December 22, 2009
Freedom To Have No Religion?
Conservative activists in Asheville, North Carolina, want to sue the city over allowing an atheist to be sworn in as councilman. Apparently North Carolina is one of seven states with a constitutional provision barring those who do not believe in God from holding public office. The merits of a lawsuit are questionable though since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1961 that a similar provision in Maryland was unenforceable because it violated the U.S. Constitution.
To be honest, before I read about this situation it had never occurred to me that one could be legally discriminated against because of not believing in God. Of course atheists are ostracized regularly in numerous social situations. But I had always assumed that “freedom of religion” included not only the freedom to worship the god of your choice in the manner of your choice but also the freedom to not worship any god at all.
Unfortunately the Faithful assume that atheists are akin to Satan, that they have no morals and are out to destroy all that is good in the world. They assume that in order to be a “good person” you must subscribe to one of the world’s established religions, or at the very least proclaim belief in some kind of nebulous god. For it is only through a god that good is bestowed on any human’s heart.
So my own children are by default “bad”, because I am raising them without belief in any god. They have been taught that people all over the world believe in many different gods, but they have not been taught to worship any one god themselves.
They have been taught though to respect all living things, including plants and insects and people who’s beliefs are different from theirs. They know to say “please” and “thank you”. They love puppies and kittens, donate their old toys to charity, blow kisses when they say goodbye.
In our home we sing together, play a family game every Friday night, sit together daily for dinner. We don’t use curse words or abuse drugs. We never go to sleep without giving hugs or saying “I love you.”
But we don’t pray and we don’t go to church.
And we don’t persecute in the name of God.
Chattahoochee River, aka "The Hooch"
