Letters to the Editor
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It's about the line between belief and action
I'm an atheist, always have been. I argue about religion whenever I get the chance. But I was very uncomfortable with Sam Harris's idea that religious moderates are the big danger in the world, because they enable religious fundamentalists. After all, aren't moderates halfway to atheism? Historically, that's pretty much the case.
Hedges does us all a service in pointing out the big problem with militant atheism: it can lead to militant nationalism. Atheism may be neccessary, in the long run, for a morality that encompasses all of humanity (not just your religion), but it is not sufficient. It is not even, in this era, the most important thing. The most important thing, possibly, is to focus on the effects of any principal, dogma, belief system, on real people and weigh that. You can believe that religion is wrong, but when you believe that religious people are not only wrong, but should be stopped cold, you are crossing a line.
I always resent the "atheism is it's own religion" argument and I think Hedges is wrong about that. Atheism is a one-liner: there is no God. After that, you have to figure out what you think is right or wrong. Some look to philosophy, some to science, some just take it as it comes. But he's alerted us to a bigger danger -- that intolerance of religion can lead to intolerance of religious people and that can lead to war, genocide and other great ills.
The front in this long historic war of ideas is not where people like Harris put it. We are still fighting the war to separate church and state, to recognize (as Hedges does) the difference between piety and morality, and so on. Atheism and atheists still need to be recognized as valid positions and people in our society, much less in Iran. But we atheists need to keep our patience, not resort to cheap rhetoric. I agree with another poster that most atheists share little with Harris or Hitchens, but it's worth considering that their message is now getting a lot of play and will be influential. Atheists are no more immune to hype than anyone else.