Oh, Christians in the U.S. have it so rough.
Everywhere they look, they see their “right” to flex their majority muscle and discriminate against non-believers and other non-Christians being assailed.
They whine about the “War on Christmas”, when, every year, Christmas positively dominates the social, popular and commercial culture throughout all of November and December.
They cry about gender and sexual orientation rights being “shoved down their throats” (the phrase they usually use – I’ll spare the Freudian analysis for now), going so far as to legislate their “right” to bully gay kids.
The problem with all of this is that none of these so-called “rights” are rights at all. They are the benefits Christians have traditionally received from preferential treatment resulting from their majority position of power and the subsequent stronghold Christianity has over American society and culture.
And now that their privilege is being challenged by increasingly vocal minorities of nonbelievers and members of other religions, who are calling for a more fair and level cultural playing field, some Christians are quick and vociferous in playing the hurt feelings card and drumming up false allegations of anti-Christian discrimination.
Take Mathew D. Staver, chairman of the right wing fundamentalist culture war organization known as the Liberty Counsel. According to Christian Today, he
said that the [American Humanist Association's] campaign was a crass attempt at restricting the religious freedom of Christians passionate about Christmas. As the birthdate of Christianity, he said no other holiday deserved more public worship. [...]
Staver said his organization fights censorship of the holiday’s Christian traditions with its “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” now in its ninth year. The initiative educates society and businesses on the Christian faith, he said, ensuring they keep its part in Christmas intact through litigation if they don’t recognize believers’ right to religious freedom.
“People either censor Christmas out of ignorance concerning religious law or they worry they may offend someone else,” Staver said. “Retailers, meanwhile, should not profit off Christmas while pretending it doesn’t exist.” [...]
Staver countered that groups like AHA shouldn’t analyze Christmas given they lacked compassion for its spiritual basis. This fundamental separation, he said, meant that they often disrespected the rights of Christians practicing their faith.
“I think a campaign like this shows how bankrupt the AHA is by trying to offend people by secularizing a holiday like this,” Staver said. “They have a right to their own viewpoint but the timing is very inappropriate. It shows how out of step they are from the rest of society.”
So what horrific action did the American Humanist Association pursue to “restrict religious freedom”, to “censor Christmas out of ignorance” in such a “disrespectful”, “bankrupt”, and “inappropriate way?
Well, take a look:
That’s right, they simply asked people not to discriminate against atheists.
As with all things pertaining to religion: Simply unbelievable.
I have never found it necessary to argue my secular/atheist beliefs with the religious. In my experience most know little or nothing about the god they pray to or the history they are perpetuating. I think we can all agree that religious holidays, especially “Christian” holidays, have nothing to do with, and are not observed for, any historically important moments they may give ambiguous reference to. Rather, these highlighted calendar days are reasons to travel, visit those they have no better reason to visit, spend money for the tradition and/or obligation.
My problem with “standing up and speaking out” to the religious is that, besides being a waste of time, it is degrading. History is dictated by the religious because humans are notoriously afraid of the unknown and in constant need of meaning to their lives. So has it ever been and will be until we evolve another step and learn to bask in amazement of that which we can see and feel.
Don’t let atheism/secularism/agnosticism become religions. Revel in your time and be proud of your ability to live life without having to convince anybody of anything in order to give relevance to your beliefs. Remember that when there are no atheists around the Christians still argue -with themselves.
Thanks for the reply, Mark!
I certainly don’t want atheism to “become a religion”. Critical thinking and skepticism, which essentially are the opposite of dogma and faith, will to me always be the best practices, and people who apply them to all areas of belief will always end up as atheists. In a religion, people are told what to think, what to believe, what to do, by the authorities who officiate that religion. There is no atheist authority (not even Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens), there is no atheist scripture or dogma, there is really nothing structurally or in practice that makes atheism religious in any way.
That said, there are those who are outspoken about their atheism, myself included. And I contend this is a positive practice. As long as there is genital mutilation in the name of gods, and suicide bombings, and workplace discrimination, and the bullying of high school and junior high school nonbelievers; as long as Christian privilege dominates American culture (their creation of the “War on Christmas” hysteria being just one example), and fewer than 50% in the U.S. would vote for an atheist president, presumably because they believe in the (untrue) moral superiority of their religions; as long as people refuse medical care for their own children because they believe their god will take care of them, and use religion as the basis for fighting against reproductive rights, gay rights, and other human rights which should be extended to all people, I will continue to speak out against these practices, and point out that their religions are the root cause of these social harms.
The fact is, there is Christian and other religious bias against atheists. And no matter where we go, we have Christmas stuff thrown in our faces each and every day during this season (the overtly religious Christmas carols played in just about every single department store, and many restaurants and cafes as well are absolutely inescapable, even here in Japan). So even if it’s “their holiday”, they drag us into it, and we sure as hell have a right to say something about it.
Especially something as innocuous and unoffensive as the “naughty/nice” billboard. It’s not as if they’re putting up signs saying, “Yo, fuck X-mas!” They’re basically just saying, “Please don’t discriminate against us.”
I don’t understand what about that you would have a problem with as an atheist, and I also really don’t understand why any Christian should take offense at that rather than saying, “Well, yeah, that’s true, we shouldn’t do that.”
Please don’t misunderstand me – I have always enjoyed watching the likes of Daniel Dennet or Christopher Hitchens give hell to the pious. I also have a great appreciation for those like you that set up a web site where I can chat with others in the high country of thought.
If I found a christian who knew anything about the history of his belief I would enjoy a chat with them as well.
I choose not to be militant for exactly the reason I mentioned -I simply refuse to argue any subject that is faith based. Whenever you get those little bastards cornered they all cry “It’s true because god and the bible say so.” How can you argue with nonsense?
However, you are correct and somebody has to let them know that there are those of us that don’t believe in their rituals or holidays and will let them know when they have gone too far…