THE DEATH WATCH-THIRTY-FOUR

When I was working for an engineering firm in Corvallis I shared an office with a born-again Christian. Over the span of that year and a half we both learned a lot from each other and became really good friends. We had kids of about the same age and his first complaint was that the public school system didn’t teach enough about Christianity. (His words were that the system was too secular) It was from him that I first learned of the organization of non-conformists and the non-conformists manifesto. I pointed out to him that by definition a non-conformist was one who didn’t want to conform with anyone. I, therefore, found it difficult to believe that non-conformists would want to get together with other non-conformists. The “manifesto” was also an item I questioned on the same basis and he never was able to produce it so that I could read it for myself. He had heard about it from a pastor at his church.

The Atheist Alliance Inc. (AAI) is a democratic association of independent, autonomous atheist societies. Applications for Alliance membership from independent local, regional or international atheist clubs, groups, societies, organizations, and associations are always welcome. AAI welcomes individual members. In addition, individual atheists who do not have an already established atheist organization in their area may receive a free membership with Atheist Internet Outreach; Established as a member organization of the AAI, our Outreach Program is designed to assist isolated and/or disaffected atheists with freethought issues of the day... Atheist Alliance International is registered in the United States as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, educational organization. Donations to AAI are tax deductible for U.S. taxpayers.

I ran across this organization of Atheists, the Atheists Alliance Inc. and this organization does have a “manifesto”, so maybe he wasn’t that far from the truth. It’s easy for me to make the leap from non-conformist to Atheist, although others may not agree.

I find this extremely humorous because it goes back to my question of the need to have a building, a person and others in order to communicate with the unknown. Why would a group of people that don’t believe in God want to get together? Is this a case of circling the wagons and defending oneself against an enemy? Is it some sort of group therapy to bolster one’s insecurities? “Are you really sure that you don’t believe?”

Now that I’ve bored you with why I am an Atheist and how I view the world of the non-believer, here are some definitions I did find on the “web”.

Atheism is not a religion in the sense that Christianity, Islam, and, Judaism are. Atheism is not generally perceived as offering a complete guideline for living as do most religions.
Atheism is confined to one factor: the existence or non-existence of a deity. Atheism can involve the positive assertion that there is no deity.

Each atheist has a personal moral code. However, it is generally derived from secular considerations, and not from any "revealed" religious text.

In one way, most people in North America are Atheists. Christians will generally deny the existence of the Mayan, Hindu, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Sumerian, Sikh, and many hundreds of other Gods and Goddesses, even as they assert their belief in the Christian Trinity. Thus, the difference between a typical Christian and a typical Atheist is numerically small: The strong Atheist believes that none of the many thousands of Gods and Goddesses exist; the Christian believes that one God exists in a certain structure -- a Trinity -- whereas all of the other thousands of deities are nonexistent, artificial creations by humans. Although the numerical difference is much less that 0.1%, the philosophical difference is immense.

There exists massive discrimination against Atheists in the U.S.

Part of this may be based on the historical linkage between Communism and Atheism. Most Communists are Atheists. But many people do not realize that most Atheists in North America are not Communists.
Another reason for this discrimination is the common belief that a person cannot be motivated to lead a moral life unless they hope for the reward of heaven, and fear the punishment of Hell. In the past, this belief had been codified into law. Conscientious objectors opposed to participating in warfare were thrown in jail if their opposition to killing was not based on belief in God.
Still another cause of discrimination is a widespread linkage between theism -- the belief in the existence of God -- American citizenship, and Christianity.