Atheists fed up? Believe it!

[cleanhippie]

Many of the millions of Americans who do not believe in the supernatural have had enough of being targeted by unremitting discrimination. I know this because of the telling reaction to a Washington Post opinion article I wrote last month.

After the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” it occurred to me that gays were making greater strides than atheists and agnostics in popular acceptance. Support for gay marriage is now at majority level. Houston, of all places, has a lesbian mayor. No one considers sexual orientation of guests entering the White House, yet it remains an event worthy of comment when the president remembers to note Americans of non-faith along with those of faith, The subtle bigotry begins in childhood, when atheist kids are asked to recite “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance or are unable to join Boy Scouts. If Jews or blacks were being excluded in the same ways, there would be indignation.

The bum deal American atheists have constantly received is extensively documented in “Atheists as Other” published in the journal American Sociological Review. American anti-atheism that sees the nonreligious as a dangerous foreign element dates to the early years of the republic, with Christians being the main perpetrators. Never mind that a number of founders, including crafters of the Declaration of Independence, were deists, or that the writers of the Constitution were careful to state that the power of the government derives from “We the people,” not “We the people under God.” And the Cold War did not help matters, causing many Americans to conclude that being ungodly meant somehow being in league with the atheistic commie Reds, while true-blue Americans (before blue meant liberal Democrat) were faith-based churchgoers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/atheists-fed-up-believe-it/2011/06/16/AGThoUXH_blog.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews

[haikugal]

1. Good Article...It's about time we stood UP!!

[Scuba]

2. My tolerance for intolerant people is wearing thin. I've had people tell me....

...it's an affront to them that an athiest should exist in the country.




I occasionally am inclined to ask how that praying for peace thing is working?



(typo edit)

[Hissyspit]

3. Response:

"Why should I give a shit that it's an affront to you? It's an affront to me that you find it an affront. Aren't we all so special in our affronts?"

[cleanhippie]

5. .

[Mumble]

4. There is alway a big demand for a hate group.

Gotta have some group in the minority to hate. Blacks were in fashion once, gays then took the limelight, and now apparently, it's the godless atheists turn to take the blunt of hate from the uneducated and fearfully majority.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. As more and more people start to question this god thing,

atheists will gain more power and respectability. And if the fundies keep up the pressure on America to be so righteous, this will not take as long as I had expected. I find more and more people turning away from churches and established religions, and that is the first step toward non-belief.

[Taverner]

7. One can only hope