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The 2nd and 3rd articles deal with atheists in government.
The second article is written by an atheist, the third is written by a superstitious person.
"Afterlife", an atheist TV show, features "an atheist who dies and goes to heaven" - It was written by atheist Ricky Gervais Does atheism need a pitch man? Atheist actor and writer Ricky Gervais is working on a new show, Afterlife , which features “an atheist who dies and goes to heaven.” If Gervais hopes to bring cultural acceptance of non-belief to mainstream America, he faces an uphill battle. Polls show that many Americans distrust atheists and nearly half say they would not vote for one. Should it matter whether or not a politician believes in God? As mainstream acceptance of other minority groups grows, will atheists still lag behind? Author, blogger Hemant Mehta Time for atheists to ‘come out’ Q. Atheist actor and writer Ricky Gervais is working on a new show, Afterlife , which features “an atheist who dies and goes to heaven.” If Gervais hopes to bring cultural acceptance of non-belief to mainstream America, he faces an uphill battle. Polls show that many Americans distrust atheists and nearly half say they would not vote for one. Should it matter whether or not a politician believes in God? As mainstream acceptance of other minority groups grows, will atheists still lag behind? As long as Christians remain the dominant force, in both in the public and in the government, atheists are going to continue to lag behind in public support. Other minority religious groups have fared better when it comes to public acceptance, but in large part, this is because there is a common thread among theists: Belief in the supernatural. That’s why interfaith groups can prosper: The details may be different but we’re all united in our belief in God! But bring an atheist into that mix and you might have chaos. Politicians (both Republicans and Democrats) know that, to gain votes, they just have to profess a belief in a god. It doesn’t matter how wacky the rest of your beliefs may be -- you won’t hear Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman going into detail about their Mormonism -- if you tell Americans that you and god are in frequent contact, everything will be alright. Why is that? Because saying you’re a religious person is a not-so-subtle code that lets America know you’re a good person. We’ve seen Congress become increasingly diverse over the years. The 111th United States Congress (elected with Barack Obama in 2008) consisted of members who were female (92), black (43), gay (3), and Muslim (2)... but only one member of the House (Pete Stark of California) dared to say he didn’t believe in a god. (And even he is listed in the public records as a “Unitarian.”) What is it about atheism that makes us so unlikeable, so untrustworthy, and so likely to lag behind all other minorities? Two reasons. First, there’s a constant demonization of atheists from the pulpit. Christians can find a way to work with Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists because they believe in the supernatural. But they have a natural enemy (in their eyes) when it comes to atheists. Church members are told that you can’t be good without god, that you need god to give you strength in troubling times. Atheists are often seen as the people who want to lure you over to the “dark side.” Second, we aren’t afraid to tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it makes people. We aren’t afraid to say the emperor has no clothes. We aren’t afraid to point out to people that their pastors and parents can’t back up what they preach when it comes to matters of faith. And we aren’t afraid to fight back when we see people trying to fuse church and state. The truth hurts, you don’t hear it in churches and temples, and most people can’t deal with it. So how do we fix this problem? How can atheists become more accepted in our culture? Simple. We have to go public with our beliefs. There’s no shortage of atheists out there, but because of social pressures, we tend to stay silent about it. Recent figures show that “between 25 percent and 30 percent of twentysomethings today say they have no religious affiliation -- roughly four times higher than in any previous generation.” Can you imagine the paradigm shift that would occur if all those people made their beliefs known? If they were willing to fight back against religious oppression when they saw it? If they refused to vote for a candidate who based his/her views on the Bible instead of the Constitution? If they just changed their Facebook profile to accurately state their (lack of) religious beliefs? It would be a revolution. As Chris Stedman points out in his own On Faith piece, “people are significantly more inclined to oppose gay marriage if they do not know anyone who is gay.” Similarly, if you do know someone who is gay, you’re less likely to oppose gay marriage (and gay rights in general). A Gallup poll from 2009 showed that among people who knew someone who was gay, most (67 percent) supported same-sex relations. If you didn’t know someone who was gay, however, that number dropped to 40 percent. It’s no surprise that so many high-schoolers can’t understand why the older generation is so opposed to offering gay people the same rights as everyone else. I imagine the same principle would apply to atheists, too. If you know an atheist personally, you would realize that the prejudiced things your pastor said about us are probably untrue. That’s why it’s so important for atheists to come out of the closet. It’s vital that we make ourselves known to those around us, so that they know we hold many of the same values they do, that we volunteer and donate to charity just like they do, and that we have our own sense of ethics and morals (and they didn’t come out of some holy book). There’s no reason we should be left behind in the realm of public acceptance, especially when there are so many of us out there who don’t see any evidence for a god’s existence.
