Going godless: Interest in atheism is growing

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By BOB REEVES / Lincoln Journal Star

Everybody loves the story of the emperor’s new clothes. It’s about a small boy who has the courage to point out that the monarch in all his supposed finery is actually naked.

That may help explain the popularity of several recent books by atheists, attacking religion not only as unfounded but, in many cases, downright dangerous to the future of human society.

The biggest best-sellers are:  “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, “The End of Faith” by Sam Harris and, most recently, “God is Not Great,” by Christopher Hitchens, which this week was nominated for a National Book Award.

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British essayist Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate in New York in this Sept. 14, 2005 photo. (AP file)

British essayist Christopher Hitchens speaks during a debate in New York in this Sept. 14, 2005 photo. (AP file)

Dawkins, a professor at Oxford University in England, spells out every possible proof of God’s existence and attempts to show none of them meet the tests of rational or empirical evidence. “If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down,” he writes.

Harris, who has studied both philosophy and neuroscience, focuses on the evils that have been committed in the name of religion, especially the intolerance and violence that  spring from people’s belief that their religion is right and all others are wrong.  “If religious war is ever to become unthinkable for us …,” he writes, “it will be a matter of our having dispensed with the dogma of faith.”

Hitchens, a journalist and political commentator, is the most scathing in his assessment of religion, calling it “an enemy of science and inquiry … subsisting largely on lies and fears” and “the accomplice of ignorance and guilt as well as of slavery, genocide, racism and tyranny.”  The book’s subtitle is “How Religion Poisons Everything.”

Why have these books appeared in the first years of the 21st century, and why have they been so popular?

It doesn’t necessarily mean a widespread rise of atheism, according to several local atheists interviewed by the Journal Star.

Joseth Moore, a non-believer and member of Lincoln Secular Humanists, said he believes most Americans cling to religious faith — as evidenced by a recent Newsweek poll showing that 90 percent of Americans profess a belief in God. But many people distrust dogmatism and fundamentalism and are looking for alternatives, Moore said.  He also has a theory that “many religious believers buy these books to see what the enemies (of religion) are thinking.”

Vladimir Pozek is an immigrant from Bosnia who grew up in an atheist family and lived in socialist Yugoslavia, where religion was tolerated but not encouraged. He said he’s been amazed at the influence religion has on American society, especially on politics.  The recent rash of atheist books is more a reaction to the excesses of the Religious Right than a sign of a tilt away from  God in American society, he said.

Kate High doesn’t believe in God, but she often feels uncomfortable because of social pressures to be religious.  She feels the books by atheists are helping start a conversation about the negative aspects of religion and causing people to question some of their beliefs, particularly those that make them intolerant of others. “People need to turn off their TV and start practicing a little independent thinking,” she said.

Charles Stephen, a retired Unitarian minister who considers himself an “almost atheist,” said he was surprised and pleased by the recent popularity of books critical of religion.  “In a world surfeited with religion and religious terminology, much of which is overly sentimental and devoid of thought, it is refreshing to see serious attempts to question religion’s primacy,” he wrote in an e-mail response to a reporter’s questions.

Stephen reviewed Hitchens’ book in the Journal Star in August.  

“I saw him as an angry observer of the religious world,” reacting to the ignorance, intolerance and brutality spawned by religion, Stephen said. “It is very easy to find reasons to be angry, for religion has a sordid history: blasphemy trials, crusades, inquisitions, burning of heretics, denial of scientific truths — and not just in ancient times but in the present. That religion has also produced women and men who made the world better does not fully compensate for its long history of violence.”

Rita Lester, associate professor of religion at Nebraska Wesleyan University, led a discussion of Harris’ “The End of Faith” in a class on social justice this fall.  Harris raises legitimate questions about Christianity, Islam and other religions that  need to be confronted, both by believers and non-believers, she said.

