Reason's Greetings

Bill O'Reilly is in heaven, because the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has given him a platform from which to launch his latest series of tirades about "The War on Christmas^TM." Alongside a manger scene and a holiday tree, the executive office building in Washington State now has a plaque that says, "At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail." It goes on to add: "There are no gods, no devils or angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." The sign was placed by ex-evangelist Dan Barker (author of Godless) on behalf of Washington members of the FFRF, an organization that works largely on separation of church and state.

As nontheist and a Washington State member of the FFRF, I have mixed feelings about the sign. Not about the fact that it exists, mind you. Our governor and attorney general have issued a joint statement:
The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers.

Well, thank goodness!

For years Evangelical fundamentalists have driven their beliefs into the public square in the form of failed apocalyptic foreign policies, failed abstinence only sex ed, failed manufactroversies about climate change and evolution, and a failed bid to install a dominionist ditz in the vice presidency. Many of us--Christians and nonChristians alike, are tired of their astounding sense of entitlement and frightened by how far it has gotten them.

That said, the sign is pretty in-your-face. All right. Very.

I honor Dan Barker's work to call attention to the dark side of religion. Month after month, he and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor defend kids who are tormented at school because they aren't Christians. They give voice to young freethinkers. They file anti-discrimination lawsuits. They labor to keep science classes rigorous and social services fair. They compile news articles about fraud and violence and sexual abuse committed in the names of gods--and they can assure you with stacks of evidence that Catholic priests are not outliers.

I honor their work so much that I support it, and I gave up my Monday evening to interview Dan for a Seattle Community Access show called Moral Politics. But, still, I have to ask, wasn't the first sentence enough?

Throughout recorded history, winter solstice has been a time to celebrate. Ancient agricultural cultures gave sacred significance to the return of light, the budding of new plant and animal life, a new cycle of plenty. Their festivals had names such as Saturnalia, Yule and Lucia. Some of them are celebrated to this day. It was the special significance of the winter solstice that caused the Christian church to designate it as the birthday of Jesus. Not only did it have the perfect connotations, representing as it did, the death and resurrection of the sun, it was already established as a birthday of gods. Prior to or during the time of Jesus, the Roman Attis, the Greek Dionysus, the Persian Mithra, and the Egyptian Osiris all had their birthdays celebrated on December 25. Solstice really is the reason for the season.

I wish that the FFRF had simply given secular voice to the wonder we all feel when, in the dark of winter, we experience the promise of warmth and beauty and new life.

Follow Valerie Tarico on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ValerieTarico

Comments

[messy]

God is an atheist. If he were not, the constant reassurence of it provided by religion wouln't be neccessary.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-lurio/the-spirit-of-chanukah_b_150902.html

[mst3kix]

Valerie,
Thank you for sitting in on The Dave Ross Show on Wednesday morning. It was my first time hearing both you and Dave's show. You are one of the more rational atheists I've heard in a long time, and I came back to atheism about 27 years ago. I met Dan when he was up here debating a YEC at Shoreline CC about 11 years ago. I was in the FFRF until they announced their activities of pulling out roadside crosses that people use to mark where their loved ones have died in auto accidents. I didn't agree with that - As long as anyone can put up any rememberance marker on the roadside, I think they should be allowed to. This sign in Olympia is to me just part of their "let's be annoying" schtick. But that gets into the discussion of whether it's better to be a good doggy atheist or a bad doggy atheist.
Keep it up and I hope we meet at a free thought gathering around Seattle sometime.
Any plans to prepare a study guide to go with your new book?

[mammab]

The truth hurts.

It's not the whole truth,
Though nothing but the truth,
So help yourself.

Would it have helped to edit it to say:

At this season of the Winter Solstice, may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils or angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that, *in spite of the good it has done*, hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

The statement is harsh, but there is more than enough equivocal b.s. out there to make up for it.

Simply put:

Love the good works, love the workers, have our suspicions about the payoff in the next life, ambivalent about the salvation sellers...

... and love the Christmas tree, the carols, and my wind-up musical nativity scene snow globe.

[Xairete]

Thank you for bringing some reason into the annual argument about displaying our beliefs, or non-beliefs. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds." As a nontheist myself, I find it outrageous that the person who crafted that statement, isn't aware that many followers of religions devote a good portion of their lives to helping others, preaching for inclusion, seeking understanding, and celebrating the joys of life in the here and now! I so hope in this new post-election era, that we are becoming better at really seeing each other .

[ValerieT]

The person who put up the sign is a former evangelist. The kind of Christianity he comes from (and I come from, and 40% of Americans practice) has at its heart the thin cruel theology of blood atonement and biblical literalism. It is exclusive, meaning that there is no other path to God, and all others will be tortured forever. The manger is a symbol of a child who was born to be a spotless lamb--the perfect human sacrifice.

I too, now often spend my time among the kind of wonderful people of faith that you describe. I wish that they would speak publically against fundamentalism because they can offer an alternative that, even if it is mythic at the core, is compatible with love and with what we know about ourselves and the world around us.

[RobynBanks]

Yes, the atheism sign in Washington's capitol building is "In Your Face". It is not, however, "Over the Top". It's a little tit for tat.

As an atheist since about age 10 (I'm 64 now), growing up in a southern protestant environment, I had to keep my religious beliefs to myself for years. -- I followed a policy of live and let live. I don't push my beliefs on you; you don't push yours on me.

All that changed with the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell. They were pushing and worse. They were "Othering", that is: pointing out atheists and demonizing us. I resented it for years. Then, along comes Richard Dawkins with "The God Delusion". Other learned souls added to his outrage at the religionists bashing of atheists. I had found a voice.

My stance of live and let live is over. The religionists want to demonize me. It's tit for tat. It's my turn to demonize them. Statistically, religionists are dumber that atheists. Go ahead, look it up. Here's a hint: search Google for the terms: religious atheist IQ

Religionists are not only stupid, as a lot, but they are also probably delusional psychotics, as defined by the DSM-IV criteria for delusional psychosis. Go ahead, look that one up too. Something about a continuation of belief in some ideation that, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the subject persists in a persistent fervent belief in the delusion. -- Yup, that meets the criteria.

[GlibReaper]

I'm glad that organizations like the FFRF exist and give some voice to those who chafe under the mass hysteria that grips our species. Thank you for drawing attention to their work.

Though I'm an athiest, I plan to celebrate the rebirth of our good friend the sun on the 21st of December; Because I'm a sun worshiper. George Carlin says it best:

"Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing. And the best thing about the sun, it never tells me I'm unworthy. Doesn't tell me I'm a bad person who needs to be saved. Hasn't said an unkind word. Treats me fine. So, I worship the sun."

[ValerieT]

Love this quote! If only our ancestors hadn't morphed it into something more anthropomorphic.

[darcyr]

Thanks for reminding us about the other births supposed to have taken place on December 25th, it keeps the nativity in perspective. I think the sign they put up is great (and a little funny because it is so in your face). The religions also have been much more in your face with a lot less press attention.

Thanks for another well thought out and articulate article.