Deepak Chopra The American melting pot: Atheists keep out? Q. Atheist actor and writer Ricky Gervais is working on a new show, Afterlife , which features “an atheist who dies and goes to heaven.” If Gervais hopes to bring cultural acceptance of non-belief to mainstream America, he faces an uphill battle. Polls show that many Americans distrust atheists and nearly half say they would not vote for one. Should it matter whether or not a politician believes in God? As mainstream acceptance of other minority groups grows, will atheists still lag behind? A. It’s startling to read the poll results about how much Americans distrust atheists. The reasons aren’t obscure, but let’s consider the numbers first. An ABC News survey asked more than 2,000 people if they would disapprove of a child who wanted to marry an atheist. Almost half (47.6 percent) said yes. The move toward inclusiveness has been more successful with every other group that this question was posed about. Comparatively, a third of respondents would disapprove of their child marrying a Muslim and just over 27 percent an African-American. Is this a statement about how the American melting pot is faring? Or is it more about the fact that atheists, who didn’t use to have a very public face, are loudly represented by gadflies like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins? Abrasiveness rarely wins friends - or in-laws apparently. When it comes to marrying someone from other minorities - Jewish, Hispanic, Asian - the disapproval rating falls below 20 percent and plummets to 6.9 percent if a child wanted to marry a conservative Christian. That figure is especially telling, since dogmatic atheists chiefly draw vocal opposition from Bible-believing fundamentalists. For a politician the indicators are clear: don’t step on God’s toes. And why should a presidential candidate take an atheist position, or any position outside the mainstream? We are a secular republic, but what politicians want, basically, is approval. Turning God into a political issue will never be a pure or clean stance. Believers and nonbelievers cover a wide spectrum of American opinion. Although statistically we are among the most church-going countries compared to othern Western states, for example, we are also free-thinking. In the context of rationality and scientific inquiry, no faith can claim that their version of God has been validated through rigorous proof or scientific evidence, just as atheists cannot claim that their position has been validated. Which opens a wide field for reinventing faith on a higher ground, above rancorous prejudice and inflexible belief. Thomas Jefferson held such a position, and so do forward-looking spiritual movements today. Or should we say inward-looking, since religion has steadily found a more tolerant home outside organized faiths, with people seeking their own God by walking the spiritual path as individuals. Officially, we are a nation of believers, but if you examine the social fabric more closely, I think we are more a nation of seekers, on all fronts and not just religion. The ABC poll asked a second question, about which groups did not share the responder’s view of American society. Atheists led the pack with almost 40 percent, the next highest number being 26 percent for Muslims. Even a more outspoken gay community campaigning for same-sex marriage rated only 22 percent. This is nowhere near perfect by the standards of political correctness, love thy neighbor, and the melting pot but to my mind surprisingly tolerant except about atheism. Of course, it’s not as if atheism is seeking to be popular. It’s an embattled, contentious minority by choice, so far as public relations go, and I imagine that in more restrained circles, such as universities, non-belief is respectable and widespread. After all, Darwin, Marx, and Freud head the long list of modern minds who jettisoned the God of organized religion more than a century ago, and most of the founding Fathers wouldn’t pass a Bible test given in Southern Baptist Sunday school. Polls and casual observations cannot determine whether God exists or not. The arrogant reputation of outspoken atheists may derive, at bottom, from their disdain for the world’s great sages, saints, and intelligent believers who experienced some kind of divine presence. The fact that this is a lively question is the most encouraging sign. Better to live in a society with a healthy mix of belief, skepticism, curiosity, argument, and confusion than one where God, or godlessness, is officially sanctioned and woe to anyone who doesn’t toe the line. Deepark Chopra | Jul 20, 2011 12:13 PM |