Same as it ever was


Yet another pundit, this time E.J. Dionne, calls out the oh so nasty atheists who aren't sufficiently deferential to the religious. Oliver Willis chimes in here.

Yes, you are an atheist. Yes, the religious right has too much power. So, why do you have to be such an ass about it?

The problem appears to be that, like the newly assertive Democrats, the atheists are actually standing up for what they don't believe, and making a lot of religious folks look like idiots in the process. While both Dionne and Willis claim to be sympathetic to their right to be atheists, and their technical right to advocate for their ideas, each resents the fact that they do so.

But I'm heartened by this trend, inasmuch as it is simply another variation on a theme we have heard before from alleged sympathizers when previously quiescent minorities have started to speak. To paraphrase Oliver:

Yes, you are a [black person/woman/gay/immigrant]. Yes, you have been deprived of your rights to participate in this society or marginalized. So, why do you have to be so uppity about it?

Maybe because, as so many other groups have learned, you don't get anywhere if you wait for the other guy to do the heavy lifting for you. Some may think that this is much ado about nothing, but the fact is that atheists are barely tolerated in this society and, in fact, are constitutionally or statutorily barred from full participation in civic life in some states.

If history runs true to form, we can look forward to atheists "coming out" as Pete Stark did just recently (as a non-theist). As atheists acquire a human face, like gays they will become less frightening and more accepted. In the meantime, the in your face atheists are doing double duty. They are preparing the way for a more rational and tolerant country and they making the fundamentalists with whom they debate look like jackasses. That's not really so bad.
Posted: Saturday - April 07, 2007 at 07:01 PM          

©