I'm a Humanist, an atheist, a recovering Christian (think "recovering alchoholic" for the right sense of that term) and I often write about religion in a less-than-complementary way on my website. But most of the feedback I have gotten hasn’t really been about humanism but about atheism. One might be a theist and a humanist at the same time, indeed, to their credit many Jews seem to feel this way.  As it happens I believe that in all likelihood, there’s no god, and  furthermore that the future, if any, is up to us.

Please feel free to write in to me.  I welcome all feedback:

"You should be thinking about where you'll be spending eternity." (Right! I knew I forgot something! Explain to me again why your legend of salvation is more reliable than all the others?)

"I read the parts where you talked about Christianity, and I feel the same way. It's so hard to deal with my folks trying to make me feel like a criminal because I don't believe in God." (I'm starting to understand that lots of people don't believe in God, but are afraid to say so.)

"Even if I have been wrong about God all of my life, which I'm not, I would rather be wrong at the end of my life and just fade away. Then to be in a sea of fire with Satan laughing at just how stupid I am." (So you can turn your belief on or off under threat of punishment?)

"I will be praying for you, and hope that God's mercy will recover your soul before it is too late." (Thanks, I appreciate that.)

"Atheists are the most oppressed belief in the country." (This comment came from a Christian, and even though the grammer is slightly fractured, I agree with the sentiment.)

“It is very difficult being an atheist.  One must pretend a lot around the majority of people; Christians profess tolerance, but there is virtually none.” (You’re so right. People casually mention their Christianity all the time in conversation and that’s OK, but can’t handle learning someone doesn’t share it.)

“You should take articles about atheism off your website - you might lose your job.” (or words from a family member to that effect.)  I hope not, but it’s a good point: atheists are fair game for discrimination.  Former president George Bush, Sr. leads the way by saying atheists should not be allowed to be citizens, and his campaign manager remarked that anything an atheist says is ‘bullsh*t.” 

I really do appreciate feedback - even the negative stuff. If a reader really gets upset, or worries about my eternal soul, it shows I've managed to communicate something, and that's a small success. After all, I am trying to learn to write, with the goal of making a living hitting keys, someday.

Others connect to the sense of loss, of isolation, that comes from being an atheist. Once you stop believing in God, you become something of an outcast, a pariah. What are the chances an open atheist could be elected president? Once you drop the big G, you can forget credibility with the so-called "common man."

But I'm not sure the "common man" is all that common. Buddhism's Dalai Lama says that "most people really are not so concerned" with religious matters, and he's just fine with that. It's almost as if a politician admitted he'd rather people just stayed home on voting day if they don't have strong convictions. Don't muddy up the field with your half-belief!

For me the hardest thing about confronting religious intolerance is that I really don't have a choice about believing. One can choose to profess, but one cannot choose to believe. Do you doubt this?

Play this little thought experiment: Slide one foot forward until it is about 18 inches in front of you. Hold a large rock over your head and drop it on your foot. Now, choose not to believe that a rock has just dropped on your foot. (Make sure your medical insurance is paid up before performing this experiment!)

Were you successful? Could you choose to believe something that contradicts the evidence as you understand it? No?

Some may argue that with religious matters, there's considerably more doubt than with the stone dropped on your foot, but that's exactly the point: it's doubtful. Or doubtable. No, doubtful. Asking someone to profess certainty when they just can't get a clear picture is dishonest. The lie is made worse when it's coerced, such as by threat of hellfire. You have a gun to your head and the religious message is, "Profess! Say it! Saaay it! The premise is exactly the same as the Spanish Inquisition, only the threatened torture is outsourced to Satan.

The religious person is usually flabbergasted at the atheist's inability to believe. Why, look at how wonderful the universe is! Doesn't that tell you that God cares about you?" And thus begins a long argument that confuses having a closed mind with having drawn an evidence-based conclusion.

Many atheists are very angry at being treated this way. Others prefer to focus on the positive aspects of humanity taking responsibility for its own future, constructively solving problems that over the millennia, religion has failed to solve. (Humanists) Then there are various shades, such as angry humanists and indifferent religionists.

For all our American yammering about "diversity," we don't seem to tolerate real differences very well. Imagine appreciating someone else for their differences! Try it sometime. Look at someone whose opinions are radically different from your own and try to see things for a moment from their perspective. If you succeed in doing that, can you ever really return to the perspective you had before?

As the celebrated US Jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, said;
“A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimension.”

[Home]    [Topic Index]    [A-Z Index]    [Fitness Section]    [Education Issues section]
Contact: george@wiman.us
© 2003 George Wiman All Rights Reserved