atheism: repping the cause

When a person identifies with a given group--especially any sort of minority--there is (whether it is "fair" or not) a double-burden of representing the whole. I was thinking about this recently when a friend of mine had a bad experience with anti-Prop 8 canvassers. The canvasser rudely refused a $1 donation, insisting that all donations must be made minimally with a symbolic $8. First off, that is just stupid. If every person gave that $1, the campaign would be in great shape. But worse, the cranky canvasser misrepresented a movement about inclusion, equality, and love as dismissive, condescending, and rude. Aside from being in poor taste, it is also in poor campaign strategy.

This brought me back to my own atheist dilemma. As a secular humanist, I encounter all sorts of religious people that feel an unrelenting need to preach to me--even strangers on planes. The problem is, I can't say what I really want to say, because the last thing I would ever want to do is affirm the idea that atheists "can't handle god" or are "close-minded" or "stubborn" or "extremists." In an effort to represent the cause, I have to put up with listening to so much banter. I don't want to go to your seminars "proving" god or read your "science-based" books--not because I am scared of the truth, but because to me, that would be the equivalent of reading objective support for the boogy monster or the tooth fairy or Santa Clause.

I'm a busy person. I have countless other interests. It literally pains me and is a waste of my life force to hear people rationalize god to me. But I feel this pressure and guilt to politely, respectfully, and rationally engage as an atheist and represent my peeps.

Humph. A double-burden and a double-bind.

atheist organization membership on the rise

They're just more and more of us, and we keep on organizing. The New York Times reports:

They are connecting on the Internet, holding meet-ups in bars, advertising on billboards and buses, volunteering at food pantries and picking up roadside trash, earning atheist groups recognition on adopt-a-highway signs.

They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.

“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”

Polls show that the ranks of atheists are growing. The American Religious Indentification Survey, a major study released last month, found that those who claimed “no religion” were the only demographic group that grew in all 50 states in the last 18 years. Read full article

Obama confuses church and state

Obama expands the White House Faith Office.

Why?

I am telling myself that Barack is just trying to do his dance down the middle of the aisle. Closing Gitmo: 1 point for the civil libertarians and libs. Religious mumbo jumbo: one for the religious right.

But I won't lie--I am just disappointed. Social services? Yes. Faith-based organizations receiving federal funds? No.

"The God Who Wasn't There"

Check out the trailer for the "The God Who Wasn't There"--a documentary exploring the historical likelihood that Jesus never even existed.

You can also check out the official website and order the dvd here.

atheist group challenges governor of Colorado

Kudos to the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

Reporting from Denver -- Bill Ritter Jr. was not the first governor of Colorado to declare the first Thursday in May as a day of prayer.

But he was the first to attend a celebration of the National Day of Prayer at the state Capitol, joining a crowd of several hundred Christians in 2007. His appearance at the event caught the attention of a Wisconsin-based atheist group, which has mounted a campaign its leaders hope will dissuade him and other governors from participating again.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking to stop the governor from issuing any proclamations it says endorse a particular religion and send a message to nonreligious residents "that they are expected to believe in God."

"Everybody has become too comfortable with this interaction of religion and government. Sometimes someone needs to push back," said David Habecker, 63, one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs and a member of the foundation.

Habecker was ousted as town trustee in Estes Park, Colo., in a 2005 recall after he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because he objected to the phase "under God."

The suit is part of a broader campaign by the group to overturn the 1952 law designating a National Day of Prayer and mandating an annual proclamation by the president. full article

atheist placard alongside nativity scence--what's the fuss?

The Freedom from Religion Foundation put a sign celebrating the winter solstice and denouncing religion next to a Nativity scene in the Legislative Building of Olympia, Washington. While calls of appreciation are pouring in (25% of residents are unaffiliated with religion or atheist), so are angry residents and Christian organizations.

On the issue, Governor Gregoire commented, ""I happen to be a Christian, and I don't agree with the display that is up there,but that doesn't mean that as governor, I have the right to deny their ability to express their free speech."

Thanks, Governor. You are exercising rational thought.

Read the full article.

Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Gag me. If there is an interest in promoting tolerance and peaceful coexistence to eliminate poverty and challenge conflict--why must be it be presented through a framework of "faith"?

These are issues that can be explored through diversity and reason.

Blair remarks, "Religious faith will be of the same significance to the 21st Century as political ideology was to the 20th Century."

That is alarming. If religion became any more significant, I might consider purchasing my own island.

Christian Nation, Prison Nation

I just read an insightful little post from Atheist Revolution, exploring the irony that our "Christian" nation is also the world's largest prison nation. Although the US has less than 5% of the world's population, we have nearly 25% of the world's prison population.

Since "real Christians" do not commit crimes, they insist, it must be the atheists and false Christians who are filling our nation's prisons.

