Every morning when I wake up, I am accosted by the ringing campus chapel's bells. As I pass the notice board, the poster for Campus Crusade for Christ is still in its rightful place, and as I walk towards class, I can still see the words in chalk on the sidewalk: "Free S'mores! Concert for Christ at 7." Every so often on T.V. is an ad for the United Methodist Church. It is a veritable assault on my senses, and I can't help but notice it because I am an atheist.
I would love to be able to avoid these things, but I can't. This is my only opportunity for a college education, so I bear it. I tolerate it. But I can't stand it. Why should I have to, though? I am at a public university.
Why is faith so deeply ingrained into society that I cannot avoid it? Why is it so prevalent that even a Yale student is capable of arguing in favor of such an absurd message? And does the MoveOn ad's censure have any consequences for atheists to worry about?
The state of modern American society is very disconcerting, as the word atheist has such a negative connotation that people feel the need to preclude it with a nicer word. "New Atheist," "friendly atheist," etc. The very idea of an atheist is too volatile for modern culture. I'm going to school at a public, state funded university, and there are no secular student organizations here, yet nearly every religion has its own group.
As an American, I have a right to freedom of religion; it has often been interpreted to mean a freedom from religion as well. I also consider myself to be a liberal, and I think I'm allowed to do that, too. So this recent condemnation of the infamous MoveOn.org ad ruffles my feathers in a slightly different way. Let me explain.
The Republican party threw themselves at this opportunity with zeal. The Democrats caved quite easily. This was over a clearly divided issue. So. Since the legislative branch of the United States of America is overwhelmingly Christian, if the Republicans decided to censure atheists, targeting an atheist/secular group as they did MoveOn, would there be any resistance?
Should I be worried? Hell yes. I have no protection from dehumanizing legislation in this Congress, and likely will not gain any from upcoming ones. All I can do is hope the Congresscritters will not be afraid to stand up for the rights laid out to us, blatantly, in the Constitution. And we all know how that's been working out for us so far.