likely will, if admissions boards are even a fraction of as bigoted as this forum has been it's probably a good idea to hide (and lie, I guess?) about my own personal beliefs. Lol, how's that for morality?

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:22 am

bjsesq wrote:Being an atheist is hard. I can understand why you would want to tell schools of the burden, or cross, you bear.
Is it any less hard than being Mexican, black, or gay? I don't really see Jim Crow laws around anymore, rather the opposite, so I see the 'struggle' as more or less equivalent.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:22 am

polkij333 wrote:
JohnV wrote: Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.
How is a belief in truth and form different from a belief in god?
For one, they killed Socrates for it, so they must have thought it was pretty different.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by Mr. Pancakes » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:23 am

JohnV wrote: Are you kidding me? You know how volatile this topic is in Texas? I mean look at this forum, I asked a simple question and the first couple of post assumed I was a hedonistic demon spawn. There are PLENTY of cases of people being fired which lead back to their atheism coming to the forefront.
assumption.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by Mr. Pancakes » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:24 am

JohnV wrote:
bjsesq wrote:Being an atheist is hard. I can understand why you would want to tell schools of the burden, or cross, you bear.
Is it any less hard than being Mexican, black, or gay? I don't really see Jim Crow laws around anymore, rather the opposite, so I see the 'struggle' as more or less equivalent.
--ImageRemoved--

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:24 am

thederangedwang wrote:we were talking about culture and society...not individuals...do you deny the greeks as a civilization/culture were atheist?
And the Greek gods were moral? Where did Greeks get morality or values? If it was from the Greek gods then it wasn't anything we'd recognize as morality, certainly nothing like the Christian god's version. And what about societies today that are largely atheist/agnostic? Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, are these places devoid of culture?

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by jkpolk » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:25 am

JohnV wrote:
polkij333 wrote:
JohnV wrote: Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.
How is a belief in truth and form different from a belief in god?
For one, they killed Socrates for it, so they must have thought it was pretty different.
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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:25 am

Mr. Pancakes wrote: assumption.
Absolutely no assumptions were made in the creation of your quoted post. You're an idiot.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by thederangedwang » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:25 am

JohnV wrote:
polkij333 wrote:
JohnV wrote: Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.
How is a belief in truth and form different from a belief in god?
For one, they killed Socrates for it, so they must have thought it was pretty different.
so you acknowledge that the greeks as a society were religious?

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by bjsesq » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:26 am

JohnV wrote:
bjsesq wrote:Being an atheist is hard. I can understand why you would want to tell schools of the burden, or cross, you bear.
Is it any less hard than being Mexican, black, or gay? I don't really see Jim Crow laws around anymore, rather the opposite, so I see the 'struggle' as more or less equivalent.
It's clearly equally as hard, if not moreso, in today's United States. The higher rates of imprisoned atheists reflects this. Same with atheists below the poverty line.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by Mr. Pancakes » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:27 am

JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote: assumption.
Absolutely no assumptions were made in the creation of your quoted post. You're an idiot.
Mr. Pancakes wrote:
JohnV wrote: Are you kidding me? You know how volatile this topic is in Texas? I mean look at this forum, I asked a simple question and the first couple of post assumed I was a hedonistic demon spawn. There are PLENTY of cases of people being fired which lead back to their atheism coming to the forefront.
assumption.
You assumed that people assumed you to be a hedonist for being an atheist.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by aca0260 » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:27 am

OP - think before trolling.

Are Browns fans URM's because the Browns blow? They are a minority with regards to population and they have likely suffered the same degree of harship as an atheist in contemporary America. Use your head.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:27 am

thederangedwang wrote:
JohnV wrote:
polkij333 wrote:
JohnV wrote: Yes? Plato, Diagoras, Socrates, etc etc.
How is a belief in truth and form different from a belief in god?
For one, they killed Socrates for it, so they must have thought it was pretty different.
so you acknowledge that the greeks as a society were religious?
Sure, yet they produced individuals who clearly had a sense of morality higher than any of their peers who were not.

Do you acknowledge that we have largely atheist/agnostic places today that have plenty of culture and exhibit the same level of values/morality?

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:28 am

Mr. Pancakes wrote:
JohnV wrote:
Mr. Pancakes wrote: assumption.
Absolutely no assumptions were made in the creation of your quoted post. You're an idiot.
Mr. Pancakes wrote:
JohnV wrote: Are you kidding me? You know how volatile this topic is in Texas? I mean look at this forum, I asked a simple question and the first couple of post assumed I was a hedonistic demon spawn. There are PLENTY of cases of people being fired which lead back to their atheism coming to the forefront.
assumption.
You assumed that people assumed you to be a hedonist for being an atheist.
The guy said it in his post lol.

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Re: Atheism considered an URM/Diversity Statement Worthy?

Post by JohnV » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:29 am

bjsesq wrote:
JohnV wrote:
bjsesq wrote:Being an atheist is hard. I can understand why you would want to tell schools of the burden, or cross, you bear.
Is it any less hard than being Mexican, black, or gay? I don't really see Jim Crow laws around anymore, rather the opposite, so I see the 'struggle' as more or less equivalent.
It's clearly equally as hard, if not moreso, in today's United States. The higher rates of imprisoned atheists reflects this. Same with atheists below the poverty line.
These are reflective of economic backgrounds. But URM doesn't include just "poor", does it?

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