Atheists much better than editorial claimed

The Gazette's Aug. 20 Our View, "Dems dismiss the atheists," was inflammatory and inaccurate. Much was said about nonbelievers and my comment about the interfaith service planned for the Democratic National Convention.

When The Gazette called me to comment for the original news report, I said, "By reaching out to people of faith, they have shown the back of their hand to those who do not believe (as they do)." I explained that many groups were left out; Native American spiritualists, deists, Unitarians, pagans and others. My statement was a call for pluralism - that people of all ethical groundings be included. The editorial's point was that I simply wasn't "invited to a private party for ‘believers.'"

If it's just a prayer party, The Gazette would be right. I neither need nor want an invitation.

But if the gathering is intended to offer a moral compass to the country, then we who don't hold supernatural beliefs have moral and ethical values to bring to the table and we warrant inclusion.

Evangelicals don't shy from what The Gazette accused atheists of: "confronting and insulting believers of other religions." A brief look at the scandals of our time shows that those who claim religious superiority aren't exempt from moral and ethical weakness. Let's remember, praying hasn't helped the Republicans resist fraud, corruption, torture, pandering to the wealthy, cheating on their wives or lying to the country. This shows the futility of prayer itself. If morality and civility are the purpose of the interfaith service, then atheists, humanists, and others deserve an invitation as much as believers

America has a proud and effective history of not mixing politics with religion. That is how we've avoided the religious bloodshed that so many other countries experience. I don't care which gods people choose to worship, just don't ask me to live by their rules. Thomas Jefferson said, "It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

As for the editorial quoting Albert Einstein, more extensive research was in order. Einstein made his thinking clear in a letter he wrote later in his life. He wrote, "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."

I guess he wouldn't have gotten an invitation, either.

The Gazette declared: "Imagine a world with no religion ... a world without the Golden Rule, devoid of most charities, hospitals and great universities." This is an outrageous slur, invalidated by the vast number of purely secular charities, hospitals, and great universities.

American freethinkers give to charities every day. We haven't claimed credit for our good deeds; we send off our checks without designating what "nonreligion" we belong to.

Those with more money endow chairs at universities and build medical centers. The rest of us support organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, ASPCA, Red Cross, Katrina funds, Doctor's Without Borders and others. George Soros, the greatest charitable giver of our time, is an atheist. The American Humanist Association aids people in need through its Humanist Charities. I could go on.

You don't know who we are, even though we are everywhere. We number greater than 10 percent of the U.S. population. We are your nurses, doctors, teachers, police officers, pilots, athletes, soldiers, firefighters, grocery store clerks and heavy equipment operators. We run homeless shelters and businesses. We take in battered women, children and animals.

You don't know who we are because there are bigots out there who fire us from our jobs, terrorize our children, burn crosses on our lawns, and then react with outrage whenever we speak up. There is nothing to fear from us. We don't shoot gay people, doctors we disagree with or even religious extremists. We don't start wars needlessly and we don't fly airplanes into buildings. Life is valuable to us. That's why we treasure the opportunities and potentials of this world even without looking for rewards or fearing punishments in the next.

At the end of the day, all we really want is the same respect given to the faithful.

Hale is a founder of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, co-owner of www.evolvefish.com, a humanist celebrant and is on the executive board of the American Humanist Association.