Harris doesn’t take the politically correct position that all religions are equal, but points up elements in Islam that he believes lead to violence,  as evidenced by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and also suicide bombers in Iraq. He also points out the inevitable conflict between the pursuit of scientific knowledge and a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Reading the book didn’t lead any students to reject their faith, but it did make them think more clearly and critically about what they believe and why, Lester said. 

She surmises that most of the people who buy Harris’ books and those by other popular atheists aren’t atheists themselves, but “liberal-minded Christians” who are stimulated by a critical look at religion and its role in the world.

But she also believes the number of non-believers may be increasing. The American Religious Identification Survey of 2001, a scientific poll of 50,000 U.S. adults, reported that 14 percent identified themselves as not following any organized religion, compared with  8 percent in 1990. 

The plethora of books by atheists represents a backlash against the “in-your-face religiosity” of vocal evangelicals and their influence on American society and politics, she said. “People are drawn to an author like Harris, who is brave enough to point out that it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Interest in atheism is increasing, said Miguel Picanco, a member of Lincoln Secular Humanists.  He was on a panel discussion entitled “Ask an Atheist” last spring at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  The small room had a standing-room-only crowd of about 150.  When asked how many were atheist or agnostic, about 40 percent in the crowd raised their hands.

Picanco also led a recent discussion at the Unitarian Church of the PBS documentary film “A Brief History of Disbelief,” which traced the history of religious skepticism from ancient to modern times.  Attendance averaged between 25 and 50 for the three one-hour segments, shown over three evenings.  In discussions, many of those attending talked about the intolerance of atheists that they find in Lincoln and elsewhere.

Picanco doesn’t believe in God, but often prefers to identify himself as a secular humanist because it indicates a positive concern for the welfare of people rather than just a negative godlessness. 

Pozek is up front about being an atheist, but sometimes gets a negative reaction. He recalled being confronted by an evangelical Christian who told him that his concern for social justice is hollow and of less value than that of Christians, because he lacks a belief in God.  Both Pozek and the Christian opposed capital punishment, but when Pozek asked him to explain “why is my wish of abolishing the death penalty less worthy than yours, he had no answer.” 

Many religious people exhibit “a self-righteousness and arrogance and a refusal to even consider a different worldview than the one they have dogmatically adopted,” Pozek said.

He also worries about the influence of religion on politics, which he believes could lead to a theocracy, or at least the erosion of the separation of church and state. He quoted the author Sinclair Lewis, who many years ago said, “Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag and wearing a cross.” That, Pozek said, is what scares him most.

“Generally I don’t wear my ideas on my cuff because they’re too upsetting to other people,” said High, who rejects religion largely because of its intolerance. She grew up in the small town of Albion, where she attended a United Methodist church, but her mother became a Hindu — which made her an oddity in the overwhelmingly Christian community. High said she came to realize that both Christianity and Hinduism could not be true, and eventually rejected both.

Now, as an adult, High said she could accept a “metaphorical or poetic” concept of God, but not a “nice guy in flowing robes in heaven.” She also rejects “the Sears Roebuck God, where you order rain or a new boat,” and expect God to deliver it.

Religion is so pervasive in American society, Pozek said, that even people who don’t believe in God wind up becoming Unitarians because they feel they should be part of a church. He also believes that many politicians present themselves as more religious than they actually are in order to get votes.

But Moore believes the influence of religion in politics may be waning, as shown by the 2006 Democratic victory in Congress and the more recent fall-off of some conservatives who feel they’ve been used by the Republican party.

“Although there are loud voices, political and religious, calling for us to label ourselves a Christian nation, I don’t think we are close to becoming a theocracy,” Stephen said.  The basic principles of religious freedom and secularism on which America was founded will prevail, he said, despite attempts by some conservative religious leaders to undermine them. 

“I think there is little danger in our overthrowing those principles, however sanctimonious the right wing of the Republican Party becomes,” he said.  “Furthermore, I think that if there were a danger in our becoming a theocracy, led by such ultra-conservative religious folks, that danger is fading fast, as its backers have worn out their welcome.”

Reach Bob Reeves at 473-7212 or breeves@journalstar.com.