The Asterisk
You may have noticed this asterisk in the sidebar. It is, of course, the Athterisk, a symbol for secular humanism in general and atheism specifically.
There was some debate as to what symbol we should adopt, but no consensus was reached (herding cats, and whatnot), so I just went ahead and picked the one I liked best.
From here (and originally here):
- It is rotationally symmetrical, thereby privileging no single direction.
- The odd number of arms means that no one is in direct opposition to any other, discouraging overly simplistic binary interpretations [good/bad, love/fear etc].
- As a typographic element, it alludes to the significance of writing without being [too] language-specific.
- It is easy to reproduce, and easy to describe. If someone asked “what’s an atheist symbol?” you could describe it over the phone (why you would ever need to answer this question over the phone is hair).
- The asterisk is commonly employed to draw attention to things, so it is kind of anti-complacent.
- The asterisk is commonly used as a “wildcard”, capable of representing a multiplicity of real things, and so it evokes the unknown without invoking the unknowable.
- It can be seen as a stylized representation of the Big Bang — currently the most workable theory to describe the origin of the cosmos.
- It looks a bit like a little person reaching out for a hug. Very humanist.
- Five is a very human/natural number— 5 fingers, 5 toes, 5 senses, 5 major appendages. And from the Pixies song: if man is 5, then the devil is 6, and god is 7
- It also looks a little like a flower, and the pansy is considered a symbol of free thought. Marvel at how some of these pictures of pansies are vaguely asterisk shaped!
I’m reasonably sure Times New Roman is in the public domain at this point, so I’m not using his SVG.
So yes, of course I am atheist. You can read more about my stance on religion here.