In Case I Have Offended Any Christians . . . .

. . . . as in my post yesterday, I want to explain why I keep getting off on that subject. As you know, there has been a great deal of back-and-forthing regarding religion with the upcoming election in mind.

There is always established religion discussed in the ether on all available channels, especially on television in the form of Sunday programs, but there is nothing to my knowledge on a regular basis about atheism except as it is denounced by religious groups.
We nonbelievers are pretty well considered without any positive value systems, which is not true, except for those I would call “nonthinkers.”

What has me so upset—and, yes, frightened—is that various Christian groups, especially evangelicals, are determined to control those who think differently on subjects such as abortion, birth control, and same-sex marriage by engraving only Christian views in our Constitution and national laws. Atheists and other nonbelievers are not attempting to control the beliefs of others on those subjects because we can understand that there are other equally plausible ways of looking at them (although many of us feel that unfettered overpopulation of the world can lead only to disaster, if not in our time, certainly in the future).

Because we live in what is supposed to be a democracy, we do not attempt to control the lives of those who believe that life is sacred, but we also believe that we should have the same rights regarding our lives and those of our progeny.


ARW
8/19/08