You Have Freedom of Religion, Not Freedom of No Religion

Some people don't think that "freedom" includes the freedom to be different — or at least to be very different. Freedom only means the freedom to choose to do what is expected of you; if you try to act or believe differently, you must be ostracized, excluded, discriminated against, or even kicked out entirely. When it comes to religion, for example, some Americans believe that "freedom of religion" simply means that you are free to choose any Christian denomination you want; otherwise, you should simply leave the country.

Alice Shannon of Soldotna wrote the following to the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, Alaska:

It’s time to stomp out atheists in America. The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America. If you don’t believe in God, then get out of this country.

The United States is based on having freedom of religion, speech, etc., which means you can believe in God any way you want (Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.), but you must believe.

I don’t recall freedom of religion meaning no religion. Our currency even says, ‘’In God We Trust.” So, to all the atheists in America: Get off of our country.

Atheists have caused the ruin of this great nation by taking prayer out of our schools and being able to practice what can only be called evil. I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.

The Peninsula Clarion has a nice index page of Letters to the Editor where you can find many interesting responses to what Alice Shannon said about atheists. Jospeh Mohorcich, for example, questions whether Shannon's letter should ever have been printed to begin with:

Hate speech may be protected under the First Amendment, but that doesn’t mean it’s right, responsible or appropriate to print deranged and hateful diatribes like Alice Shannon’s letter, printed in the Clarion on Jan. 29.

Her call to “stomp out” atheists in America and her dark predictions of atheists destroying America by “practicing what can only be called evil” is frighteningly reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s contemptible predictions regarding Jews which captivated Germany over 60 years ago. ... Shame on Alice Shannon and everyone who agrees with her, and shame on the Peninsula Clarion for providing a forum for such disgusting bigotry and misguided anger.

I appreciate that Mohorcich recognizes just how bad anti-atheist bigotry is. The paper never would have printed such a letter if it were written about Catholics, Jews, or blacks, so why consider it appropriate to print such a letter about atheists? He's making the right moral connections, but despite that I must disagree with him and think that it was probably correct for the Peninsula Clarion to print this letter.

I realize that this must seem very odd, given how often I criticize anti-atheist bigotry and especially how rarely people fail to recognize that it's no better than anti-Semitism or racism. However, I doubt that the Peninsula Clarion printed this letter because they agree with the message. I would object, for example, to an editorial that expressed such sentiments precisely because it would mean that the paper agrees with it.

I suspect that the Peninsula Clarion printed this letter, at least in part, because they wanted people to know that such bigotry exists. It's harder for bigotry to survive when it's exposed to the harsh light of public, moral scrutiny and this means we have to publicize bigotry occasionally, however unsettling that might be. Printing Shannon's letter forced people into at least a little bit of a public conversation about anti-atheist bigotry — and this wouldn't have happened if an atheist had simply written in to object to such bigotry. Indeed, I'll bet many readers would have dismissed such a letter as crying wolf, but Shannon's letter prevents any such excuses from being used.

While I deplore anti-atheist bigotry, I think that printing such a bigoted letter ultimately does far more to undermine anti-atheist bigotry than it might to perpetuate it. I'd be concerned if a newspaper printed such letters regularly, but I think we should be thankful that they appear occasionally. I'll bet that many readers of the Peninsula Clarion didn't realize and never stopped to think about the existence of bigots like Alice Shannon. Her letter forced them to confront such attitudes, and inspired many to write in to voice their objections.

Debbie Andrys is one of many to suspect that Shannon didn't just mean to attack atheists, but all non-Christians as well:

Who do we throw out next? Muslims? Jews? Buddhist? Then do we start on race? I see she covers religions and only mentions Christian faiths, which leads me to believe she is suspect of the non-Christian flavors.

Nick Swain was one of the few to write in and state that they are an atheist:

I do not feel it is right that my lack of religion should be used as a scapegoat for crime in America. ... I feel no higher power moving through me when I do something right, just content in myself. When I do wrong, I do not feel the need to repent, only a natural sense of guilt. These are my own judgments. I have my own reservations about people, but I do not take their religion into account. My lack of religion allows me to hold no one religion in greater respect than any others and I do not view any religion as beneath me. I merely do not believe.

Charles Winston Bolen III was another atheist writing in, this time from Georgia:

Contrary to Ms. Shannon’s distorted view of the world, atheists are not the threat to America she makes us out to be. In fact, people like her, full of bloated self-importance, spewing hate and ignorance in the name of the great delusion in the sky, creating division with lame duck arguments, are the real threat to the freedoms this country were built on.

Her words echo the hate toward blacks in earlier times and reminds us also of the hate that still gets thrown at homosexuals. In both cases, such hate is wrong, as it is now in this case.

Were the word “atheist” replaced with “black” in this letter, I seriously doubt her letter would have been printed. In any case, it was printed and the entire world is being shown the religious bigotry and hate speech of Alice Shannon.

Neal Coleman makes a good point about how the bigotry of people like Alice Shannon is produced by ignorance:

With Protestant Christianity our cultural religion, many Americans are raised, and indeed spend their whole lives, without meeting or getting to know even one atheist. Lack of experiential knowledge breeds fear, which in turn gives rise to resent and hatred. This is the source of Ms. Shannon’s sentiment, and that of those like her.

...In the end, it is ignorance of atheism and atheists that lies at the source of Ms. Shannon’s beliefs. I hope she meets an atheist at some time in her life and realizes just how wrong she is: that it is quite possible to befriend, and indeed love, as Christ would have it, someone whose beliefs are different from her own.

Esko Halttunen, writing all the way from Finland, notes that one nation in the 1930s reinstated school prayer and did other things to correct the problems Alice Shannon listed: Germany. How did that turn out, again?

Erik Huebsch points out how similar Shannon's ideology is to that of the Taliban and hopes that she was just using satire. George Harbeson is putting his hopes on the satire angle as well:

It’s level of vitriol was so off the chart that after I recovered from the shock and awe, I had to smile. It’s gotta be satire, right? ... Tsk, tsk, those atheists. Yeah, yeah, I know here’s jihads, Crusades, suicide bombers, Inquisitions, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard and his “New Life,” right-to-life snipers (now that’s gotta be satire), abusive Catholic priests, “Man on Dog” Santorum, etc., ad infinitum. Oops. I forgot — more satire.

Atheists aren't the only targets of bigotry in this area, though. Muslims must also endure similar treatment, as for example in a letter from Robert Ralls:

It seems to me that the American people need to wake up to the fact that the Muslims are trying to dominate our way of life. ... I fear that if we let anymore of these people get elected they will destroy us from within. They have proven they cannot be trusted and quite frankly are barbarians, anyone who cuts off heads in the name of Muhammad are not civilized people.

We as a nation must protect our citizens, because one true agenda of the Muslims is to convert the rest of us to there thinking and if they get elected to higher offices they will have the format to do just that.

Given that this and the anti-atheist letter were published on consecutive days, many wrote in to condemn both at once. Kelly King laments:

While I am no longer shocked by such outrageous and frustrating claims as were made in these letters, I am disappointed that my community would in any way support such bigotry. Statements like “Muslims are trying to dominate our way of life” and “atheists are the reason crime is rampant” are clearly not based on fact, but also hateful and discriminatory. ...

I miss the Soldotna of my elementary school years, before I realized my community can breed such hate and misunderstanding. What reason do I have to return home from college to a place where my friends of different race, religion or sexual preference are disrespected and treated like lower class citizens?

Why do we boast about America’s melting pot and teach our kids to be color-blind if we continue to discriminate against each other?

I can't really think of anything to add to King's sentiments...