November President's Message-The Future of Atheism

Written by Stuart Bechman

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 22:37

This has been a dismal election season for atheists. While we were expecting the blatant religious favoritism of the 8-year Bush regime, but hoping for a return to respect for church-state separation, the Democrats decided that the best way to compete would be to one-up the religious drumming and "co-opt" (hello, Bill Clinton?) the right-wing's agenda.

So this season, we watched with horror as the two major candidates loudly affirmed their support for the much-detested Bush faith-based and charitable initiatives program, and gladly participated without controversy in a nationally-televised church forum led by prominent religious right leader Rick Warren about their "relationship with Jesus," while efforts to ask for the principle of church-state separation to be simply acknowledged by either party went unnoticed. Insult was added to injury in the waning days of the campaign as Republican ads in North Carolina used atheism as a weapon to tar their Democratic opponent, followed by Democratic leaders going on TV apologizing for their candidate and suggesting that the candidates curried favor with non-believers to "convert them" to Christianity.

Locally, the slander and dishonesty are being spread just as thickly as the Mormon and Catholic Churches mobilize their followers to pass two propositions to assert religious control over our personal lives. The distortions are so outlandish that even loyal members of the faithful are finding themselves in serious consternation as they watch their churches aggressively use discredited claims to get the vote out.

Nonetheless, I am seeing both polling trends and personal experience of young people of all faiths and ethnicities coming out in droves to actively oppose Proposition 8: the Limitation on Marriage constitutional amendment in California, even as their parents are staunchly supporting the amendment. Especially surprising is watching the dynamics of the Mormon Church: There is as much of an angst and conflict in the church today over Proposition 8 as there was in the 1960s and '70s over the church's stance of barring blacks from the Mormon priesthood. Dozens of Mormon anti-8 websites have appeared on the Internet, and the spontaneous "No on 8" street rallies that have sprung up to counter the carefully orchestrated "Yes on 8" rallies has been exulting. Where does this come from? Some think that it comes from laws passed 20 years ago mandating the teaching of tolerance and respect for diversity in California public schools, and for those children now reaching adulthood. The Mormon Church may face a schism that will be some time in healing, as Mormon youth question the hypocrisy and intolerance that their church promoted, causing them to fall away and leave.

So I am encouraged. The trends of this election season are suggesting to me that the next generation is coming into their own, and they will not be chained to the restrictive religious values and views of their more-conservative parents, that they intend to implement a wave of change and consider new ways of engaging with the world.

Nonetheless, as encouraged as I am with these trends, it is one thing for atheism to be considered as a serious alternative worldview, but quite another to join a community. And joining, and building, a community is what sustains and nurtures worldviews, whether religious or secular.

I worry that with this unprecedented opportunity, we are not prepared. Our community seems to continue to be stuck in the rut of pointing out the falsity of religion while offering little to replace it.
We need to build a future for atheism. Building a future consists of more than hosting academic presentations that affirm how smart we are; building a future consists of investing in structures and institutions that promote our worldview and the values that underlie it; creating a heritage for our families to enjoy and celebrate; and a culture that reinforces all that is represented by freethought.
We need to build the society we want. We need to go back to the values and ideas of the Renaissance Humanists, to rediscover and reestablish the values and knowledge of Athens and Rome, of democracy and virtue; to combine them with the values and knowledge of the Enlightenment, to build a new foundation based on logic and reason rather than on gods and mythology. We need to promote the Humanist ideals of Wisdom and Eloquence, of virtue built on the pursuit of knowledge, reason and logic, and the development of rhetoric to persuade, convince and inspire others of the ideas and values that arise from our worldview.

To do that, we need to establish programs that educate our community on the classics, on the liberal arts of history and philosophy, on the skills of rhetoric. We need to remember where we came from, the roots of our community are.

To that goal, I propose that the atheist community pursue an ambitious agenda of education for our community on a par with the liberal arts agendas of the Renaissance Humanists: To educate our community on our history, our values, and our heritage; and to promote the tools and skills of rhetoric to give voice to our community; to allow us not only to defend our values and worldview, but to persuade and inspire others of the truth and power of those values. And I call on atheists to step forward today-now-to begin laying down that new foundation.

If we hope to capture this next generation of idealists who want better answers than their parents offered, we need to start NOW. We need to go beyond the presentations and academic lectures, and transform ourselves into vital, active citizens. We need to educate ourselves and put our education to practice. We need to become engaged in building our community and engaging in political action-even running for office. We need to build the society that we wish to live in. With this month of change, perhaps it's an ideal time to start a new direction.

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