Atheists are rarely the aggressors. Yes, atheists will mock religions — but almost always in self-defense, in response to articles like this, attacking us, and mocking us. Notice that in this article, there is not a single example of an atheist doing what the author is claiming. Or some of us will push back and present arguments in opposition to stories like those of Reuben Salsa on Medium. With the exception of a few like Bill Maher, atheists are rarely the aggressors.
We don’t have the Church of Non-Believers. We don’t have organizations that raise money and receive tax exemptions on the income. We don’t try to force our non-belief onto official government symbols, or insist that children profess non-belief. We don’t gather at people’s funerals to harass mourners, we don’t burn books, we don’t require that our non-belief be taught in secular classrooms. We don’t try to convert people to our non-beliefs, we do not engage in crusades. We don’t tell believers that they are going to go to hell, atheists have never burned a believer at the stake. We don’t try to make laws written in centuries-old religious texts into official law of the land. We don’t stand around at sporting events preaching our non-beliefs. We don’t have holidays that dominate the culture. There is a plethora of aggressive actions that religious believers engage in that atheists shun.
In fact, as Steve Martin hilariously points out, “atheists don’t (even) got no songs”.
We do object to having religious symbols and dictates forced upon us, such as God being on the currency, which we use as well, or requiring that people recite their belief in God at public meetings, which are supposed to be open to us as well. Our objection to these aggressions are NOT divisive — just think for a second, with your mind, not your heart — without these symbols and requirements, we are all the same. But if I am required to say “under God” at a town council meeting, and I object, I am now singled out as different, even loathed — THAT is what is divisive in America.
The truth, the reality, is that the vast majority of atheists don’t care what you believe, as long as you leave us alone and stop trying to make us out as weird freaks, or demons, because we don’t believe the same as you. I have never once preemptively written an article trying to disprove that God is real. If someone says they personally believe in God because it brings them peace, or fills a hole in their life, I think that is just hunky dory. But when someone publishes an attack piece like this article, I will be there to respond, and since I don’t have the government to back me up, logic and reason, and, yes, mockery, are my only tools.
You should be glad that there are atheists like me to push back. Without us, America would be like Afghanistan, except with a Christian Taliban. And if you think that is an exaggeration, I give you The Inquisition.
