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About ten.
Well, only one to change the bulb, but the first nine you meet are likely to say, "So, there°s no light. Why make a big deal about it?" Or, "Maybe there is a light, and we just can°t see it."
When we do call ourselves atheists, we meet several questions and objections:
How can you be so sure?
Because the word atheist is clear and unambiguous, many people assume that we have some kind of negative faith, a certainty that would resist any evidence of a god, even if such evidence were revealed.
The truth is, in the absolute sense, to a complete logical certainty, we are not sure. Who is? Only those people who claim to believe, not just in some nebulous godspirit, but in those ancient religions that are, in fact, disproved. We do have direct, compelling evidence that the story of Noah°s Ark isn°t true. Still, the people who consider this account incontestable are among the ones who challenge us for saying that we are a- (without) theism (belief in a god).
There might be a god who rules the universe, and there might be creatures who live under rocks on Mars and control our minds by telepathy. We haven°t looked under all the rocks on Mars. Both ideas are impossible to disprove. Even if someday we have looked under every rock on Mars, such creatures, controlling our minds, might make it impossible to detect them.
The people who want us to mince words are often those who also like to pretend that we don°t really exist. They preach that there are no atheists in foxholes, despite the protestations of atheist veterans, and they repeat false reports of deathbed conversions of well-known freethinkers, from Darwin to Darrow.
Many believers wear icons around their necks or on their cars because they feel an obligation to advertise what they think is true. Some hand out magazines on street corners, or even knock on strange doors to share their view of the world. In this environment, if we are too intimidated to state our nonbelief, we are aiding their cause.
We do exist. We do not believe. And we have a right, even an obligation, to say so in clear lan-guage.
What difference does it make?
Every human being has a responsibility to figure out the truth, as well as he or she can, and to witness to that truth.
All religionsnot just fundamentalist oneshave biases that we do not have. They all believe that our physical selves represent only a lessor part of our humanity. They all believe that they will enjoy some life after their current life ends. This affects their approach to today°s most pressing problems.
Their ideas about gods and human souls do not necessarily make them wrong on social issues, nor does our nonbelief make us infallibly right. But today°s problems are complex. We face difficult decisions about how do deal with overpopulation, a global economy, individual rights to abortion and to death. It is obvious that the debate of these issues should include all views. Today, the atheist°s voice is rarely heard in these discussions.
In short, we should have our stall in the marketplace of ideas. If we are wrong, those who hold the truth have nothing to fear from us, and if we are right, our ideas might just be necessary to form effective approaches to the world°s problems.
Finally, it°s important to let others know that we
exist, that we are happy, normal and even sometimes righteous people.
Few atheists want to divert true religionists from their churches, but
in those churches are young people who think there is something wrong with
them for their in-ability to believe. We need to offer ourselves
as examples to them.
People will...
...hate you. Some will. Some folks think it°s downright rude to proclaim yourself an atheist. Of course, many of these people openly call themselves Protestant, barely aware of the fact that the word comes from their protest of the Catholic religion. Few Catholics today take offense when they hear the term. Similarly, no one has a reason to take offense when we say we are without religion.
Whenever there°s a natural disaster with large loss of life, the television cameras always find at least one believer who says, in the face of parents who have watched their children die, "God was looking out for me. He has some special purpose for me." Are these the people who call our nonbelief offensive?
Certainly most believers today aren°t so bigoted, but there is a social risk in stating your non-belief. Joining a freethought organization is a way to get support from a community of rational friends and a way to be more visible as an atheist.
ëfire you. People have lost jobs for their open atheism, and no one should be asked to take such a risk. This is all the more reason for us to speak out whenever we can, lessening the risk for others.
ëeven kill you. It°s certainly possible. New millennium America has more than its share of violent religionists, as any clinic that performs abortions can attest.
It°s important, however, to keep the risk in perspective. People have been killed for being communists, capitalists, civil libertarians, Baptists, Buddhists or Vodooists. The oldest male child or the youngest baby girl can be targets.
When there is no direct threat, let°s not be paranoid. In this country today some nut with a gun opposes every philosophy one could mention. If we let these people run our lives, we are left with no life worth living.
How many atheists does it take to change a light bulb?
Only one.
And the light that just one of us sheds may just be
the light needed to lead some confused and troubled mind along the path
of reason.