Just the other day, I mentioned here how atheists are still some of the most hated of all humans. Well, I didn’t say that exactly, but that’s essentially what I meant and it’s apparent from what we read and hear through the media that it’s true. The problem I have is that I cannot figure out why we’re viewed so harshly. What did I do to make you, America, hate me so much? As far as I can determine, we have one difference, large though it may be, but still, just one: I don’t believe in gods. You do. Or at least you claim you do. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

So leave it to chance, I guess, that I’m looking at my Twitter feed and see someone asking if I’d mind it if my kid’s biology teacher was an atheist? I looked at that post for a minute or two before I replied with pure, unadulterated, snark. It turns out the person posting wasn’t necessarily religious, but he was looking for a specific answer. To those that answered correctly, he replied awarding them a medal. Me, he ignored. Smartly. I wonder what he thinks about teaching mathematics from the point of view of Social Justice? Or corrupting children’s curriculum with Critical Race Theory? Or any of the other dozen new ideas for indoctrinating someone else’s children to a common standard of belief? How about teaching that no, the United States didn’t form in 1619 and that yes, like every other country, we have, and continue to make mistakes in society. But we’re trying. We’re trying to not go back to the bad old days. It’s now becoming okay at colleges and universities to have separate housing based on race. Oh, and let’s not forget graduation as well.

But it’s those atheists, for some reason. Is it atheists having six year olds determine their true gender identity? Atheists are pushing primary schoolers into subjects like sex and gender over the objection of parents? Are we teaching that if you’re born a certain color, privilege is poured upon you and that by default, you’re a racist? I don’t think any of these are on an Atheist Agenda. In fact,I’ve never seen an “Atheist Agenda” although I won’t necessarily say that someone, somewhere has one. That’s because (I’ll say it again) atheism is about one thing and one thing only: a non-belief in gods. Atheists that want to tack on anything else do the personally and do not speak for atheists in general. In fact, think about it, other than a few faces in the past, no one really speaks for atheism. Why? Because it’s only about the one thing. Let’s agree and I’ll promise not to say “all atheists…’ if you do the same.

Why is it we always look for a scapegoat for our problems and never take personal responsibility. Those items above? Maybe if parents took more interest in their children’s education, we wouldn’t be having these verbal knock-down-drag-outs at school board meetings. If we really have to assign blame, let’s all take a look in the mirror first.