Are you willing to be a martyr for your lack of belief?
By Able_Reason
To be honest, I'm not.
The atheist in me is longing to go to the Godless Americans March on D.C. in November; especially since the drive time from my driveway to the Ellipse in front of the White House is only 25 minutes. But, the father and husband in me is terrified to go; due to the belief I have that there are just too many zealots who are willing to kill and possibly die or be imprisoned for their 'god'. I'm thrilled that there are a number of brave individuals out there, but I'm not one of them. I'm entertaining the idea of going down and standing/watching from a safe distance (whatever that might be) without getting directly involved. I fully support the idea and the importance of the event. What it comes down to is that I'm just not willing to die for my lack of belief in the existence of a supernatural realm. I'd certainly be willing to sign a petition (which I have), donate money to the cause (I don't even know if this is being done and I'd only do so if I knew how the money would be spent), buy a tee-shirt or bumper sticker, I'd even buy a video/documentary of the march or do behind the scenes work to prepare for the march. If I were single and had no children I would be gung-ho about taking part in this event.
But alas, I can't and wouldn't turn back the clock so that I can do what I so desperately want to do; which is to march with others like myself who are demonized and ostracized due to our lack of belief. For me, my family must come first.
I hope that this essay doesn't discourage others from taking part in this important event.
[Editor's note: If you can't make it to the march for whatever reason but would like to show support from a distance, you can go to godlessamericans.org and click the "Sign" link to add your name to a list of individual supporters.]
By Able_Reason
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The atheist in me is longing to go to the Godless Americans March on D.C. in November; especially since the drive time from my driveway to the Ellipse in front of the White House is only 25 minutes. But, the father and husband in me is terrified to go; due to the belief I have that there are just too many zealots who are willing to kill and possibly die or be imprisoned for their 'god'. I'm thrilled that there are a number of brave individuals out there, but I'm not one of them. I'm entertaining the idea of going down and standing/watching from a safe distance (whatever that might be) without getting directly involved. I fully support the idea and the importance of the event. What it comes down to is that I'm just not willing to die for my lack of belief in the existence of a supernatural realm. I'd certainly be willing to sign a petition (which I have), donate money to the cause (I don't even know if this is being done and I'd only do so if I knew how the money would be spent), buy a tee-shirt or bumper sticker, I'd even buy a video/documentary of the march or do behind the scenes work to prepare for the march. If I were single and had no children I would be gung-ho about taking part in this event.
But alas, I can't and wouldn't turn back the clock so that I can do what I so desperately want to do; which is to march with others like myself who are demonized and ostracized due to our lack of belief. For me, my family must come first.
I hope that this essay doesn't discourage others from taking part in this important event.
[Editor's note: If you can't make it to the march for whatever reason but would like to show support from a distance, you can go to godlessamericans.org and click the "Sign" link to add your name to a list of individual supporters.]
August 10, 2002