A recent family incident has caused me to think a lot about my Atheism and how pervasive religion is in this society. Having no children of my own yet, I take a great interest in the lives of my nieces and nephew. I try to attend all their events as often as I can. These include birthdays, school programs, visits with their doctors and religious events. I have attended their Baptisms and First Communions in the past. I am an Atheist and always have been, but I see these social rituals as a necessary evil and a time for a family gathering. Attending these events has never been a problem for me, but recently they seem to have become a problem for my family.
Ever since I became active with CSS and have publicly proclaimed my Atheism, my family has been cutting me out of some family events. My Atheism was fine as long as I was quiet about it and didn’t bother them with it, but they have made it into a big issue as of late. Case in point — my eight-month-old nephew was Baptized last month and I was intentionally excluded. What they did was talk amongst themselves and decide that I would be insulted if I received an invitation. Funny how they never asked me how I felt or noticed that I didn’t mind attending those sorts of events in the past.
I talked to my mother about all of this and she thought I would be uncomfortable being around something religious. I then went on to explain to her how I am surrounded by religion everyday and I attend other religious events: weddings, funerals, etc. You can’t escape religion in this society, it’s everywhere. The yellow pages list 166 churches for Linn County alone! In God We Trust on our money. The pledge of allegiance in all Oregon Public Schools. The ten commandments in public buildings. Religious oaths of office. The President and his “faith based” programs. Christian Fish in Yellow Page advertisements. Bibles in hotel rooms. Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on your door. Religious programs on television. It’s impossible to avoid religion in everyday life.
Television shows like It’s a Miracle and Miracle Pets really bother me. They will call any event a “miracle” and not give credit where it’s due. A child is run over by a car and a group of skilled doctors work hours to save his life and it’s proclaimed to be a miracle. It’s not the doctors who went through years of training who saved his life, it was a miracle from God. If you ask me, the REAL miracle would be if the boy had never been run over in the first place.
I suppose at the heart of all of this is what people mean when they say certain words. A miracle is defined as “an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God”. Do these people think the events were supernatural? Probably not, but perhaps the definition needs to be updated, or they need to find a better word.
Before I became active in the secular community I was often confused by what was meant when I heard certain words. I heard the word Freethought and I would think of hippie drug users. The word Humanist sounded very much like a New Age thing. Even the word Atheist was something I didn’t really understand. I read the dictionary definition “one who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods,” but that didn’t really define how I felt.
I know my family, and most folks outside the secular community, think of Atheism in the strict dictionary definition. They think that when someone “denies the existence of God” that means they want wipe out religion. While that would be a wonderful thing, I am not into denying others their freedom of choice. They have as much right to believe in their Gods as I have to not believe.
For me, being an Atheist is not about disbelieving there is a God, it about living my life not worrying about any Gods. It’s about taking a logical approach to life. It’s about embracing and getting excited about Science. Being an Atheist means not having to be conflicted when I read about evolution. It’s about living in the here and now and not worrying about some afterlife. It’s about trying to make this world a better place for future generations. And much more!
If we want to know what the word Atheist means, maybe we should start listening to Atheists and look beyond the dictionary for definitions.
Hello. My name is Angela Christine Byers (yes, my mother actually named me “Angel of Christ”), and I am an atheist.
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