Good Atheist

Debbie Schlussel recently responded to a torrent of angry emails she received for her appearance on CNN and her views on atheists.

In that response she refers to atheists as “hate-filled … future Muslim extremists”. Beyond the bizarre implication that we are all destined to go from non-religious to militantly and violently religious, her comments show her to be extremely religiously intolerant. But it’s probably just childing name-calling. She can’t really believe that around 14% of Americans are going to take up arms against their own country, can she?

Her hatred of of atheists seems to stem from lawsuits attacking led prayer in schools. It seems to me a rather minor point to get so upset about. I find it unlikely that anyone would lose their faith simply because a teacher failed to lead them in prayer.

What really bothers me, though, is that she seems to be totally OK with people being driven from their home town because they are atheists. That was what she was brought on CNN to talk about, and she spent her time badmouthing atheists.

In recent Internet wanderings, it has become apparent to me that atheism comes with some inherent dangers. I’m also learning that many people have some bizarre and disturbing misconceptions about atheists. I’ve been seeing evidence of widespread anti-atheist prejudice — something that hadn’t even showed up on my radar prior to a few months ago. A recent poll even shows that atheists are the most pre-judged of all minorities in terms of politics.

I have no interest in convincing people whether to believe in any particular religion. My hope in starting this web log is to have some small effect upon the undeserved and inaccurate ideas some people have about atheism and atheists.

Now, I know I can’t speak for all atheists. Just like everyone else, atheists run the full range of intelligence, morality, political leanings, etc. All I can offer are my opinions, thoughts, and observations. I encourage and invite anyone respond to my posts here. I’d love to hear from you whether you agree with me or not.

Expect more from me very soon.