In parts one and two of this series I wrote about how science, logic, and reason serve as the foundation of my disbelief. In this third and final part, I’m going to move away from my reasons for disbelief and focus on why I’m openly in opposition to religion. Why don’t I just keep it to myself? Live and let live? There are two primary reasons for this. The first, which I touched on in part one, is because of the anti-intellectualism encouraged by religion. The other, which I’ll expound on a bit here, is human rights.
What could be more of an affront to human rights than slavery? All of the Abrahamic religions condoned it, citing very clear support for it in their scriptures, right up until they were forced by changing societal mores to abandon it. And it’s not just the desert myths that have perpetuated slavery. The Hindu caste system, to this day, effectively enslaves millions.
After slavery was abolished, Xtians of all denominations were some of the biggest proponents of Jim Crow laws and some of the biggest opponents of the civil rights movement in the United States. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he addressed church leaders of several denominations who turned their backs on him and labeled him an extremist, expressing his disappointment that they seemed content “to stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities” while others were beaten, jailed, and killed for standing up for what was right. As times changed in this country, so did the churches, mosques and synagogues. Yet the racism and immorality is inherent in their holy texts, and lives on in believers today. A recent meta-analysis of 55 independent studies in the U.S. showed that the religious—mostly Xtian in these studies—tend to be far more prejudiced against other races than atheists and agnostics.
One of the most blatant and visible prejudices held by the religious in the modern world is the one against gay people. From The Bible:
Leviticus 18:22 – Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 – If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
While we’re lucky that most aren’t following their holy book to a T and murdering every gay person they come across, it’s passages like this that give believers the impetus to block gay rights legislation and condone discriminatory actions and violence against the gay population. Leave it to the anti-intellectual, illogical, and bigoted power of religion if you want results like this:
Women too suffer and face hurdles to equality around the world because of the patriarchal structures promoted by religion. We often point to the Middle East for instances of this, as burqas are a strong, visual example, but Western society is hardly beyond this aspect of religious prejudice. The barefoot and pregnant view of womanhood is alive and well in much of America, and disparity in the workplace is still a major concern. Washington Post columnist Paula Kirby, in this excellent article on the subject, wrote:
The truth is that the Abrahamic religions fear women and therefore go to extraordinary and sometimes brutal lengths to control them, constrain them, and repress them in every way. Show me a non-religious society that feels so threatened by the thought of female sexuality that it will slice off the clitoris of a young girl to ensure she can never experience sexual pleasure. Show me a non-religious society that feels the need to cloak women from head to toe and force them to experience the outside world through a slit of a few square inches. All three Abrahamic religions share the myth of Adam and Eve, the myth that it was through woman that evil was let loose in the world. They share the heritage of Leviticus, which declared a menstruating woman unclean, to be set aside, untouched, a revulsion that remains even today among some orthodox Jews, who will refuse to shake a woman’s hand for fear she may be menstruating. What kind of lunacy is this? It is the lunacy of a Bronze Age mindset fossilized by the reactionary forces of religion.
And let’s not forget that other, rarely considered minority facing discrimination and prejudice by believers every day in America: atheists. A 2003 study at the University of Minnesota found that “atheists rank below several other minority groups, including immigrants, gays and lesbians, conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims, as ‘least likely to share everyday Americans’ vision of society’.” In child custody cases, atheists are being discriminated against based solely on their disbelief. They’re being ostracized and threatened. Even combat veterans, who are usually revered in American society, are jeered, shunned, and called all sorts of unpleasant things simply for not believing in a magical man in the sky.
So there you have it. I’m an atheist because it’s the most logical, reasonable position to take based on the evidence. I’m an anti-theist because religion is a bastion of anti-intellectualism and bigotry. I know that persuading believers to join me is a near impossibility (you can rarely reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into), but by being open and passionate about my position I can at least set an example for other non-believers. If we all stand up together, unashamed and unflinching, I think we can make a difference. And who knows? Maybe, one day, religion will be the looked upon by the majority for what it is: useless superstition and an impediment to human progress.
See also: Part 1 – Science and Part 2 – Logic and Reason
Smiling Doom 