Be Secure in your Right Not to Believe

For most non-believers, the real “A” words are not Atheism or Agnosticism, but rather apprehension, antagonism, and abjection.

The apprehension to “out” one’s self as a non-believer is what I imagine any number of persecuted social groups have had to experience in the past as they aver their right to social equality as innately and humanely afforded.

As it pertains to non-belief of religion, the apprehension is mostly fear that family, friends and even co-workers will instantly reduce the value of your character to somewhere between “Satan” and Stalin.

What is most important to remember is that your character belongs to you, and is a cumulative measure of your experiences in life, the causes you’ve stood for, the contributions you’ve made, the knowledge you’ve nurtured and shared, and generally how well you’ve behaved as a socially-compatible human being.

There’s an often-referred to quote that I like to reference, and there are conflicting reports of where it originated, but it says so much with so few, but obvious words:

                “If someone has a problem with you, remember that it is their problem, not yours.”

The social stigma with non-believers is most notable in the United States and places in the Middle East where there remains a significant core group of religiously faithful who believe that one is without a moral purpose unless they profess devotion to a singular deity that they forfeit their conscience (minds) to; more specifically, the deity worshipped by the majority in that geographical region. That is where the religious antagonism and abject presumptions toward non-believers furthers the apprehension of logical thinkers to feel proud or even just comfortable professing their non-belief publicly. To this day, doing so can even get you killed in some countries.

That must change.

Free yourself from that fear, and be proud to be a person who does in fact have a belief; a belief in themselves and their adept abilities to seek reason and rationality. Many cannot freely make that assertion. Those of us who can, need to do so on their behalf. Furthermore, we need to free ourselves from the chains of the dogmatically self-righteous who accuse non-believers of having no self-worth.

This study from 2007 shows that the United States is nearly 80% Christian. (However, since that time countless books written by people like Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins, dissecting religious virtue, has lowered that number drastically). Still, we are a largely Christian nation, which furthers the social stigma and persecution of non-believers by the righteously faithful. This is an explanation, and surely shouldn’t be used as an excuse.

Not all religiously faithful cast stones. However, the majority of Christians in America follow a political affiliation that does seek to use that religious affiliation as a platform for how they attempt to legislate their Christian interpretation of morals on the rest of society. Morals based from an ideology that, while certainly has some good examples, also has some abhorrently hateful examples of how to treat people who think or live differently than them.

The absence of a religious faith does not leave one void of hope or of moral aptitude. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The ability to seek reasonable explanation stimulates hope and moral aptitude.

Morals are not absolute or objective, because they are assumed principles based upon varying beliefs, and even non-belief. Morals are behaviors or attitudes that have certainly changed over time and will continue to. We see this with slavery, sexism and homosexuality. Morals derive from what both individuals and collective societies want to label actions as.

Society can either label these actions as being moral or immoral or as good and evil. Different societies, even in the year 2013, have different laws and different sanctions for actions. If you take any moral social issue such as the death penalty, abortion, and homosexuality even people who have a religion fall on both sides of a given moral issue.

Those of us who are non-believers are not vile, unpleasant or socially-dangerous people. At least not any more than the general population. There is no evidence to suggest that non-belief results in more violent crime or socially-deviant behavior. In fact, being the greater minority in society, it would appear, even relatively-speaking, that repugnant behavior is quite a bit more prevalent among those who declare a faith.

I have yet to hear a story of a non-believer murdering another non-believer because of their particular form of non-belief. The title of Atheist or Agnostic does not make us dangerous individuals, nor does it make us cynical. It makes us skeptics.

Skepticism is merely a more provisional approach to what others assert to be the truth. Non-believers apply reason to ideas, removing the ambiguity and immeasurable variable of “faith.” Skepticism is a method, not a position. When we say we are "skeptical," we’re declaring the need to see compelling evidence before we believe. 

By most tangible examples, this would seem a reasonable approach to everyone. If I told you I found a seed that grew a money tree and you’d never have to work again, you’d surely want to see it before quitting your job instead of just taking my word for it.

That may seem a bit tangential to religion, but it’s similar in the way non-believers apply skepticism.

Billions of people around the world have good, ethical, meaningful lives that are full of purpose without the belief in a god. Atheists are people who, in most cases, take responsibility for their own actions both good and bad based upon a system of personal accountability as opposed to the more communal accountability whereby many religions claim a god intended them to carry out an action, or say they did something because it was what a god wanted them to do, good or bad.

Non-believers don’t use religion as a breakfast table to serve up philanthropy or charitable cause toward our fellow human beings for the reason that we believe doing so is a prerequisite for a ticket to an ambiguous second life. We act compassionately towards those oppressed because it is what is right to do.

We live in the here and now, and we live proud.

Atheism is not by any definition a system of belief or standard set of imposed values. Atheism is a rejection of belief in a deity, only. It says nothing at all about the beliefs a person does hold or his/her individual ethics, morals, or values.

If you are a Christian, then you do not believe in any other god (and there are literally thousands). You do not fear any other god because you believe they do not exist. As a Christian, you hold a belief in one God; however, you are an atheist with respect to all other gods. (In the 1st and 2nd centuries, Christians who did not worship the Emperor as God were called atheists by the Romans.)

Non-believers reject all the gods, just like Christians. But we will go one more, rejecting the Christian god as well. That is all atheism is. And this same systematic way of thinking can apply to any of the other monotheistic religions who would otherwise curse Christianity just the same as they would curse Atheists.

That duplicity is both the continuity and the common denominator between all religions that only non-believers seem to be able to objectively process and conclude.

As alluded to throughout this blog, it is the attack on one’s character that keeps most non-believers behind the curtains. Intellectual, philanthropic, socially-productive people with much to say and offer, but an overriding fear of being lambasted by those closest to us, and by a nation that is largely intolerant of non-Christians (particularly if you are an Atheist or a Muslim in America).

When we engage in discussions with believers, and a point is reached where believers can no longer substantiate a point that we clearly want to understand (yes, we want to understand it; we seek to understand, that’s what we do), believers often resort to ad hominem, which is to say that they begin to attack a person’s character rather than use valid logic or forming a sound argument in defense of their point.

Being a non-believer is nothing to be ashamed of. It is the fastest growing group of people in the world, and it’s a statement of both your unbiased compassion for humanity and your ability to think systematically. These are not things you should be afraid to speak of.

Non-believers, be proud of yourself, and be proud of being reasonable. Your way of thinking leaves you more cultivated and certainly more civilized than most. Exercise your confidence, and your personal, free conscience.