Time for atheists to ‘come out’

Q. Atheist actor and writer Ricky Gervais is working on a new show, Afterlife , which features “an atheist who dies and goes to heaven.” If Gervais hopes to bring cultural acceptance of non-belief to mainstream America, he faces an uphill battle. Polls show that many Americans distrust atheists and nearly half say they would not vote for one. Should it matter whether or not a politician believes in God? As mainstream acceptance of other minority groups grows, will atheists still lag behind?

As long as Christians remain the dominant force, in both in the public and in the government, atheists are going to continue to lag behind in public support.

Other minority religious groups have fared better when it comes to public acceptance, but in large part, this is because there is a common thread among theists: Belief in the supernatural.  That’s why interfaith groups can prosper: The details may be different but we’re all united in our belief in God!  But bring an atheist into that mix and you might have chaos.  Politicians (both Republicans and Democrats) know that, to gain votes, they just have to profess a belief in a god.  It doesn’t matter how wacky the rest of your beliefs may be -- you won’t hear Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman going into detail about their Mormonism -- if you tell Americans that you and god are in frequent contact, everything will be alright.  Why is that? Because saying you’re a religious person is a not-so-subtle code that lets America know you’re a good person.

We’ve seen Congress become increasingly diverse over the years.  The 111th United States Congress (elected with Barack Obama in 2008) consisted of members who were female (92), black (43), gay (3), and Muslim (2)... but only one member of the House (Pete Stark of California) dared to say he didn’t believe in a god.  (And even he is listed in the public records as a “Unitarian.”)

What is it about atheism that makes us so unlikeable, so untrustworthy, and so likely to lag behind all other minorities?

Two reasons.  

First, there’s a constant demonization of atheists from the pulpit.  Christians can find a way to work with Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists because they believe in the supernatural.  But they have a natural enemy (in their eyes) when it comes to atheists.  Church members are told that you can’t be good without god, that you need god to give you strength in troubling times.  Atheists are often seen as the people who want to lure you over to the “dark side.”

Second, we aren’t afraid to tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it makes people.  We aren’t afraid to say the emperor has no clothes.  We aren’t afraid to point out to people that their pastors and parents can’t back up what they preach when it comes to matters of faith.  And we aren’t afraid to fight back when we see people trying to fuse church and state.

The truth hurts, you don’t hear it in churches and temples, and most people can’t deal with it.  

So how do we fix this problem?  How can atheists become more accepted in our culture?  

Simple.  We have to go public with our beliefs.

There’s no shortage of atheists out there, but because of social pressures, we tend to stay silent about it.  Recent figures show that “between 25 percent and 30 percent of twentysomethings today say they have no religious affiliation -- roughly four times higher than in any previous generation.”  Can you imagine the paradigm shift that would occur if all those people made their beliefs known?  If they were willing to fight back against religious oppression when they saw it?  If they refused to vote for a candidate who based his/her views on the Bible instead of the Constitution?  If they just changed their Facebook profile to accurately state their (lack of) religious beliefs?

It would be a revolution.

As Chris Stedman points out in his own On Faith piece, “people are significantly more inclined to oppose gay marriage if they do not know anyone who is gay.”  Similarly, if you do know someone who is gay, you’re less likely to oppose gay marriage (and gay rights in general).  A Gallup poll from 2009 showed that among people who knew someone who was gay, most (67 percent) supported same-sex relations.  If you didn’t know someone who was gay, however, that number dropped to 40 percent.   It’s no surprise that so many high-schoolers can’t understand why the older generation is so opposed to offering gay people the same rights as everyone else. 

I imagine the same principle would apply to atheists, too.  If you know an atheist personally, you would realize that the prejudiced things your pastor said about us are probably untrue.

That’s why it’s so important for atheists to come out of the closet.  It’s vital that we make ourselves known to those around us, so that they know we hold many of the same values they do, that we volunteer and donate to charity just like they do, and that we have our own sense of ethics and morals (and they didn’t come out of some holy book).

There’s no reason we should be left behind in the realm of public acceptance, especially when there are so many of us out there who don’t see any evidence for a god’s existence.

Hemant Mehta  | Jul 20, 2011 6:16 PM