news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/atimeofdoubtforatheists
Los Angeles Times A Time of Doubt for Atheists By Gina Piccalo Times Staff Writer Mon Jul 18, 7:55 AM ET It's been years, decades even, since the Almighty was so hot.
President Bush rallied the faithful to hold on to the White House. A book by an Orange C ounty preacher extolling God's purpose in our lives stays a bestseller f or more than two years. And Hollywood, frequently seen as a den of iniqu ity, is courting a more spiritual audience in movies and TV. Faith is the new must-have, evident when a major leaguer points skyward a fter his base hit, when a movie star credits the Big Guy for his Oscar, when the Justice Department backs the display of the Ten Commandments at two state capitols, and when it defends the Salvation Army's requiremen t that employees embrace Jesus Christ. So where does that leave the fraction of Americans who define themselves as godless? Although the percentage of Americans who claim no religion i s about 14%, less than a quarter of them identify themselves as atheists , according to recent polls. Some are using humor to cope, such as actress Julia Sweeney in her one-wo man play "Letting Go of God," which ran in Los Angeles for several month s this year. "It's really because I take you so seriously," she tells an imaginary God, "that I can't believe in you." Others see the future as a time when nonbelievers are outcasts and religi on dictates law, social protocol, even private life. "The McCarthy era is the last time this climate existed," says Simi Valle y resident Stuart Bechman, co-president of Atheists United, a local affi liate of Atheist Alliance International. Although the comparison sounds melodramatic, atheist activists believe th e climate to be so perilous that they're considering something drastic: unity. There's a godless organization for every wrinkle of nonbelief the prayer-never-hurt-anyone, live-and-let -live atheists; the prove-the-God-fearing-world-wrong, keep-America-secu lar atheists; and the contrarian I-don't-believe-in-God-but-don't-call-m e-an-atheist atheists. Fear, however, is a great motivator, and politically active atheists know that they need an advocate in government to be heard. Unfortunately, as one activist noted, most politicians are as eager to align with the god less ranks as they are to lobby for pedophiles. Keen to cast off stereotypes of immorality, atheists are stressing their integrity, patriotism and respect for the faithful while staying true to their age-old commitment to the separation of church and state. Some ev en bristle at the terms "atheist" or "nonbeliever." Others have begun ra ising funds, lobbying politicians and building online communities. The first godless march on Washington drew thousands in fall 2002, and a few months later the Godle ss Americans Political Action Committee was formed. This year, an Inaugu ration Summit of 22 like-minded groups was held in Washington to stimula te cooperation days before Bush's swearing in. And this Veterans Day, so -called foxhole atheists (servicemen and women who are nonbelievers) wil l be honored in the capital. If all goes as planned, says Ellen Johnson, longtime president of America n Atheists, at least one presidential candidate will be courting their v ote in 2008. "We can't complain about what the religious do," she says. Some among the nonbelievers say life is pretty good compared with decades past when violence was a common threat and professed nonbelievers were driven from their jobs and homes. "I actually think it is getting better for atheists in the US, despite the religiosity of the current administration," Las Vegas atheist Clark Adams writes in an e-mail. "Many celebrities are on record as nonbelieve rs, and it's not too uncommon to see an atheist positively portrayed on TV or in movies." They're quick to reference the many atheists who so fear harassment that they join atheist groups a nonymously and others who are cast out of their families, refused positi ons involving children or relieved of jobs because of their nonbelief. It's this group that pushes the separation of church and state, a debate energized during the 1960s by legendary atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who proclaimed herself "the most hated woman in America." They reject the argument often cited by Christian activists that the nati on's government was founded by Christians. They argue that although some of the authors of the Constitution may have been religious men, they co nsistently maintained a clear boundary between their faith and their gov ernment. They note that until the communist scare of the 1950s, "In God we trust" wasn't the national motto, nor did it appear on paper currency , and "under God" was absent from the Pledge of Allegiance. They point out that Bush who as Texas governor declared April 17, 2000, Jesus Day has awarded religious "armies of compassion" and other fait h-based groups more than $3 billion in public funds since 2003. And they feel the steel in remarks by former California Supreme Court Justice Ja nice Rogers Brown, now on the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Dist rict of Columbia, who told Roman Catholic legal professionals in April t hat people of faith were embroiled in a "war" with secular humanists. "The amount of intolerance in this country is staggering." Some say that to volunte er their atheism offends believers. "We have a social idea that it's rude," says Bobbie Kirkhart, Los Angeles -based president of Atheist Alliance International. Others say it instantly taints society's perception of them. Silverman says his 8-year-old daughter, who he says is also an atheist, h as been taunted as a Satanist by some of her Christian playmates. Atheis t United's Bechman says he usually receives hate mail or prank calls aft er he takes a stance on church-state issues. Los Angeles acting teacher and Thomas Jefferson impersonator Dale Reynolds says he's sometimes cons oled by believers saddened by his lack of faith. "It is the kind of thing that if you bring it up, there are ramifications ," Reynolds says. Still, there are those outspoken nonbelievers doing their best to influen ce the masses. American Atheists' Johnson, whose national organization claims 2,200 memb ers, is a regular on news talk shows. She is also executive director of the Godless Americans PAC, and meets with politicians to build awareness and support for church-state separation legislation. She helped organiz e the 2002 march on Washington and is organizing November's Atheists in Foxholes parade and ceremony. We have to be able to deliver the votes to get them into office. Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert of Sacramento hope to change that with a n ew name and an online community. net) in 2003 to create a place for people who share "a worldview fre e from supernatural and mystical elements." They chose the term "brights " because, unlike "godless," "atheist" and "nonbeliever," it did not def ine them in religious terms. By creating this label, Futrell and Geisert hope to "level the playing field" and recast members of their community as independent thinkers who celebrate knowledge without identifying the mselves as vociferous anti-theists. So far, they say, there are Brights in more tha n 115 countries. "There's this tremendous feeling of being a second-class citizen when you know you're patriotic and working for all kinds of good things for the country, and yet you're ranked with the pedophiles," Futrell says. "You have to have political influence in order to get cultural change of any kind." Jesse Ventura became a hero for the movement when he refused to endorse the National Day of Prayer and told Playboy magazine that organized religion was "a sham and a crutch for weak-minde d people who need strength in numbers." Actress-writer Sweeney emerged this year as a sort of amiable advocate fo r nonbelief. "Letting Go of God," which played at a small Hollywood thea ter, proved so popular that Sweeney is recording a CD of the performance , writing a book based on it and has plans to release it as a film. Her show aims to entertain and disarm audiences as it traces Sweeney's pa th away from Catholicism. In one scene, a Bible stu...
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