Hemant Mehta pointed me to an article from The Dallas Morning News, “Dallas-area atheists discuss their outlook, relationships.”  It discusses the lives of atheists in the area, their growing socialization with each other, and socialization with their fellow citizens who are religious.  There is a lot that is interesting in the article, but I will focus on the example of discrimination – this is Secular Discrimination Report after all.

From the article:

Clark Vinson, a Baptist-turned-atheist who grew up in Irving, said he believes he has been discriminated against in the Bible Belt because of his lack of religion.

“I was on the verge of sealing a contract for $105,000 a year for a school district in the area for counseling services,” said Vinson, who was a therapist at the time. “I lost the contract suddenly.”

He said a friend who worked for the district told him a school official was disturbed after seeing a Darwin fish on his car.

This type of discrimination is exactly what atheists and others who lack religion or religious supernatural belief deal with throughout the United States, from the East to the West to the North to the South.  The dominance of religion and expectation that everyone at least believes in some deity leads to some level of innate distrust of the nonreligious in even the most liberal of areas. We don’t always see examples such as this because it is avoided by atheists hiding or at the least not being open about our lack of faith.  If not, discrimination such as this would happen much too often.  If we look at history, as the nonreligious civil right movement is growing and there are more open atheists, we are already and will undoubtedly see more of this in the future.
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On Family Guy right now (for those on the east coast), there is an interesting new episode in which Brian is revealed as an atheist and is subjected to attacks, prejudice, and discrimination for it.  It’s good to see a popular show bring up the issue, even if it is brought to an extreme for the entertainment factor.  Unfortunately, there are certain people in our society where the reactions shown on the cartoon are actually not far off from the reality.

Edit:  To not give away too much, it actually ends on a very inspirational (and funny) note.

Before the real content, here is a bit of comic relief today as a break from the seriousness of this blog:

Now it’s time for something actually on topic.  Randall Balmer [barnard.edu], professor of American religious history (yay, roughly my academic field!) and author of God in the White House: A History, was interviewed by John Stewart on The Daily Show last Thursday.  When asked what type of person would be the last elected as president of the United States, it is no surprise that atheists came last.  Don’t criticize Balmer for this, he was simply expressing the facts of the bigotry (or to put it more mildly lack of trust) that the majority of religious Americans have against atheists.  He also expressed one of the biggest problems which we nonreligious face: that although religion does not equal morality and is not necessarily required for a person to be moral, much of the U.S. doesn’t see it that way.  With this false premise in mind, the bigotry we see should not be surprising.

A partial transcript (stolen) from Friendly Atheist [friendlyatheist.com]:

Jon Stewart:… Do you think we could ever elect an atheist?… Now, we have a black president. Could an atheist – What will come first: black, woman, Hispanic, gay, Jew, Atheist? Where do you go?

Randall Balmer: I think, pretty much, in that order…

JS: [Laughs] I hope somebody wrote that down!

RB: And I think atheist is probably at the end. Because we Americans want to know about our candidates’ faith. What we really want to know is: Are they good people? Are they moral? Are they trustworthy?

JS: But when did “good person” get intricately linked to faith? Why can’t goodness be a virtue without fear of Biblical punishment or any of those other…

RB: Well, it certainly can. But in America… religion is a proxy for morality… the only way we can frame the question is ask, “Do you go to church?” “Are you a religious person?” And I think the problem is that we, as the voters, take those kind of blithe responses at face value and we should interrogate those claims…

I missed this before the inauguration, but I’ll write about this now because it’s important.   The American Humanist Association, along with eighteen other groups, published an open letter on January 13th to President-Elect (now President) Obama asking him to reject the Boy Scouts of America’s offer of the title of honorary president.  As stated the press release, their reason is simple and important:

BSA policy is to deny the participation of nontheistic members and employees and expel those already involved. Thus the letter asks Obama to break with tradition because taking on the title of honorary president would send a message that discrimination against atheists and agnostics is acceptable.

I must admit that I was, as a young child, a cub scout – the lowest level.  I enjoyed it, but I’m glad that I didn’t stick with it, because there was an aspect never made clear to me: atheists are not welcome.  What a problem this would have caused when I finally lost my faith!  This is a problem that unfortunately many have faced.  I would have had to either hide my atheism and continue through the ranks lying (certainly not acceptable in Boy Scout ethics) or had to leave, knowing all my achievements were invalidated simply due to my lack of belief.

I enjoyed my time as a scout and I still believe scouts can learn a lot and do a lot of good as members.  I completely support the BSA’s right to exist and to set their membership criteria as they wish – no matter how bothered I am by those criteria, and support anyone’s right to be a member.  My problem has always been that in many areas the BSA has been given special access to tax-payer funded facilities, such as those in public schools.  No organization that discriminates religiously may legally take advantage of tax-payer funds or tax-payer provided facilities.  When my money is going towards a group in which I, many of my friends, and many of my fellow Americans are barred from participating in simply due to our religious viewpoints or sexual preferences (let’s not forget they discriminate against gays too), I have a big problem.

For this very reason, our president, especially this one who is supposed to break down walls of prejudice and discrimination, should have no part of such an organization.  The symbolism of the honorary presidency would help erode the claims of change we have heard so much about.  I have confidence that President Obama will do the right thing.  I hope he proves me right.

Although in the last post on this subject I didn’t focus specifically on the current lawsuit, John Hanna of the AP reported two days ago on the lawsuit’s recent expansion (from the “Kansas City Star” kansascity.com).  It seems that the more people in the military hear about the lawsuit, the more are revealing their stories.  Most interesting, although the bigots will ignore it, is that the majority of the 11,000 personnel who are members of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (who filed the lawsuit) are Christians.  As I have said many times, the nonreligious are not the only ones whose rights are violated when captive audiences are made to listen to religious proselytizing.  All members of all faiths or no faith are having their First Amendment rights violated.

