Jamie_L

aif:

I get a similar feeling when I watch new reports of some disaster. Inevitably, someone gets interviewed who attributes their survival to God. And all I can think of is: Why didn't your God do you one better and prevent the disaster in the first place. Not to mention why didn't he help those poor shmucks who didn't make it.

Nobody else ever seems to think that but me. And on the rare occasions I actually voice that thought, I get some pretty harsh looks.

Jamie

Jobar

I often think that if we were physically identifiable, for example by skin color, we'd see far more discrimination than we actually do.

I am the only atheist in a large and fairly close family, and my unbelief has in the past been a large bone of contention. My able defense of atheism and my ability to attack blind belief have won a truce of sorts; religion is rarely discussed in my presence, except in situations where I would be seen as an utter spoilsport iif I objected (the reading of the Nativity story on Christmas eve, for example.) My relations with my parents, in particular, are often very strained because of this.

Years ago, fresh out of college, I was contacted by the private high school I attended, and asked to come and teach science (chemistry, biology, and physics) to the upper grades. I did, despite having no training in teaching; my physics degree was considered qualification enough. (And I did fairly well; I still occasionally see former students who tell me that they learned more of science in my classes than from any other teacher.) But when the administration of the school found out I was not a Christian (one of the students noticed I did not recite the Lord's Prayer in the mornings), I was fired within weeks, with less than 2 months left in the school year. (The reason given was 'improper discipline' of the students in the classes I taught.)

In the larger society around me, where I see so much relegious insanity going right up to the highest levels of government, I often feel marginalized. My ancestors came to America more than a hundred and fifty years ago, yet to my face I have been called un-American because of my atheism.

It's a proud and lonely thing, to be an atheist in Georgia...