It seems a lifetime ago when atheists were present and active, not just online, but at local. even national, gatherings. There was little to no concern about retribution from any of the established religions, at least not in the United States, and atheists, in the media, became more of a curiosity than a threat for the average American. Those were different times. We had elected the first black President of the United States, our economy was not in overdrive, but hummed along despite President Obama’s policies. We, as a people, could celebrate, to an extent, our becoming a more tolerant society, a beacon for the world. The pendulum was finally swinging back left.

The swing ocurs every few years and doesn’t depend so much as which party is in the White House as it is, which party controls congress. A decade ago, Republicans were on the rise in Congress and the progressive policies that Mr. Obama wanted implemented were stunted. Americans were bemused by thei spitting, hand waving reptrsentatives, all the while feeling okay for the first timr in a few years. Ir was okay for the pendulum to swing left, because it was a cultural swing, not political. Americans love when their government is divided to the point that it is rendered impotent. Maybe Congress could take from the oath that doctors make, promising to do no harm.

Those we refer to as the Mainstream Media made no bones as to which ideology they were behind and some, on air, bragged about receiving daily talking points from the White House which they obediently used in an attempt to turn the news ino a campaign advertisement for the left. Still, most Americans didn’t go off the rails and culturally, we were expanding.

Atheism was becoming more accepted to the point where surveys became coomon on thr rise of Atheism, We heard in 2014 that yes, as we already knew, most atheists voted left(90%)m but even more that some 3.2% of Americans openly declared themselves to be atheists. Over 10 million Americans. How many more refused to “come out”? I’ll end this little bit of history with the ultimate pendulum swing to the left: when the Supreme Court ruled laws forbidding gay marriage were unconstitutional. Those on the right knowingly spoke about this ruling would cause the ultimate demise of the Unired States. As a conservative myself, I’m still waiting, 8 years later. Kind of like those Christians that wait for the return of Jesus interpret every news story, every political move, to indicate thar the Second Coming is near. After 2,000 years.

Was it time for the pendulum to begin swinging the other way again? Most Americans didn’t care about gay marriage to the extent they wanted a new government. Besides, there’s never any guarantees about Congress. Most will say anything to be elected.reelected. No, just as the Republicans, when in power, appeared oblivious to what their constituents and the country as as whole desired, it was inevitable the Democrats would do the same. Politicians never disappoint.

The swing to the right did not culminate with the Supreme Court overturning what most Constitutional scholars referred to as bad law: Roe v. Wade. If anything, this allowed the U.S. to be able to come into line with most of the Western World. Dobbs did not forbid abortion as many of the religious right hoped, the decision took the power out of the hands of the federal system. , where it had no place.

The 2022 midterm elections were to become the final swing, at least for a while to the right as politcal analysts and pollsters together predicted a red (Republican) tsunami. As we all know, that didn’t happen and in fact the voters fooled the “experts” once again(2016).

I skipped the status of atheism mostly on purpose because it appears thar the sine wave that is atheism follows the cultural tableau at the time. Or seems to. Have we atheists just lost interest in online atheism? Are we just waiting for a more comfortable environment? As many of us witnessed at the time, even with the most friendly of conditions within society, even those that claim the ctown of reason are liable to rip ourselves to shreds over petty differences letting the real work needed attending, go unattended. We had a chance to expand our voices, especially local and state government, but allowed our egos to get inour own way. We thought “popularity” was a synonym for progress. How wrong we were then and how wrong we are today to allow that same business to go unfinished. Maybe it’s possible to move on, not to recreate the past, but allow for a future where our voices may stll be heard.

What is next for Atheism?