by Damon Martin
In today’s America, I could easily say I was a Catholic, a Baptist, a Mormon, or a Muslim and likely get less criticism and hatred spewed at me than simply saying I don’t believe in any god or book that talks about a god. It’s for that reason that today I ‘come out of the closet’ and proudly say that I’m an atheist. I won’t apologize for that and hopefully more atheists will do the same.
At the University of Kansas recently, a group of students launched a campaign called ‘We Are Atheists‘ modeled after the famous ‘It Gets Better’ campaign focused around gays and lesbians.
The ‘We Are Atheists’ ideal is simply a way for more non-believers to come out and not be afraid to speak about their lack of belief in a god, or their belief in science or evolution, or whatever it is that brought them to decree that they are an atheist.
Co-founder Amanda Brown put together a five-minute video that’s being circulated around YouTube speaking about why she is an atheist and encouraging others to speak out as well.
It’s a similar ideal to that of famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins who started the ‘Out Campaign’ a few years ago. Dawkins created the movement with the exact same thought in mind:
“The Out Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows”
Atheism is almost like a dirty word in American culture. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in May 2011 asked voters what potential traits would sway them negatively away from a political candidate. 7% said that a political candidate being a woman could sway them away, 33 % said a candidate being gay could push their vote the other way, while 46% said that a candidate who had an extra marital affair wouldn’t get their vote. As for atheists, well a whopping 61% said that that was a negative trait that would keep them from receiving a vote.
The fact is, not believing in god scares the general public because believing in god, any god, is something that’s so widely accepted, that society by default dictates that you have to believe in something to be accepted. It’s not enough that the Bible, Koran, or any other religious texts all disagree on where the world came from or how to get to heaven, that ultimately religious folks all believe in some magical spaceman in the sky – believing in anything rather than nothing is preferential when it comes to creating camaraderie.
The fact is I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in a higher deity, I don’t believe in the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon or any other religious text. I went to church as a kid and I thought I believed in god the same as everyone else around me. I had an aunt and uncle that took me to church with them and I felt accepted, and I felt like this was what I was supposed to do.
As time went on however, I realized that I never felt a ‘divine presence’ and when I read the Bible cover to cover, it literally scared the hell out of me. How could a god that was supposed to be so loving and forgiving be so selfish as to ask you to literally love him above everything else? How could this same god kill, murder, and have horrible acts done in his name on page after page after page?
I always joke with people that the easiest way to make an atheist is to have them read the Bible, but the reality is that it was a shock of reality for me as much as reading any book about science or even Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. There is however just as much wonder and amazing things in science as there will ever be in a book like the Bible, conversely there’s a lot less rape, murder, and genocide in a science text than a book talking about god.
I do have morals and none of them are based on the Ten Commandments or other religious beliefs that have been passed along. I know I shouldn’t kill a person because it’s simply wrong, not because god told me it was wrong.
With the holiday season just around the corner, I’m sure to have friends ask me about how I’ll celebrate Christmas, and I usually respond with the same thing every year: “It’s a day off from work.” But pushed deeper, I’ll happily explain that I don’t celebrate Christmas the same way that I don’t celebrate Easter or any other religious holiday.
Sure, Christmas is more about gift giving and seeing family now than anything to do with the supposed birth of Christ, but it’s something I’d rather not acknowledge and that’s my choice. The same way I don’t expect all of my friends to read the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, or follow the speeches given by Christopher Hitchens.
The fact is I’m an atheist and that doesn’t make me any better or worse of a person than anybody reading this article. But I refuse to be afraid to talk about why I don’t believe a god exists the same way so many Christians happily thank god when something good goes right in their life.
If that makes me a lightning rod for criticism, so be it. I know I’m not alone and I’m happy to stand up and make the statement.
I am an atheist.
