The Atheist Mama

Lynn’s Daughter’s comment about her atheist bumper sticker in the previous post inspired me to ask: What kind of atheist or anti-religious stickers or emblems or what-not do you display on your vehicle(s)? Has anyone ever reacted to or commented about them? And if you don’t have anything like that, would you consider it? Ever?

The picture on the left is the emblem I’d like to put on my car, but I haven’t had the nerve…yet. I am an elementary school teacher in a conservative city in California, and I know many parents and most of the teachers I work with would not appreciate this display one little bit.

–Allen

All right, look around and remember where you were when you heard the news that Representative Pete Stark is openly atheist, the first one in American history!

I highly recommend you send him a positive message before the righteous backlash begins.

Whatever his politics may be, you have to admire his courage.

–Allen

I think one of the reasons that atheism is so maligned and misunderstood is because, by definition, atheism is a negative term. By that I mean it describes what we reject or don’t believe, but not what we accept or promote. Many religious people are instantly put on the defensive by the name alone.

Not only that, but most of the atheists they see are the ones they perceive taking away their rights in lawsuits or blaspheming The Holy Spirit on YouTube. Or ridiculing them on blogs like this one.

While defending atheism and criticizing religious beliefs are important and necessary, I think the time has come to include a different approach.

We atheists must begin to explain what we are for, what we value, and what we can offer instead of religion. We must go out into our communities openly and simply do good. No debates, no confrontations; just engage in something positive.

That’s my vision, anyway. I’d really enjoy getting a group of atheists together in my own town to do some volunteer work, and maybe it will inspire other people in other places to do the same. Then perhaps, some time in the future, we will begin to be treated with a little more respect and tolerance.

Is this a good idea? Am I naive? Or am I some kind of traitor to “the cause?�

–Allen

This is going to sound sensational and provocative to our religious audience in particular, but I don’t intend it to be. It is simply a sincere attempt to explain something that may be very difficult for believers to accept.

For much of human history, including our world today, many people have insisted one can’t be moral without a belief in one or more divine beings, usually the one or ones they themselves prefer. I have concluded, however, the opposite is true: one can’t truly be a moral person until one rejects any and all gods.

When I was a believing Catholic, I was often promised the wonders of heaven if I did what the Church taught was good, and the tortures of hell if I didn’t. Over time, however, this struck me as very cynical and insidious, and instead of inspiring me, it actually undermined my ability to make moral decisions. When I did good things, it was because they made me and others feel happy, not because I was hoping for a big payoff in the afterlife. In the same way, I rejected evil because it was wrong, not because I wanted to avoid eternal punishment.

In the end, I wanted to do the right thing for its own sake, not simply because some god or church or so-called sacred text commanded it. At that point, I began to see myself as a fully-realized moral being. Free from divine bribes and threats, I could determine what was good and evil through compassion, understanding, and reason. I could focus on making this, the only life we know of, as loving and fulfilling as possible.

Does this make me a deserving candidate for hell, as the Church and many others believe?

–Allen

I recently came across this image entitled “Forgiven.”

Maybe it’s just me, but…let’s just say there may be some interpretations the artist probably didn’t intend.

Am I wrong?

–Allen