“It’s not what you believe but how you behave.” Those words mark one of the thirteen bus signs launched by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Madison-based free thought organization that recently made its presence known on campus by participating in the “Is God the Problem”? debate. The bus signs are a part of their new “Out of the Closet” campaign that aims to raise awareness about the existence of nonbelievers and challenge negative stereotypes about them.
As the title suggests, the campaign encourages nonbelievers who have yet to betray their views about faith publicly – for fear of marginalization from friends, family and society at large – to gather courage and make known their lack of faith. Such a campaign is becoming increasingly necessary in modern America, where atheists have grown to become a disliked and distrusted minority. As a study by the University of Minnesota in 2006 concluded, atheists ranked highest as a group that “does not at all agree with my vision of American society,” with Muslims and homosexuals trailing behind.
This disquieting trend is most evident among conservative Christian groups. During another campaign by the FFRF a few years ago, billboards were posted which stated three simple words: “Imagine no religion,” a reference to John Lennon’s 1971 song “Imagine.” The response was an outrage from the Christian right, with some even accusing atheists of “hating America.” There is a particularly rich irony in accusations of hatred from a group whose members regularly express condemnation towards various groups of people: Nonbelievers, Muslims, homosexuals or nearly anyone who does not abide by the words of the Bible. America, to them, is one nation indivisible under God. By that, of course, they mean their God.
Beginning in 1892, the year the Pledge of Allegiance was written, America was a nation indivisible. But that was only until 1954, when Congress decided America was instead to be one nation under God – duly dividing the nation into one group of people under God, another without God, and presumably another with many gods. Today, the amendment that was meant to set the United States apart from the “godless communists” of the Soviet Union is instead dividing the nation from the inside.
Now, by mourning the division, I do not mean that we should all pretend that differences do not exist, or that – as the hackneyed phrase goes – we should all sit down and sing “Kumbaya.” Instead of developing a state of oblivious truce, the 21st century has experienced the rise of the vocal atheists who speak out for their identity, and with that, striking back with criticism against the religious establishment. These outspoken atheists, often dubbed the “New Atheists,” either as individuals such as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Dan Barker, or groups such as the American Atheists of the FFRF, have made their presence visible to the mainstream audience.
Despite objections by some people who describe atheists as “strident” and “militant” in such places as books and public debates, their disagreement with religion does not measure up to hate. To borrow from UW’s mission statement, it is necessary to “encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.” That sifting and winnowing may often involve heated disagreements and arguments, but they need not be accompanied by hate or discrimination from groups not in concurrence with atheist ideas.
In combating hate and discrimination, the campaign by the FFRF is important; it aims to dispel the myth of the evil, immoral, “un-American” atheist, one who is determined to turn America into a Stalinist state where religion is illegal and immorality is the norm. It is important to show that, yes, there are atheists among us, they do not believe in God, and they disagree with much of persisting religious values. But they are as “American” as anyone else can be – they serve in the army, they pay their taxes, they abide by the law, they love and care for their family and friends. They are no different than “normal” Americans, and they do not deserve to be despised any more than other groups of people.
Only when these myths are dispelled, when we realize that our differences are less important than what we have in common, can we say the FFRF’s goal of promoting the social acceptance of nonbelievers has been accomplished. Atheists are ordinary, moral human beings, just like religious people; together, they are one nation indivisible – under no caveats – with liberty and justice for all.
Albert Budhipramono ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in biology.
