It would be easy to get the
impression from this blog that I get all my news from the BBC. Well, that’s pretty much the case, except
when I go on Russia Today to get the opposite side of the story, and become
slightly frightened. This week the BBC
website had a story about atheists in the United States, and the fact that (according to the story) they are
effectively an oppressed minority in some parts.
A couple of posts ago, I was
defending the right of more traditional Christians to hold and act on their
beliefs in the face of secular society.
This time, I will be upholding the right of atheists to hold and act on
their lack of belief in the face of religious society. It is the problem (and, in some ways I
suppose the privilege) of being a wishy-washy medium-liberal moderate. I sit in the middle, arguing the cause of one
end to the other and vice-versa, with “why can’t we all just get along?” as my
plaintive refrain.
In the increasingly secular (and
increasingly vocally so) UK, the concept that atheists might be oppressed for
their lack of belief might seem strange, at least outside of certain Middle
Eastern or African fundamentalist Muslim countries. Although officially religion and politics are
mixed here, with bishops in the House of Lords and an Established Church, in
reality they very rarely come into contact.
“We don’t do God” is the famous quote from the Blair administration
(which is ironic seeing as he’s quite a staunch Catholic nowadays). Recently Mr. Cameron said a few things about
faith, and having confidence in being Christian and, while they were
appreciated, caused quite a lot of uncomfortable shuffling even amongst many
Christians. Similarly, British
patriotism tends to be of a quiet and understated sort, except for the Last
Night of the Proms, which is the only socially acceptable occasion in which one
is allowed to get noisy and enthusiastic about it. In this country, being overly enthusiastic
about religion, especially for a politician is simply not done.
Our colonial cousins on the other
hands expect their politicians to be openly and vocally religious. According to the story linked to above, there
is not a single openly atheist politician in the US. This seems bizarre to me, since in the UK,
while I assume that most politicians are atheist, or at best agnostic, very few
of them are openly Christian (except, one might hope, for the Bishops who are
only politicians, at least public politicians, part time). In our increasingly secular society, the idea
of ‘coming out’ and admitting your atheism seems strange, since it (or perhaps
a vague unconscious agnosticism) is generally seen as the default position
unless otherwise stated. It is a bigger
step to ‘admit’ to people that you’re religious. The fact that by stating their unbelief,
people in (parts, at least, of) America face ostracism or outright abuse seems
incredible.
It need not be said that I think
that atheists are mistaken, and I would like to be able to convince them of
that if I were capable, but as I have said in that earlier post, what is far
more important than being right is the right to be wrong. It can be easy sometimes to forget that the
vast majority of atheists are not of the loud, aggressive and mocking
Dawkinsian school, and that indeed most are of the quiet, live-and-let-live
type, who simply want to be able to believe what they want, and get on with
their lives.
If I go through that article and
replace the word ‘atheist’ with ‘Christian’, it immediately becomes even more
offensive to me, although of course it shouldn’t. Ultimately, if I want the right to believe
what I want and not be ashamed of it, the right to be able to say what I want
and have no-one try and shut me up, then I need to be equally rigorous in
upholding that right in others; those whose beliefs are opposed to my own,
those whose beliefs are offensive to me, and even those who believe that I
should not have the rights that I will fight for them to enjoy.
Ultimately, as Someone once said,
“Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” And, perhaps even more pertinently, “Love
those who hate you, bless those who curse you.”
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