Why Atheists, Agnostics and Others should speak their minds

“…AND IN WHAT POSITION.”

-Christopher Hitchens on god the dictator

                In the last few years I have watched atheists and others in the media to speaking out about various issues including prayer in school, government sanctioned prayer, catholic malfeasance, radical Muslims,    radical Christians, Christmas, and a slew of other important issues.  These media encounters are often mini-debates where one side is pitted against the other and given a 5 or 10 minute speech and it ends up being very limited in substance and typically not very persuading for either side but in these mini-debates I have noticed one argument on the religious side that rebukes the atheist for  “rocking the boat”. They say things like “why do you want to tell children Christmas isn’t real?” or “why don’t you just keep your opinions to yourself,” or “just let people believe what they want.” So, it is to these types of comments that I write this. I want to express why I think it is essential for dissidence to be encouraged and why these ‘free-thinkers’ or ‘new-atheists’ should speak up more often. Power must be questioned and challenged and some of the smartest people are atheists or agnostics.

                The majority of Americans identify as Christian and that majority includes the political body that governs the country. Christian politicians and advisors are informed by their beliefs and these people’s decisions influence millions of lives.  Science funding, global warming, taxation, education and social programs are all influenced by rich, white religious people who have a tenuous grasp on modern science and use stone-age justifications and logic to make their decisions.  These people have been in power long enough to show that they are incapable of creating a better world for the masses.  In the thousands of years that the bible has been around and with the millions of religious people that have interpreted it, it seems that little change has occurred for the better. They tote the ideas of Jesus but their actions are the same as any ancient kings and dictators. It’s all about money and power to these Christians and the Republican Party is the best example of this.  So, the outsiders watch for as long as they can and then they decide to speak out and whether they are atheists or others something has to be said.

                When people say that atheists are militant or stringent it is only because they are fighting thousands of years of power mongering and reification in the religious controlled world. Catholics and Christians have forced their views on millions of good people throughout the world with their emissaries and armies and child indoctrination.  They use fear and hate to propagate conjecture and outdated ideals for the purpose of control, power and self-righteous fulfillment. Anyone who says Christians just want to live good lives so why make waves hasn’t taken into consideration the bigots who spew hate to their children and to the public. There are countless examples of negative acts done by Christians in the name of Christianity and many of them go unchallenged or whose consequences are too subtle to notice until it is too late.