Who is Really Persecuted
Religious bigots just don’t get it. They don’t understand that others have the right to express their opinions publicly. If one were to criticize them for promoting their religion in public they would cry “Religious intolerance!” When atheists express themselves, though, we are suddenly “militant atheists” hell bent on eroding the religious foundations (that don’t really exist in the way they mean) of our country. While atheists are persecuted, or at the least subject to constant bigotry for simply expressing ourselves, I continue to hear Christians in the United States claim that they face persecution. Really, in a country with a vast majority of Christian citizens they are somehow persecuted? Give me a break. Even other Christians, such as Indianapolis Star religion blogger Robert King, understand [indystar.com] how ridiculous it is for Christians in the U.S. to claim persecution.
New Bus Ads … Now From the Christians
British Christians, in an attempt to counter the recent atheist bus ads, have raised money [washingtonpost.com] for their own ads in an attempt to counteract the atheist bus ads. This is their right, but they miss the point. The ads were not meant to de-convert anyone, although the religious are constantly attempting to convert nonbelievers, or those that believe the “wrong” thing. Although many atheists do see religion as a dangerous thing and would love to have more people rely on evidence-based reasoning, the ads were not meant to do this. They were simply to let the nonreligious who feel alone in a religious world know that there are other out there who share their disbelief – that they are not alone. Christians are already well aware that they are not alone, so what good does this really do them? It’s a mean-spirited attempt to drown out the atheist voice by those who can’t stand the fact that atheists will no longer be in the closet, we will no longer sit quietly and internalize the opposing view that they shouldn’t express themselves like the religious, lest they be labeled “arrogant.”
British Christian community, you can feel free to buy as many bus ads as you want. It just shows how frightened you really are that you are losing ground. Unlike some intolerant religious folk, we are not afraid of open dialogue, we have nothing to fear. As the Washington Post article says:
More than three of four people in the world consider themselves religious, and those who say they belong to no faith are in the distinct minority.
As a minority, even in a more secular country such as Britain, we have nothing to lose. Our ranks are growing faster than ever and religious leaders know it. They are scared, so we can only expect the attacks to get stronger, in both the United States and Britain. It means we’re doing something right.
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said the new religious ads proclaiming God are “really quite a compliment” and mean “our ads had an impact.”