- Benjamin Franklin
Last night on CNN's Paula Zahn Now, they presented a story about a family that was forced to move because they were atheists:
ZAHN: Imagine being chased out of your home, your neighborhood, even your community because of your beliefs. You're about to meet a family who says it happened to them and we're bringing their story out into the open tonight because there are at least three million people in this country like them, people who may also face this kind of discrimination and persecution. Here's faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared. I was beyond upset. I have never experienced such anger and hatred.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This couple, we're calling them John and Jane Smith, are so afraid they asked us not to identify them. Two years ago they say the small Mississippi town where they lived turned against them after they complained to the principal of their son's public elementary school about class time devoted to bible study and prayer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were pariahs. Nobody would speak to us. It was, nobody would let their children play with my son.
GALLAGHER: The Smith's story made local headlines when it was revealed that they were atheists and soon after, tensions at the school escalated. John says members of the community even called his boss at work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they called him to complain about the fact that he had brought an atheist to town.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were absolutely isolated. People would drive the house, park in front of our house and stare like we were in a zoo.
GALLAGHER: Eventually they left town altogether.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... nice place to live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... nice place to raise them.
GALLAGHER: While some atheists try to hide their secular views, Jean and Mike Rice are atheists who have spoken out.
MIKE RICE, ATHEIST: As an atheist, I'm the last minority that it's OK to really bash or put down.
GALLAGHER: The Rice's say they frequently encountered intolerance.
JEAN RICE: We're regularly told that we're going to hell, that we're sending our children to hell.
GALLAGHER: In the last town they lived, Jean Rice says soon after confiding her atheism to a friend, her landlord told the Rices they would have to move.
JEAN RICE, ATHEIST: Within a few days of my telling her that we are atheist, she -- I started hearing from other people, oh, are you atheist? And it was quite shocking and within a few weeks, my landlord, our landlord gave us notice.
GALLAGHER: The Rices say they can't prove that religious discrimination was the reason they were asked to leave, but they found the timing suspicious.
MIKE RICE: It's hard on the kids, because our daughter had no one to play with for a long time.
GALLAGHER: In the U.S., the number of atheists is estimated between 1 and 3 percent of the overall population. That's at least three million people. A recent study by the University of Minnesota found that atheists are the least trusted minority group in the United States and are less accepted than other marginalized groups, including Muslims and homosexuals.
LORI LIPMAN BROWN, SECULAR COALITION FOR AMERICA: I get calls from all over the United States from people who have been harassed, ostracized, sometimes lost their job because of discrimination against non-theistic Americans.
RYAN ANDERSON, JUNIOR FELLOW, FIRST THINGS: We feel, to a certain extent, that atheists are very much on the attack.
GALLAGHER: Ryan Anderson with the religious journal "First Things" says atheists themselves contribute to the mistrust.
ANDERSON: Part of the public persona and the public image of atheism is what's presented by people suing to remove "In God We Trust" from the coins or God phrase in the pledge of allegiance. And when that militant atheism becomes kind of like the public image of atheism, I think that gives rise to a lot of discontent with atheism.
JEAN RICE: When they can talk about religion and preach on the street corner but if we try to do the equal time, if we try to go out there and say as much about there is no God.
MIKE RICE: I'm the one being oppressed at that point.
GALLAGHER: Delia Gallagher, CNN, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
The transcript is HERE, scroll way down almost to the bottom.
This brings up a related story from last month...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The note on Blair Scott's windshield wasn't a nice one.
The anonymous writer had to have seen Scott's atheist-themed bumper sticker, an uncommon sight in the small south Alabama town where he lived at the time.
"It just amazed me that people would take time out of their day to return to their car, grab a pen and paper and write a 'You're going to hell and you're going to burn in a lake of fire,' and stick it under my windshield," said Scott, a 36-year-old veteran who installs computer systems in prisons.
Outspoken atheists like Scott remain a minority, but there are dozens of atheist chapters sprouting up around the country, and even many in Southern states dominated by conservative Christians.
Many who consider themselves atheists said they're afraid to mention their views on religion or that they don't believe in deities. It's an especially unpopular opinion in the South, they said.
"Do I think that any of these people are really afraid if someone knows they're an atheist that they're going to get shot down on the street tomorrow? No. But the thought is always there in the back of your mind," said Joe Mays, Louisville computer technician who helped organize an atheist group that meets monthly.
The AP story is here: Atheists Say They've Been Threatened Over Their Views.
Yes, atheists seem to be the last group that is still openly persecuted. In fact, discrimination is still on the books in many states, see; State Constitutions that Discriminate Against Atheists.
Even though we are a small percentage of the US population, poorly organized, and hold almost no power, we are regularly portrayed as some kind of major threat to the social order and are blamed for everything from 9-11 to the so-called "War on Christmas."
We are tired of just being along for the ride while religionists on all sides drive us toward their various End Times fantasies. We are tired of being persecuted while being accused of persecution.
Some of us have had enough and are standing up and speaking out. Despite attacks from both sides of the political spectrum for their recent books, people like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are stepping up to the plate, and groups like the Secular Coalition for America (SCA) and the Rational Response Squad (RRS) are forming to change the current dynamic.
More about this new movement in America can be found here: Atheists Challenge The Religious Right.
FreeThoughtAction is working toward becoming a part of this movement and we welcome nontheists of all stripes to join us in this effort.
