What I think about Christians

What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous . . . it's dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!



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Now I want you to think about your feelings after reading the above. I'd guess you are angry. You are offended. You probably feel that statement is inappropriately inflammatory, even for an internet blog which has warned about offensive statements.

I have to confess to two sins. First, I have deceived you. Those words are not actually what I think about Christians. In fact, this blog post isn't about my thoughts on Christians and Christianity at all. And second, and perhaps more importantly, I am guilty of plagiarism because the words prefacing this post aren't mine at all. They are part of a story that made me feel physically ill when I read it.

The story can be summed up as follows:
An activist (who happened to be an atheist) Rob Sherman was testifying at a state legislature committee meeting of some sort. The topic was related to a million dollars of state money possibly going to a Baptist church. Rep. Monique Davis was asking him questions when she went into a bizarre hateful rant. Here's a transcript of it:

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -- it’s tragic -- when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous--

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court---

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

It's hard to put yourself into someone's shoes emotionally, so I hope that your reaction to the first statement helps you understand my reaction to this story from not only a rational viewpoint, but my emotional one as well.

This woman of fairly significant political power feels that this guy doesn't deserve to have any say in the legislative process because of his religious beliefs! And yet you don't see this story headlining national news. Imagine the public outcry if Sherman was a member of another branch of Christianity or a Muslim or even a Buddhist. In addition, if you listen to the mp3 of the event. you can hear people shouting agreement to Davis' hateful speech in the background. This is not just one irrational person. This is about a large influential group of irrational people.

Unfortunately there is a unspoken (although not always so unspoken, as we've seen) hatred of atheism in America. I remember dealing with this in great detail when I was beginning to come to terms with my own atheism. I'm not speaking of just the idea that the public dislikes it, but the fact that pieces of me were already biased against atheism, not for any rational reason, but just because that's part of the subtle indoctrination of our society, that atheism and atheists are terrible things and people.

The thing is that this is not some random wacko, this is part of a much, much larger cultural problem. I would bet money that more than one of my readers thinks that atheism is incompatible with "good" morality. Or that an atheist is automatically unqualified to be president. And this is after their hard views on atheism have been watered down by years of interacting with a "known" atheist.

I'm hesistant to use a word as powerful as discrimination to describe this phenomenon, but I think it's appropriate. Davis attacked Sherman not on the basis of his argument in the committee, but on his religious beliefs. That sounds like discrimination to me.

Of course, it would be a poor argument if I just pointed to this one situation and claimed discrimination, but unfortunately this is just one of many stories that I have read.

Some states have statements in their constitutions that specifically require a belief in a higher power to hold office. These statements no longer hold the power of law after a supreme court ruling, but the fact that they remain and have not been removed says something about how politically disadventageous it is to even suggest that atheists have full rights as citizens, despite the fact that this should be obvious to anyone with passing knowledge of our US constitution.

Did you know that people would be more willing to elect a homosexual to the presidency than an atheist? Gallup says so I've seen similar polls that place atheists below Muslims, as well. Note I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with being a Muslim or homosexual, just pointing out that even with the blatant hatred that a large number of Americans show towards homosexuals and muslims, that atheism is apparently even more despised. It just isn't talked about. At least in polite society (which it's a good thing I'm not a member of)

"Okay, so some woman of marginal political power that I've never heard of doesn't like atheists. Who cares?" you may be saying. Well, what about a man of considerable political power. George Bush Sr. had this to say about atheists, strangely enough, to the same guy (Apparently he is or was a reporter for the American Atheist news journal).

Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?

Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me.

Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?

Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?

Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists.

So, apparently a former president thinks that I shouldn't be considered a citizen of the US because of my religious beliefs. If you aren't truly repulsed by that statement, then you should seriously consider what you mean when you talk about America as the land of the free.

This is the tip of the iceberg. The more you become aware of these issues, the more you can see them pop up everywhere. Often the hatred is passive and relatively harmless, but again and again it bubbles to the surface. It certainly doesn't make me feel welcome here. And that is one of the several reasons why I am not certain I want to live in America when I enter the real world.