Atheism
is a belief that there is no god, gods, or supernatural in any form. I offer you these words by American
astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator, Neil deGrasse
Tyson, for your reflection:
The moment someone
attaches you to a philosophy or a movement, then they assign all the baggage
and all of the rest of the philosophy that goes with it to you. And when you
want to have a conversation, they will assert they know everything important
there is to know about you because of that association. That’s not the way to have conversation. I’m sorry, it’s not. I’d rather we explore each other’s ideas in
real time, rather than assign a label to it, and assert you know what is going
to happen next.
Myths
I
want to explore are the myths about atheists and the potential richness of atheism.
British
comedian Ricky Gervais, an atheist, said: “It is a strange myth that atheists
have nothing to live for. It’s the
opposite. We have nothing to die
for. We have everything to live for.” There are many such myths in our culture
about atheism. Would you agree that
atheists have nothing to live for? Of
course not. So when Ricky says here that
atheists have everything to live for, what does that mean?
And More Myths
Atheists are: freethinkers, secular humanists,
naturalists, infidels, rationalist, apostates, skeptics, heretics,
materialists, bright, non-theists, agnostics, nonbelievers. Some of these qualities many be true of some
atheists and not others.
Atheists
hate religion; atheists believe in nothing; atheists have just replaced
religion with science; atheists are just atheists until their life is
threatened; atheism is a white male thing; atheists don’t have a moral code;
atheists are hedonists who don’t understand the meaning of love; atheists’
lives lack meaning; atheists are angry, aggressive, defensive, intolerant of
others; and atheists believe that everything in the universe arose by
chance.
As
I listed these generalizations or myths, what did you think and feel? Do you reject them all? Do you wonder if some of them have a kernel
of truth?
Some
atheists hold deGrasse up as one of their own, but he refuses to accept the
label of atheist. If pressed he
identifies himself as an agnostic. He
doesn’t want the prejudices that the label atheist incurs; he doesn’t want
people to think they know all about him just by that association. And I would agree with him.
I
have met many atheists in my time as a Unitarian Universalist. None of them were exactly the same. Big surprise right. But it is easy to accept a
generalization/myth that you have heard about atheists if one person embodies
that generalization/myth.
Take
the myth that atheists are angry and defensive, particularly when talking about
religion. Well, I have certainly met a
few atheists who were are like that. But
I have met many more who were compassionate and accepting of other faiths.
A Focus on What is Important without Belittling Others
Jason
Heap, the national coordinator for the United Coalition of Reason has applied
to be an atheist chaplain in the armed services. He talked recently in the Western Suburbs of
Chicago about how he felt honored to be invited to the religious rituals and ceremonies
of people of faith, and how he understood the meaning and importance of these
rituals to these people.
I
was able to spend time with him before the presentation and listened closely as
he spoke. Not once did I hear him angry
or defensive, not once did I hear him belittle, criticize, or discount any
religion or religious tradition, even though he was frustrated by the
difficulties he was having becoming an atheist chaplain, and dismayed that some
evangelical ministers were lobbying against him.
However,
he didn’t belittle the faith of these evangelicals; he simply expressed
frustration about how they were impeding him from becoming a chaplain. I heard him that night talk about his own
beliefs with authenticity, focusing on what was important to him about his
beliefs. He talked with passion about
the need for an atheist chaplain; a person willing to provide spiritual and
emotional support to our armed service members, regardless of whether they were
atheist, agnostic, unsure of their beliefs, or people of faith, regardless of
their religious tradition.
Drop the Label—Honor Atheism as a Path as Rich as Any Other
All
labels, in the end, tend to one-dimensionalize that which is labeled. “Christian”—boom, put that in a box and on
the shelf. “Muslim”—okay that is in a
box and up on the shelf. “Atheist”---zip!
We put that in box and shoved it on the shelf with all the other boxes. We don’t have to look inside any of the boxes
again to know what is inside them, because we’ve labeled them so we know at a
glance. 
How
often do we do that? How often has each
of us done that today? Atheists choose a
way of looking at people, life, and the world that can be rich and full of
meaning. A path just as rich as any
other belief system or religion or spirituality. Each of us has choices in how we live in the
world, how we interact with others, how deeply we choose to go into an
experience.
We
can choose a prickly path that reacts against those different from ourselves or
a peaceful path that enriches our lives when we meet someone different from
ourselves. We all have choices. I invite us to put aside our pre-conceived
notions of others and to resist the urge to settle for the surface-only
understanding that labelling offers.
Listen
to each person we encounter—listen to them as they talk about what they
believe, what they value, what enriches their life, what has transformed them,
what passions call to their hearts. Take
that labeled box off the shelf, open it up, and explore the treasures inside. We have so much to learn if we choose this
way of being with one another.
Atheism
affirms rationalism, non-theism, science, and skepticism. But it is not limited to these; as with any
other belief, atheism can invite a person into awe and wonder, meaning and
truth, purpose and passion. Like the
Native American women who molded a pot to hold their water and their mythology,
let us keep in mind that each time we create a pot, a label, the water it holds
is not static. The pot is static, a
moment in time, a set experience; the water keeps flowing, changing, it never
stops. Life hurries past us and runs away,
too strong to stop, too sweet to lose. May
we embrace life and each other, understanding that none of us is static, we are
all flowing, changing, strong and too sweet to lose.
Let
us covenant to really get to know each other, and for that matter, really get
to know anyone we come into contact with, in real time, without the
preconceived baggage we often attribute to them, without believing that we know
all we need to know about them. Let us
covenant to see each person we meet in all their uniqueness; feeling awe and
wonder as we reflect on how each person came to be the person they are.
Blessings,
Rev. Tom
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