In the words of the foundation’s president Mikey Weinstein:

Our amended complaint is specifically designed to further stab at the throbbing unconstitutional heart of darkness that comprises the systemic fundamentalist Christianity so pervasive and pernicious in today’s American armed forces.

So what has been added to the suit?

[...] examples of what Weinstein called “the noxiously unconstitutional pattern and practice of fundamentalist Christian oppression” within the armed forces includ[ing] attempts to convert Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan[,] comments from two soldiers, including a chaplain, that appeared in Christian missionary publications about such activities, including their desire to distribute Bibles.

The lawsuit also criticizes the Army’s 2008 manual on suicide prevention, quoting it as promoting “religiosity” as a necessary part of the effort and describing “connectivity to the divine” as “fundamental.”

Read the article to see the rest of the added claims.

One of the aspects of what is reported that bothers me the most is Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Laine’s response, which in short says that they have only received less than 50 complaints.  Although I question this number, let’s take this at face value for argument’s sake.  What difference does this make?  Since when is the Constitutionality of something determined by how many people complain?  It’s irrelevant and I don’t believe for a second that the Defense Department doesn’t know that.  It’s disgustingly disingenuous, to say the least.

Madeleine Bunting from “The Guardian” has unfortunately used Darwin’s 200th birthday as an excuse to express her anti-atheist bigotry.  She dares to blame the hate many theists feel against Darwin and his ideas on, get this, atheism.  It’s not the fear that the religious have of anything scientific that challenges their beliefs.  It’s atheism!  Isn’t it interesting how theistic bigotry against atheists is consistently them projecting their issues on others?

To steal from and modify something from a commenter on Pharyngula, here’s a message to Ms. Bunting from “Secular Discrimination Report:” We’re here, we’re atheist, get used to it.

I’d write more, but biologist P.Z. Myers over at Pharyngula does a great job.  Be sure to comment on her article (registration required) and let her know exactly what you think.

I am still recovering from my recent medical procedure, so it will still be a bit until I can continue regular posting.

Never-the-less, I wish you all a great holiday, no matter what you celebrate: Hanukkah, the New Year, and especially a very merry Christmas. Surprised? Well, as far as the U.S. Government is concerned, Christmas is a wholly secular holiday. The First Amendment required that once it became a legal holiday it became secular.

A merry secular Christmas to you all!

It’s important to me that I make it clear that my intentions in exposing the bigotry of many believers against atheists is not to disparage all those who hold any sort of religious and/or spiritual beliefs.  I am reminded of this consistently by the respect and equality my many friends who are believers show me and others who don’t agree with them.  Although much rarer, this can even show itself through blog comments such as this one on The Friendly Atheist’s post about another atheist billboard that has been censored.

Marlotuck Says:
December 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am

As a believer in and of God, I’d just like to say that I am in full support of these billboards as they a) recognize that a group of people need a cohesive voice b) recognize the need for a particular group of people to know that they are not alone in their beliefs or non-beliefs and c) because it asserts First Amendment Rights that apparently Fundamentalists believe were only granted to them.

I was just reading biologist (and infamous atheist) P.Z. Myer’s blog “Pharyngula,” which brought this column in The Times-Herald to my attention. Purporting to be “A few religious thoughts to ponder,” it is in fact clearly a thinly veiled bigoted screed against the nonreligious.  This is notwithstanding that Thanksgiving is a wholly secular holiday, so I don’t see what religion has to do with it.

At the risk of being unoriginal, I am including the same selection from the beginning of the column as Professor Myers.  It displays best how obviously hateful and mean-spirited the writer must be.  As one commenter (comments are now closed) said best: “Shameful…”

Thanksgiving must be a terrible time for atheists. They have no God to thank.

They do not have the privilege of gathering with family and friends to express gratitude by saying: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” An atheist on his deathbed faces serious uncertainties. Gazing upward, he pleads: “Oh God, if there is a God, please save my soul — if I have one.”

I just recieved this email from the Institute of Humanist studies, looking for donations for their Darwin Day 2009 goal of keeping public school science classes about science, not superstition.  Please consider donating, if you are able.

Darwin Day 2009: Keep Science Education Scientific

September 17, 2008

Dear IHS Supporter:

Please Donate to help us with our new project: Darwin Day.

Darwin Day is a global celebration of science and evolution on the birthday anniversary of Charles Darwin.

The Darwin Day Celebration is now administered by the Institute for Humanist Studies. We are very excited because February 12, 2009 is the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth. We will assist groups throughout the world with their plans and events to mark this day.

Our staff is currently working feverishly to redesign and upgrade the Darwin Day website. We are packing in as many features as we can so groups around the world can easily use the site to plan and promote their events. Included in the new features will be: a list of potential Darwin Day performers; a streamlined events listing; a way to share photographs; instructions on how to issue a press release; and guidelines on how to get your local government to proclaim Feb. 12 as Darwin Day in your community.

In the future we hope to hire a Darwin Day coordinator to focus solely on establishing Darwin Day as a yearly secular holiday celebrating reason and science.

What can you do to help?

Your donations now will help us achieve our goal of promoting science, reason and evolutionary theory. Now is the time to give. The bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth is a major opportunity to strengthen our efforts to keep science education scientific.

Please give what you can: http://humaniststudies.org/support.html

As always we are very grateful for you support,

Nancy Buxton
Development Coordinator

If you prefer to mail your donation, download our donor form here: http://humaniststudies.org/ihs_donorForm.pdf

Please mail your completed form and donation to:
Institute for Humanist Studies
48 Howard Street
Albany, NY 12207