What Does The Future Hold For Atheists?

"Organised religion is violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." - Christopher Hitchens

Life for Atheists on planet earth will be very different in our future. Things are changing rapidly and will have already undergone significant change. Change is inevitable. The question is whether or not we are going to be agents of our own change, or whether Christians and Muslim extremists will decide our future for us? Will those of us living in the United States of America be instead living in the United Christian States of America?

This is not as far-fetched as one might imagine because the fundamentalist extremists in the United States believe they will be divinely rewarded and America will be “blessed by God” for their obedience by electing fundamentalist Christian leaders.  The current Republican lineup proves this in their rhetoric, as well as all the media attention their beliefs are getting.

In fact, they have stated that disobedience to God and the further secularization of the United States will bring about divine punishment. They believe that we, as a Nation, will be laid to waste for disobeying or abandoning God by allowing ungodly leaders to get elected.  The most radical individuals believe that taking up of arms against the infidel will be the only way salvation will come, and the only way to ensure the prosperity of the United States.

You might think I am being paranoid, here, but considering the hundreds of emails I have received from those claiming to be Christian and Muslim. Add to that the threats proffered by these lunatics in response to American Atheists, Inc. suit regarding the World Trade Center Cross that were widely published in the Social Networks . They were very specific about the need for Atheists to be removed from the human race.

The thing is, if you convince enough people that it is perfectly acceptable to kill infidels, then infidels will be killed. There are no shortages of previously free, democratic nations that have fallen under theocratic rule with grave and detrimental consequences for their citizenry who are out of compliance.

As Atheists, we need to step it up several notches. There are too many of us who are content to stay on the sidelines as “dictionary only” Atheists. I completely understand that there are many who cannot go public for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps it would result in the loss of a lifelong career, or the abandonment of family or almost certain assault or worse.

But the division amongst our own is disheartening. There is way too much infighting and way too much of an exclusionary attitude amongst our respective groups and organization. We need to be forming alliances or this will not end well for us.

Think of it in a military sense. In the military theatre there is a need for the cohesion of all troops, regardless of their unit affiliation.  To be effective, there needs the recognition by every single soldier that M*A*S*H units, supply line units, mechanical units, communication units and even those who come to entertain the troops are a vital part of a successful campaign.

But there is also a great need for those on the front lines.  For those of us who put ourselves in harm’s way. For those of us who speak plainly, stridently and without reservation in every venue possible from our blogs, in magazines, by writing books, engaging in investigative journalism and appearing on the six o’clock news. There is a great need for those of us who organize protests and demonstrations and who will not go quietly into that good night, but stand and fight against the abrogation of our civil rights and the trampling on of our Constitution.

Is this a call-to-arms? Is this an incite to violence?  Well, before the blazing idiots out there plaster the Internet with disingenuous headlines, I will make this as clear as I possibly can.  Like most Atheists, I do not condone the use of violence under any circumstances that fall outside the tenets of self-defense. I am not calling for physical action against anyone, nor am I even remotely or subliminally suggesting that we take to the streets for the purpose of damaging physical property or engaging in any physical contact with anyone.

However, this does not mean that we should not take a cue from our military with respect to organization and tactics.  Make no mistake, we are fighting a battle. I and if you are passionate about our cause and there is little or nothing from preventing you from taking a public stand and getting involved on an activist level, then you need to do so, and do so with haste.

Contrary to what they would have you believe, religion is actually a very fractured institution. There are nearly 40,000 separate Christian denominations, more than a dozen or so different factions of Islam.  Except for a few core beliefs, none of them agree with each other and they spend a vast amount of time trying to steal sheep from each other.  This is none of our business.  Sheep stealing is the business of shepherds and there is enough infighting within these groups to keep most of them busy eating their own.

So, you see, our fight is not with 2.1 billion believers, most of whom could care less about politics or Constitutional law. Our battles are with the fundamentalist extremists who would like to see us dead and gone, and with the right wing Dominionist nutjobs who are trying to turn our Nation into a theocracy that encompasses our legislative, judiciary and executive branches of government; including our public school curriculum. They want all of us to live under the authority of their god.

It is for these battles that we must kick it up several notches and why those of us who can, need to get involved in whatever level of activism we can.

It can’t be all puppies, kittens and kumbaya, people.

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Al Stefanelli – Georgia State Director, American Atheists, Inc.