Although there
have been non-believers and skeptics for as long
as there has been religion, atheists have
recently received an inordinate amount of
unfavorable criticism. Modern
anti-atheist sentiment had its roots in the
nineteenth century, when new scientific
discoveries unexpectedly debunked popular
religious creation myths. Angry
reaction was sparked among religious
fundamentalist splinter groups, and the fuss
and bluster attracted public attention.
Soon fundamentalists, long considered
extremist crackpots, found their ranks of
followers swelling as considerable numbers of
the public sided with them in reaction
against the "godless scientists,"
and the movement took off.
But the worst
of it came down in the twentieth century, as
news of the atrocities of the new Soviet
regime filtered out to the West.
Following the Russian Revolution, the
Marxists had done everything in their power
to obliterate established religion, in the
belief that only those who rejected religious
allegiances could be regarded as true
patriots of the Soviet state and unwavering
supporters of the communist system.
Naturally there was a global backlash.
Within its borders the Soviet Union was able
to steam-roll such objections with threats
and brute force; but outside the Soviet
sphere, sentiment in favor of
religion was bolstered by reaction against such repressive
tactics. It was a natural (if rather
irrational) response to view communism, and
anything associated with it (including
atheism) as evil.
By the time of
the McCarthy era in the United States,
anti-atheist sentiment had become rabid;
since all communists were atheists, it was
erroneously but ardently argued, then all
atheists must be communists! If an
American at that time had the audacity to
express a disbelief in God, he was likely to
be publicly condemned as a communist
sympathizer, even if in fact he had no such
political leanings. He could wake up
one morning to find himself without a job,
his home mortgage foreclosed, and his
children expelled from public school.
In the anti-communist hysteria, the United
States of America was taking on many of the
fear-and-hate aspects of the very regime
whose policies it ostensibly opposed.
Then along came
Madalyn Murray-O'Hair and the now famous
organization which she founded, American
Atheists. Her militant activism forced
people to take a second look, not so much at
atheism itself, but at the coercive religious
influence which government was more and more
permitting upon itself, which frequently led
to religiously biased public policy in direct
violation of the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. Largely through O'Hair's
efforts the American public (at least the
intellectual portion of it) was gradually
re-educated to the facts that
godless-communist-atheist is not a single
word, and that people can disbelieve in God
and still be patriotic and law-abiding
Americans, with solid moral values and a love
of liberty, and fully entitled to all the
rights enjoyed by their fellow
citizens. She reminded us that the
underlying vitality and creativity which had
propelled America so far so fast in less than
two centuries was born, not of the
singularity of belief traditionally enforced
by the Old World, but of the diversity of
belief (including even disbelief) exemplified
by the New World. And she presented as
evidence of this that many of America's most
prominent benefactors, such as Franklin,
Jefferson, Madison, Twain, Edison, and
Einstein, to name but a few, had been
atheists, agnostics, deists, and other
freethinkers outside the religious
mainstream.
Unfortunately,
in her role as "America's most visible
atheist," Dr. O'Hair's attention-getting
public demeanor also fueled a public
misperception that perhaps all atheists were
like her—maybe not "evil," but
abrasive, loud, and offensive, with an
anti-religion axe to grind—at bottom an
image not too dissimilar from the
"wild-eyed college radical"
stereotype which the McCarthy faction had
promoted. While O'Hair had succeeded in
reaching those who listen with their minds,
the more emotionalistic majority remained as
convinced as ever that atheism was a
disruptive influence and that atheists were
undesirable troublemakers.
But in fact,
most atheists are quite unassuming. The
average atheist is your neighbor down the
street, the smiling check-out clerk at the
discount store, your child's school teacher,
your family doctor, your stock broker, your
plumber, your auto mechanic. He (or
she) has a family and friends. He goes
to work every day. He grumbles about
prices and taxes. He participates in
community activities. Quite likely he
is a military veteran. And on election
day he votes for Democrats or
Republicans. He is a capitalist; he
saves or invests regularly, and he may even
own his own business. He is ordinary in
every sense—except that he does not find
the conventional rationale for belief in the
supernatural at all convincing.
The average
atheist is comfortable with his own religious
point of view, and has little if any interest
in converting others to it. But by the
same token he does not appreciate others,
whether strangers, friends, or family
members, badgering him to accept their
beliefs and traditions. And he
certainly resents the effort of government,
acting on behalf of religion, to indoctrinate
his children in the public schools—using
his own tax dollars to do so! After
all, the average Christian American would be
outraged at the expenditure of tax money to
promote non-Christian religion in public
schools; why then should non-Christians
(including not only atheists, but followers
of other religious persuasions) be expected
to sit, quiet and uncomplaining, while their
own government attempts to christianize them
and their children?
No, aside from
their rejection of belief in the
supernatural, atheists are no different from
anyone else. As free citizens they
believe as they see fit, and respect the
freedom of others to believe
differently. Like anyone else, they
feel entitled to their belief, and are
justifiably annoyed at anyone who dares
insinuate that they are not. And they
are sick and tired of being portrayed as
"bad" people by ignorant political
demagogues and other panderers of fear and
hate. Weird? Not at all; they're
just as normal—just as human—as you
and I.
=SAJ=