Breeze Perspectives: Atheists under attack
Religious persecution against the nonreligious right here at home
By Duncan Bell, contributing writer
Posted on February 19, 2007

I recently heard that the “Paula Zahn Show” on CNN would be featuring a story on discrimination against atheists, and being atheist myself, I tuned in to hear what Zahn had to say about me. The show told the stories of several atheist families that were forced to leave their homes because their respective communities turned against them. When one family complained to their local school board about Bible studies taking place in their son’s classroom, they were ostracized by their community and forced to move. I was thoroughly pleased to see atheism being addressed by the media…that is, until I witnessed what happened next.

The second portion of the show featured a discussion between Zahn and three of her journalist peers over the question of whether widespread discrimination against atheists exists in America. What should have been a civilized discourse on this complex issue amounted to an audacious atheist-bashing session, which was in no small part due to the fact that there were no atheists present to offer a counterpoint. The content of this “discussion” included repeated insinuations that atheists should “shut up” and keep their beliefs to themselves and that “atheists are the intolerant ones” rather than the Christian majority.

Zahn’s story was prompted by a 2006 study by the University of Minnesota, which found that atheists were the most hated of minority groups, listed below other marginalized groups like Muslims and homosexuals. This being the case, I find it both sad and ironic that her show has only strengthened this conclusion. But why is it that there is such prejudice against atheists? It is my firm belief that it stems from a widespread misunderstanding of the atheist perspective, so please allow me to try and clear up some of the confusion.

 I suspect that many of you are skeptical of the assertion that atheists are discriminated against on a regular basis. This phenomenon is difficult to document for various reasons, but allow me to make a few appeals. Consider that there are anti-atheist laws on the books in many states. For instance, the Massachusetts Constitution states “whoever willfully blasphemes the holy name of God … shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year.” Also consider that while organized school prayer was declared unconstitutional in 1962, there are schools all over the country that persist in the practice. At Hardesty Oklahoma High School in 2004, a student-athlete opted out of a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer before a basketball game; the student was promptly kicked off the team as punishment. Most of all, consider your own common sense. Does it not make sense that atheists would not be as welcome as others in a country where the vast majority believes that they will be damned to an eternity in hell? 

Many American theists are frustrated by atheist lawsuits which question the constitutionality of long-held American traditions like “In God We Trust” on our currency and “under God” in our pledge of allegiance (which, for the record, was written into the pledge of allegiance in 1954 to combat the “godless” Soviet Union). These Americans cite our country’s status as a “Christian nation” to justify these and other areas of government which have been influenced by religion. With respect to this, we could play what I call the “founding father quote game” all we want to prove our Christian nation status, but I think the 1797 treaty with Tripoli more than suffices. It states, “[T]he government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” 

We cannot have freedom of religion if we are not free to be free from it. This is a cause in defense of the Constitution and should be praised, shouldn’t it? Atheists are just like you; we want to live without having our beliefs imposed upon. So come on, be nice to us. We’re nice to you.

Duncan Bell is a junior political science major.