Every once in a while, I like to come back and say something about being an atheist. I know I’ve written on this topic more than once, and it might be easier to pull up an old post and freshen it, I kind of like to look back, seeing if i’ve changed much. Guess what? I’m not special and like everyone else on the planet, have changed somewhat over time. What about the attitudes of believers? Do they change much or are they stuck like a needle on a badly scratched record? I think it depends on who’s expressing the opinion and who or what they use to guide or “inform” thar opinion.

I’ll begin where I always do and state Im no different than any believer except in thar single aspect. Atheists go to school, have jobs, fall in and out of love, get married and divorced at no higher rate than any believer. We don’t commit crimes and therefore may be no more “morally deficient” than the average believer. Look at the latest entries at the Bureau of Justice Statistics and notice, for instace, the percentage of incarcerations by the religious/non-religious/atheist population parallels the population in general. Strange, isn’t ir? Although I don’t go to church, I do celebrate Christmas and Easter, because the Winter festival known as “Christmas” has expanded well beyond a magical birth and has become more a day of feasting and fellowship with family and friends. And let’s not forget the exchanging of gifts. Easter is about the Bunny” and baskets of candy and decorated hard boiled eggs as well as a huge dinner if I survive the former.

In my experience, I haven’t noticed any higher rate of any addictions either. So, it does appear that we are no different than the general population. But don’t let the media find out. in one segment I watched on Fox a couple of months ago, Atheists were mentioned negatively three times, as in, “ The perpetrator must be an atheist”, and, “How could anyone believe in god and do such a thing.” The media seems to reinforce the. stgma thar has haunted non-believers forever.

It’s easy to point at Fox since many of their hosts play to what is probably a predominant Christian audience. Others, major outlets as well, will play the “Atheist is evil” card when it suits their storyline. The 21st century has barely dampened the discrimination non-believers have had to exist within for centuries (millennia?).As far as I know, everyone in my circle are aware I am an arheist. Have I been treated any differently? In sime instances, yes, and I’ve even lost friendships. Their loss. I don’t go around announcing it like, “Hi, I’m Jim and I’m an atheist”, just like most people I know that are Christians don’t immediately announce themselves to eveyone they meet. Eventually, it becomes known because I’m not attempting to hide from anypne. I’m aware of some that do and it’s completely their business. I am certainthat if it were possible in the U.S. there’d be some that would want it to be illegal to be atheist.

Since the younger generations don’t value our Constitution like we (well most of us) their elders, it won’t be thar long before government sanctioned persecution will avail itself despite it’s history. Will atheism ever become mainstream? I think it is now because we can talk about it and disabuse those that appear “smart” from their ignorance and abusive discrimination simply due to a non-immutable characteristic. Maybe one day we’ll have rights on the scale of an ethnic minority.