Of course, those who bother to investigate this possibility soon find that godlessness is unusually rare in correctional facilities. Contrary to the often repeated claims that atheists are simply immoral monsters, the data show that we are underrepresented in prison.

This seems to be a case of trying to have it both ways. The Christian nation crowd argues that America is deeply Christian while at the same time decrying our insufficiently Christian culture and its alleged effects.

atheist soldier suing Defense Department

Spec. Jeremy Hall, a soldier in Iraq, was prevented from gathering with other atheists and non-Christians, and is basing his lawsuit on practices that discriminate against non-Christians in the military. His First Amendment rights were also frequently violated due to discrimination he faced when refusing to join prayer.

Atheist Revolution reports the full story, as well as Hall's jeopardized safety resulting from his suit against Maj. Freddy Welborn and Secretary of Defense Gates for violating his religious freedom--meaning freedom to both participate in and refrain from religion.

I don't know why it is so difficult to tolerate atheisism. If anything, a group of people who value reason are an asset to society--even if a theist disagrees with one belief in a larger framework that values critical thinking.

Center for Inquiry Office of Public Policy launches its blog!

Stay up to date with policies affecting and supported by the secular humanist community. Check out the blog.

need a community of free-thinkers, science, and reason?

The Center For Inquiry promotes secular humanism and freedom of thought, focusing on culture, science, and public policy. But I am much more excited to learn about chapters in different states. Finally, people with whom to meet and speak freely. Since I'm leaving Washing DC soon, I will wait until I get home to meet some of the one-million skeptics, humanists, and other rationalists in the Greater Los Angeles.

Peruse the website; there are centers and communities throughout the country. I am so excited.

let's talk about being gay and terrorism

State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, declared "the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation" and that homosexuality poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism. "According to God's word, that is not the right kind of lifestyle," she said.

You want to talk about terrorism? You want to talk about systematic fear and oppression instilled by social, professional, and governmental institutions and related organizations? Try being a sexual minority or a gender non-conformist in an intolerant, bible-beating, war zone. You can't even escape it in a big city.

I love how Kern talks about high suicide rates and depression among sexual minorities--huh, I wonder why? If you are not comfortable being yourself, if you are subject to violence and discrimination, if you are hiding or suppressing your lifestyle--you are susceptible to depression.

Then Kern moves onto "indoctrination" in schools. Please. You subscribe to an extreme ideological religious framework. You believe in god.

I am going to control myself from going into an atheist tirade on sin, ignorance, and the entire concept of the bible. I am just very concerned to see members of government promoting religious agendas.

The sad thing is, when Kern resigns or does not get re-elected or whatever her consequence is, she will feel proud that she is a martyr and spreading god's word or some other pathetic version of the same story. Then she will blame her joblessness on the gays.

religion, the presidency, and public appeal

Atheist Revolution had some insightful statistics:

• 78% of Americans have favorable views of presidential candidates citing the Christian bible when speaking about their political positions.
• 75% of Americans believe that it is appropriate for each President to be sworn into office on a Christian bible.
• 60% report that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who "speaks publicly about following the example of admirable leaders from the Bible and who consistently uses the Bible for guidance in both public and personal matters."
• 50% would not vote for an atheist.

But for me, the real question is--which and how many presidential candidates throw out the god card just to win?

religion, the christian hierarchy, and the presidency

As much as presidential hopefuls like to whine about the discrimination they face because of their faith--ooh, people hate on me because I'm Mormon; ooh, I'm seen as a former minister, not governor--the truth of the matter is, I don't know where this alleged attack on religion is coming from. The way I see it, you HAVE to prescribe to religion in order to be a viable candidate. If I hear Hillary or Barack, the liberals, reference god or faith one more time, I will vomit.

I actually think that candidates even enjoy saying that they are judged for their faith, simply so they can keep reiterating their own religiosity and instill in the public how their holy crap smells like roses after all.

When candidates whine about religious discrimination, they are really complaining about the Christian hierarchy which gives higher appeal to certain types of Christians. But as long as you love Jesus, you still reap the benefits of the Christian advantage.

Once you move out of Christian pool of privilege, then you really feel the heat of discrimination. Americans will surely get a woman or black Christian president before a male Jew. But even so, all monotheists share the God Lover advantage, and therefore will always experience public favor over say atheists, who revoke the God Lover advantage by revoking God.

However, in terms of the presidency, it can be argued that at this particular historical moment, an atheist could one-up a Muslim...but only the context of alleged Islamo-fascism.

While the presidency is off-limits to non-Christians, Congress is slowly becoming a different matter. There is one openly-atheist member of the House: Representative Pete Stark (D-Cal), a member since 1973. And in 2007, the first Muslim Representative, Keith Ellison, was sworn in on Thomas Jefferson's Koran.

