Letters to the Editor
Picko
Published Letters: 265 Editor's Choice: 11
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@ goeswithness
[Read the article: Should I come out as an atheist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](sigh)
First, I think it's a bit ridiculous to suggest that atheists are itching to take over and persecute Christians and other believers. That just sounds like one of the more fevered paranoias of the Christian right.
My point about Twain, Nietzsche and Voltaire is that none of them were overly polite in their critiques of Christianity or religion in general. They did not traffic in insincere respect. Socrates was a master of sarcasm and he was put to death for impiety. Hell, I don't remember Jesus being all that respectful of the Pharisees.
Some people have this idea that at the end of the day we all have to respect each others' ideas. Personally, I think we just need to respect the good ones.
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@ fetboy
[Read the article: Should I come out as an atheist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Atheism is a belief - of course it's a belief. The fact that I am sitting at a chair typing on a computer is also a belief. So?
Obviously, you have not read my posts very closely, because what I primarily find objectionable is the notion that atheists should be seen but not heard.
The religious have thousands and thousands of meetingplaces - called churches - where they regularly get together and celebrate their beliefs. They have television networks that regularly broadcast their beliefs. One of their beliefs is that people like me - people who don't share their beliefs - are bad bad people, second class citizens in the universe.
As soon as an atheist speaks out in a public forum, they are told their views are not suitable for polite company. Thus, the religious get to excoriate atheists as a matter of course, but atheists are forbidden by etiquette from expressing themselves. This is one reason why religious people exert a great deal of political power in this country, and atheists, who represent perhaps 10% of the population, exert practically none.
If you had read my first posting on this subject, you would know that I come from a religious family. I love my parents and I respect the sincerity of their religious belief. I have many friends who are devoutly religious. Nowhere did I call religious people stupid. I recognize that many religious people are very smart. It just so happens that a lot of smart people believe a lot of extremely absurd things, and if you should dare to point that out, people get angry at you and tell you that you're being intolerant.
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Anonymous, please read my first post on this subject
[Read the article: Should I come out as an atheist?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I actually didn't advise the LW either way about what he should do. I told him what I did in roughly the same circumstance, without stating that he should do the same thing. My other responses were aimed not at him, but at the peanut gallery of people who said, among other things, that coming out was some sort of Jerry Springer-esque exhibitionism. The fact is, if you are openly an atheist, there are certain things that you just aren't going to do - like go to church. So it's not always a matter of saying "Ta da! I'm an atheist!" There are often much more subtle ways of coming out. When your pious relatives notice that you're not going to church, they might begin to suspect that something is up. Until fairly recently I never explicitly told my parents that I don't believe in God. I didn't think it was any of their business. I just stopped doing the things that religious people do (and mind you, I had been going through the motions for a couple years up until I stopped). Last year, though, I went to the Christmas service at my parents' new church (my dad retired from the ministry last year). In participating in the service, I decided to split the difference - I sang along with the traditional Christmas hymns (which I quite like) but I didn't say any of the prayers (I knelt, of course, so as not to be conspicuous). I even put five dollars in the offering to compensate the church for the candle (it was a candle-light service). You'll be surprised to learn that I did not denounce the pastor as I shook his hand on the way out.
The problem I have is that religious faith is no longer a private matter in our country. The Republican candidates are now making ostentatious statements about their faith and how much they pray. The Democrats, having been faulted for being more reserved in their expressions of piety, are starting to follow suit. By contrast, I spent the whole decade of the nineties without giving religion much thought one way or the other. I thought the culture war was just a fantasy of a bunch of fringe lunatics. However,the term "secular humanist" has now entered into currency as a perjorative on at least one major news outlets (guess which one) and this "meme" seems to be seeping into the culture at large. And I think atheists need to stand up for ourselves. Honestly, one of the best things for the gay rights movement was when homosexuals started coming out of the closet. Although there's currently a bit of a backlash against gays, the cause of gay rights has discernibly advanced during my lifetime. And it's because gays got sick of being in the closet. Now, just as I wouldn't suggest that coming out is the right decision for every gay, I wouldn't suggest that coming out is the right decision for every atheist. Every person has to make his or her own choice.