OK to be Godless?
During this election she's been more outspoken in her commentary and has defended against sexism and racism. Recently, as Obama was called an "Arab," she addressed the elephant in the room:
So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter?
When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical?
...
There are more than 1.2 million Arab-Americans and about 7 million Muslim-Americans, former Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, successful business people, normal average Americans from all walks of life.
These are the people being maligned here, and we can only imagine how this conversation plays in the Muslim world. We can't tolerate this ignorance -- not in the media, not on the campaign trail.
There are more people who are "godless" in this country than Muslim. I'm not trying to put this on the level of racism against Obama, but as Campbell says, "We can't tolerate this ignorance -- not in the media, not on the campaign trail."
posted by Matt Bors at
8:30 AM
6 Comments:
It's funny, once upon a time in my younger idealistic days- I toyed with the thought about running for office, but even while idealistic, I knew that my atheism would make me a non-starter. I wonder how many potential candidates have had to face that fact due to this counties denial that freedom of religion aslo means freedom from religion.
@David, I hear you on that. When asked what religion I am, I respond "Independent." Although constitutionally there is no religious litmus test, the reality is that it would be very difficult to run as a non-Christian and almost impossible to run if you didn't declare a Judea-Christian religion.
If I ran for office, I'd probably tell people I was Unitarian. I rather like the Unitarians, and despite what everyone else says, I liked Jimmy Carter (Unitarian).
This gets even more complicated as an atheist parent trying to encourage open-mindedness and critical thinking in my children. For example, the conversation wherein I explained to my daughter that plenty of people believe in God without believing in Jesus, or that Islam is not inherently at war with "the West" (whatever that really is.) So I wind up being an amateur professor of theologies I think are basically cotton candy for the brain. It gets pretty annoying that I can't rely on even Campbell Brown (on whom I have a little media crush) to defend my right to not believe anything.
In Norway, it's pretty strange to mix your personal faith with politics (even the Christian Democratic Party is afraid to mention God, prayer or faith in God).
I am proud to be an atheist, and I think people should feel more safe if they vote for someone who makes his decisions based on evidence rather than a voice in his head.
@ eirik,
might that have to do with the extreme intolerance found in such groups as The Black Metal scene? I certainly wouldn't express my faith if it might mean my church would burned down :P
I was hoping Campbell would tackle this smear against atheists as well but I may have been overzealous in my hopes from a country which has 'In God We Trust' branded on its money.
@Blake:
I didn't understand what you were trying to insinuate, but I guess you're trying to say the black metal scene in Norway is so big it influences our society as a whole, and controls politics.
The Norwegian satanistic black metal music is quite famous outside of our borders, with artists such as Dimmu Borgir, and we are aware of it (the Norwegian language courses in all of Italy are filled with black metal fans). However, black metal music is not very popular in its homeland, and does not represent our country at all. Our culture is very americanized, and if you came over here you would be surprised by how alike Norway and the USA are, and at the same time very different.
And just to make my point about oppressionist satanists clear: No church has been burnt here for several years. I can't recall a single burning from the past ten years, and just to prove my point, I searched VG.no (our country's largest newspaper, online since 1995) for "kirkebrann" ("church fire"). After I sorted out the unrelated stuff, only one article referred to a church fire in Norway which was a result of arson - that took place in 1994.
People in Norway aren't afraid to show their faith because they're afraid of being persecuted by other people (jihad, assasination and other kinds of violence); what I really meant secularism has spread through all the population, our politicians too. Your politicians' faith seems like dangerous fundamentalism to us.
We're way more free to believe, do and say what we want over here; society in general is more peaceful (lower murder and crime rates) and there are few dangerous fundamentalist groups who are working against freedom of speech (I'm referring to the religious nuts in the US who are shooting pro-abortion doctors). And our politicians don't make laws that restrict freedom of speech by using empty words like patriotism.
I know you can't take a research trip to every country in the world that you express opinions about, but the Norwegian people doesn't deserve to be looked upon as intolerant and fanatic when we are almost the exact opposite.
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