Atheism can be argued to be the default position for
people—that is, we are atheists until we become socialized otherwise. However, since religion is ubiquitous
throughout all cultures, it might also be said that atheism has to be reached
one way or another.
For many, atheism is
reached after great personal struggle with their religious background. The ideological layers that most people
receive as children—when they are most susceptible due to the lack of developed
critical thinking skills—takes time, information, and thought to peel
away. Due to this difficulty, most
people end up remaining religious to some degree. Atheism is, for most, not only incomprehensible but often seems
evil or somehow immoral even when it is comprehended.
However, some people don’t have to traverse the same
religious-oriented psychological, emotional, and epistemological terrain in
order to arrive at atheism. For better
or for worse, I am one of those people.
The
consequences of this are twofold. On
the one hand, my thought processes and biases are not as strongly affected by
religious ideologies. In this culture,
where protestant Christianity is the dominant religious atmosphere, it means
that I have never readily looked at the world in the sense of, for example,
right and wrong in anything but a rational, logical, or philosophical way. This means that I understand how one can be
ethical without relying on divine command.
My worldview had to be, due to the lack of any particular
religious ideology, thought out and rationalized.
On
the other hand, I am not much of an inspiration for people who are in some part
of the process of questioning their religious perspective. That is, I cannot share my experiences of my
transformation to atheism in the same way as a former missionary, minister, etc
can. It also means that I cannot
sympathize as well with people who hold religious beliefs—they just seem silly
and completely alien to me.
Thus,
atheism is, for me, the conclusion of a life spent studying various religious
and philosophical perspectives; having always been fascinated by people who
live a life of faith.
This
is not to say that I have a privileged epistemological perspective on the
nature of the universe; I don’t have any better a point of view than anyone
else. That is, I cannot know whether or
not there is some kind of thing we could call “God” than the next person. What I do have, however, is a comprehensive
understanding of the development of theism as well as a complex metaphysical
outlook that challenges the simplistic theologies that dominate the masses of
theists.
I
admit that there may be a completely transcendent being that exists. It would
be the kind of being that we not only could never know directly, but we could
also never hope to understand even if it could communicate some
revelation. I am, despite this admitted
lack of certainty, unwilling to hold faith in this type of being for complex
philosophical reasons that are not fully relevant here.
This
begs the question of what is relevant here; what is atheism for me in this
culture, this political climate, this era of unwarranted religious
fundamentalism?
Atheism
is the position that denies the existence of God as defined by dominant
religious ideologies. The plain fact is
that most people are too unsophisticated to talk about theology in the way that
I—as well as many other atheists—are able to.
Thus the political front concerning the issues of the day must be a
battle against the discrimination and ignorance derived from sophomoric notions
of those that dominate the Christian Right as well as those who manipulate
these masses.
The relationship between religion and politics in the
United States is complex and wrapped up in public emotions. It is not the place for government to either
endorse or denounce our position concerning religious ideology. We, as members of an active society of
Freethinkers, generally understand this.
Thus, we fight against discrimination against atheists as well as the
lack of government neutrality in religious related program activities.
The problem is that those affiliated with theistic
movements, particularly the Christian Right, do not understand this and they
view our presence as a threat to their worldview. For some, this worldview is a Christian based society; for
others, we are just trying to challenge the truth of Christianity’s intimate
relationship with our history and culture.
However, I believe that for most people discrimination against atheists
is just a reaction to being put in the position of being challenged on their
religious belief systems, and wanting us to just go away.
I do not believe it is our place as a group to challenge
these individuals’ beliefs directly; no matter how strong our personal desires
to do so are. However, I believe we
need to continue to fight for our place at the table in order to allow our
perspective to be heard.
The simple fact is that most people don’t know much about
atheism, and what they do know is often incorrect. For many who are not even practicing theists, atheism will seem
somehow demonic, evil, or immoral. The
confusion between Atheism and Satanism, for example, is both absurd and a major
stumbling block to socio-political understanding that could lead to our having
a place at a table not set with knives of discrimination to cut meals of fear
on plates of ignorance.
We need to promote the motto of education more than
anything now. Not so much the education
of why we are right (once again, no matter how strong our personal desires for
this are) but the education of why it is that we have as much of a right to—and
a valid opinion in—the debate about religious issues in our culture. Too many people believe that we don’t have
this validity, and are thus slow to honor our rights.
We
cannot allow superstitious beliefs to continue to dominate the public sphere
the way it has done for the vast majority of the world’s history. We have, in the USA, a nation based upon
principles of religious freedom and neutrality that allow us to challenge
theistic and religious worldviews. But
this basis is now being challenged by various, primarily Christian, political
fronts.
We
have an enemy that is more effective than bombs, more elusive than terrorists,
and (at least to atheists) scarier than hell.
This enemy is a combination of fear, misinformation, and ignorance; they
all manifest in defensive behavior at being challenged, the insistence of faith
in superstitious beliefs, and a lack of understanding of those they oppose: us.
Their
lack of willingness to open themselves to alternative views on the world in
anything but a disingenuous manner is a testament to the potential for human
foolishness. The irony is that this
potential for weakness is often the source of the need to believe in something
perfect, eternal, and loving to fill in the gaps of their strengths.
Thus,
our job is to show theists that even without the belief in or guidance from a
deity, humanity has the potential for justice, morality, love, strength,
happiness, and even inspiration. Our
lives should be the testament for such a perspective, and FSGP one such vehicle
for its dissemination. We should be
educating by example; if people need an inspirational role model for morality,
lifestyle, etc, let them have one that, at least, actually exists.