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Commentary - Oct 1, 2008 - Printable Version
- Why Do Atheists Hate America?
by S.K. Eleton
(Theocracy Watch...) It has often been suggested that there is something uniquely un-American about atheists, that in fact atheists hate America. In opinion columns, letters to the editors, and even billboards, the question is frequently asked “Why do atheists hate America?” Although the letter writer or columnist will often suggest that this question is brought about by some invidious action on the part of the atheists, in reality it is more often than not addressed at someone who is doing nothing more than being atheist. The suggestion implies that atheists at their very core hate America merely by being atheist; it is accepted by many, either consciously or unconsciously, that atheists do not share American values that are widely accepted by all other (believing) members of society. Perhaps, it is suggested, atheists should move if they don’t like it here (translated: perhaps atheists should move if they don’t believe in God). Perhaps atheists would prefer to move to the “first atheist nation”, embodied for most in the now defunct Soviet Union. There’s only one problem with this argument. The Soviet Union was not the first atheist nation. That honor must go to (drum roll, please)….the United States.
What, you gasp! This, the United States, the most Christian of Christian nations, founded on the bedrock principle of Christianity, the first atheist nation? What sort of unpatriotic, disloyal, un-American filth am I spewing now? Well, actually, the filthy truth. You see, when the Constitution was written and ratified, it was unique in the world for being totally a-theistic. Not one mention of a deity that guides the affairs of men and governments. Not one mention of seeking divine endorsement for our policies or our politicians. In fact, the very document that serves as the law of our land actually prohibits invoking god(s) as part of our government. The United States, alone among nations, had the guts to formulate a totally a-theistic design for running the affairs of state, based on Enlightenment principles and democracy rather than on divinely sanctioned monarchs. For the first time in known history, mankind was going to rule himself, rather than being ruled from above. In creating the first totally a-theistic government, the founders of the nation made room all philosophies, be they noisy or quiet, rigid or flexible, absolute or relativistic, theist or atheist.
Although many people believe that a government founded on basic atheistic or humanistic principles could never possibly work, the United States is living proof that it can work. It has worked, albeit imperfectly, for 200 years. The document that forms the backbone of our government is astounding in its eloquence, brilliant in its brevity, and a marvel of flexibility. It was, at its inception, a far from perfect document. A document that failed to make provision for equal rights for all citizens, leaving women and blacks out of the community of citizens, and left slavery intact, nonetheless provided the vehicle for remedying these problems as soon as society had matured enough to accept and demand these radical changes to the prevailing worldview. Rather than laying out a rigid structure of “dos” and “don’ts”, it established the means to create a civil law based on changing societal needs. The founders of this country bequeathed us a highly flawed document that was nevertheless substantially less flawed than most of those that had proceeded it, and that contained within it the means to its own improvement.
Contrast that to the religious codes, from which most religious people feel our codes must be derived. Most religious codes are composed of a rigid list of taboos, prohibiting very specific, detailed actions that are felt to be iniquity by the deity. In addition to the rigid, inflexible lists of proscribed behavior, there are also rigid, inflexible lists of prescribed behavior, things you are expected to do if you want to lead a properly pious life. Many of the proscriptions and prescriptions relate more to religious ritual than to moral or ethical living, and many of the laws written in these long, ancient documents have been abandoned as society has moved forward to a world that wasn’t even able to be imagined by the writers and lawgivers of ancient societies. Religious documents are, by their very nature, theistically limited to members of only the particular religion they address. They also, unlike the Constitution, contain no means for amendment as society evolves; in fact, many of the religious texts explicitly prohibit amendment, handing down a law that is intended to be eternal. In religiously-based society, there is no room for self-government by responsible citizens; instead, rules are handed down from an authority figure, usually through priests or other holy men, and are expected to be obeyed without question.
When the men who formed our government wished to write a Constitution that would embody all the principles they felt would make a truly great nation, they didn’t work from any particular religion or religious text. Instead, they reached back to the days of democratic government in ancient Greece. They borrowed the ideas encapsulated in the works of long dead philosophers, and embellished them with some innovative ideas of their own. Assuming that responsible men were fully capable of ruling themselves, without the need for kings, crowns, or empires, they bestowed power on the people who were being governed to determine who would be running their government. Then, after altering an old recipe to turn it into a new and palatable dish, they added a further garnish: a Bill of Rights, spelling out those rights of the people that were to be protected from governmental tyranny. First and foremost of all these rights is the right to freedom from government mandated religion, and the right to worship in whatever form you might wish – even if that form is no worship at all. This was something new in the world: a recognition of the rights of man, and a recognition of the ability of man for self-government. Not only is there no provision for divine intervention in selection of leadership, the Constitution expressly forbids the establishment of religious tests for government office (See Article VI). In short, an a-theistic government, the first of its kind. This is not to say that the people who run the government are atheists, only that the government itself requires no god, and recognizes no god in the management of its affairs.
Atheists don’t hate America. Atheists recognize that America is the very cradle of our liberty, the very womb from which religious freedom sprung. Once implemented, the idea of religious freedom caught on, and has spread rapidly through large segments of the world. Many governments in western Europe, though still nominally having a state church, have embraced the idea of religious liberty and are now in practice, even if not in policy, atheistic governments themselves, looking for human counsel to guide the affairs of man rather than seeking divine endorsement. Atheists are well aware that it is in America that we can count on our rights as a religious minority being protected, even when they are not fully respected by the majority. Atheists are aware that it is in America that atheists are considered full citizens under the law, even though at times it may be a little difficult to get recognized in the clamor of all the competing religions. Atheists love America, deeply and completely. Atheists love the America envisioned by the founding document, while recognizing that the America actually experienced by many citizens may still have a long way to go. Atheists are not un-American, they are deeply, wholeheartedly, and unabashedly American, and they are taking advantage of the right to freedom of conscience by freely exploring other options besides belief. We are proud to live in the very first atheist country in the world.
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