Although it is worth noting that, according to the Secular Coalition, "If the number of nontheists in Congress reflected the percentage of nontheists in the population, there would be 53-54 nontheistic Congress members instead of one."

State Constitutions that Discriminate Against Atheists

Worth a glance

MLK

I stumbled upon an interesting atheist revision of Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Atheist display repeatedly vandalized

WEST CHESTER — "The “Tree of Knowledge” in front of the county courthouse was vandalized Saturday night, marking the fourth time in the last month someone has defaced this monument to atheism.

Members of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia put up the 15-foot evergreen just before the Christmas season and have been monitoring it ever since.

The atheist group got the idea for the tree after seeing the menorah and nativity scene that the county had allowed religious groups to place on the courthouse property. County commissioners granted approval for the tree, allowing the Freethought Society for the first time to put up such a display.

While the religious displays have drawn little public ire, the “Tree of Knowledge” has been a source of many complaints."

It is strange how freedom of religion sounds so tolerant--but really, how tolerant is a compulsory religious attitude? Why is any religion, so long as you have one, necessary?

Freedom to choose any religion should be as vital as freedom to abstain from religion without shame, harassment, disenfranchisement, discrimination, and the like.

Romney & Huckabee....gag me

My new favorite blog, Atheist Revolution, had an interesting post regarding the fundamentalism of Romney versus Huckabee--ultimately finding Huckabee's more atrocious, but from a different approach.

Romney made a horrifying religious speech earlier this month, of which this paragraph I found most alarming:

"Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone."

Also in the world of incompetent presidential candidates earlier in December, Huckabee refused to retract his 1992 statement that AIDs patients should be ISOLATED. Let's re-examine some of the highlights from his original rant:

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."

"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

And by the way:

"I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."

But instead of focusing on the egregious ignorance of a presidential hopeful (because in the early 90's it was medically understood that AIDs is not transmitted through casual contact) and his related homophobic slurs...what deserves equal attention is Huckabee's use of the term plague and its biblical connotations.

As summed by Atheist Revolution, "I do not see this as accidental but rather as evidence of the degree to which his thinking is dominated by a biblical world view."

Well-said.

how I became an atheist

After spending some time perusing atheist blogs, I have noticed quite a few posts explaining how the blogger became an atheist. I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.

I grew up in a bi-religious household, and the matter of religion was quite contentious in my family--to the point of hostility and division. At the age of twelve, I decided that I was Jewish, and subsequently prepared for my bat mitzvah. Prayer was very important to me. At first I prayed out of guilt, but then as a form of self-reflection and expression.

I never felt the need to attend temple--I was of the "the kingdom of god is within you" camp. My religiosity was internal, and channeled a few times a year through the big Jewish holidays. At the same time, being "good" was always at the forefront of my mind--to the point of anxiety.

As I grew older, I began to contemplate the subjective nature of religion: how I am of one because I was born in a particular place under particular circumstances, and had I been born elsewhere, I would have turned out completely differently. I humored myself with the fact that, in warfare, both sides proclaim the backing of God. And both sides will die believing such. How could a preaching Christian expect one to convert, if that same Christian would never consider conversion? And this is how institutionalized religion fell out of favor with me. And this is how self-righteousness became silly to me.

Somewhere in the year 2005, perhaps as my world view made a 180 in discovering that I need not conform to social constructions and arbitrary delineations of femininity, I suddenly came to a new conclusion:

The only reason I ever had for believing in god was the fact that I had been constantly told that I must. That was it. What a feeble, irrational reason. So I just stopped. And as of that moment, the incessant weight of behaving properly in the eye's of god, the constant worry and self-scrutiny (which was, by the way, heavily co-mingled in feminine constructions of purity), the internal debates of how I ought to behave--suddenly stopped as well.

What was funny to me was how my prayer continued despite my unflinching atheist sentiments. I knew that I was not attempting to communicate with god, but that the coerced and guilt-ridden obligation of prayer had become an avenue of self-introspection and reflection. I decided that, although this was occurring in the form of prayer, this was actually my round-about way of communicating with myself. As time progressed, this faded.

Now I can honestly and directly engage my own critical thinking and rational expression, and do not need to mediate this through a fallacious third party. But I feel terribly sorry for those who do. Being intellectually and ethically self-reliant is both empowering and rewarding.

Realizing my own atheism has been as liberating as understanding that my genitals do not obligate me to a specific lifestyle, bundle of goals, or set of behaviors. Suddenly, anything and everything is available for my exploration and mental digestion. And that, my friends, is praiseworthy.

great quote

"Truth is not a democratic construct, so the fact that the majority of Americans believe in something like angels has no bearing on whether angels actually exist."--Atheist Revolution