It took me for ever to copy this and paste it here. This article is written by TIME. It is about the power of the Atheists. Today, you don't have to live in Kuwait to be spied on , and pissed on, we share that luxury with the Americans, British, and others who call themselves democrats, we all in chain.
A Nation of Growing Atheists Still Wouldn’t Trust One
to Run the Country
As someone who speaks a fair amount at
atheist conferences, Americans’ declining religiosity has been vivid over the
last few decades: audiences are getting younger, larger and more diverse; there
are rapidly rising numbers of new atheist organizations, especially among
college-aged students; and atheism is attaining greater respectability and
visibility. A large part of the phenomenon is not conversion, but that
much–though not all–of the stigma against atheism is fading, allowing many
people who had to conceal their beliefs against intense social pressure to
finally express themselves openly. America has a long tradition of free
thought. Many people who would never have called themselves atheists, including
members of my family, were always against traditional organized religion. For
those, taking the step to admitting their atheism is relatively small.
But there are many other factors
contributing to the recent surge.
The end of the Cold
War
There was a time when “godless” was a
word inextricably linked to “commie,” when being an atheist was reflexively
associated with being an enemy of the state. For most people, it’s now safe to
be a patriot and not go to church, but old enmities die slowly and there are
still ideologues on the Right who consider “God” and “Country” to be
synonymous—and a vast middle ground made uneasy by departures from tradition.
The rise of the
Religious Right
The American body politic is deeply
polarized, and one of the major forces driving the schism is religion. Many of
us now associate religiosity with small-minded pettiness, bigotry, preening
egotism and a set of political policies that are worse than medieval (much to
the chagrin of my liberal religious friends). Every sanctimonious politician
who uses the Bible to advance an absurd policy decision generates a reaction
that pushes more people towards atheism. George W. Bush was a great advocate by
bad example for the godless, and simultaneously a paragon to the religious.
Those who love Bush will dislike atheists, and vice versa—the mistrust is
entirely mutual.
We also have seen a rapid rise in the
number of atheists in Ireland. This increase is almost certainly a reaction
against the atrocious behavior of the Catholic Church in that country. Again,
the Pope has been a friend to the godless by supporting odious policies.
A new and aggressive
expression of atheism
The early years of the 21st century saw
the publication of inspiring and rational polemics against religion by Sam
Harris and Richard Dawkins that changed the whole tone of organized atheism.
For many years we’ve been preaching to the choir, having conversations within
the atheist community between self-identifying atheists, but keeping mostly to
ourselves. There is a new dynamic now: we’re not just telling ourselves that
our ways are better, but we’re announcing to everyone that God is not good and
that religion is folly. That does, of course, antagonize the majority of people
of faith.
The Internet
The world wide web has democratized
access to information to a remarkable degree. Where once a community could
isolate its members from heretical ideas, now it’s easy and confidential to sit
quietly at home and browse sites that disagree vociferously with all kinds of
ideas; I can comfortably read about what Baptists and Catholics think, and
believers can quickly find atheists expressing themselves. And in a fair and
open exchange of ideas, atheism routinely wins the minds (if not the hearts) of
citizens.
The Internet is also a boon to isolated
individuals. So many people who thought they were alone in their god-fearing
communities discovered that there is a thriving culture of free thought online,
and acquired a new confidence to come out and join in the conversation.
I am confident that you can expect the
trend of declining religiosity to continue for many years to come. There are
only a few things that might stop an expanding atheism. One would be the ascendance
of liberal religious thought that was accepting of scientific facts and others’
right to believe as they please, and that explicitly divorced its theology from
secular concerns. Such religious organizations exist now, but they would have
to replace the dominant, strident form of reactionary religion that dominates
the discourse today. Second would be that our government could actually return
to the promise of the Constitution, end the mutual interference between church
and state, and there could be a common attitude that the religious beliefs of
political candidates are private and irrelevant to holding office.
Either of those alternatives would
greatly slow the growth of atheism. I fear they are unlikely, but even speaking
as an atheist, it wouldn’t be so bad if they came to pass.
AROUND THE
WEBFrom The Web
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PZ Myers is a
professor of biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He was named
Humanist of the Year in 2009 by the American Humanist Association and received
the International Humanist Award in 2011 from the International Humanist and
Ethical Union. He has lectured throughout the world on biology, evolution,
atheism and skepticism. His blog, Pharyngula, was named the Best Expert Blog by
the Koufax Awards in 2005 and the Best Science Blog by the Weblog Awards in
2006. In 2006, the journal Nature listed Pharyngula as the top-ranked
blog by a scientist. His book, The Happy Atheist,
is now available
in trade paperback from Vintage Books.
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