SmallGovTimes.com

By: Dave Hanson | Published on 01/01/06    

I may have my chevrons ripped off and be drummed out of the corps for this, but as a dedicated atheist I feel compelled to admit that we're not always right. And sometimes we're just petulant and childish.

A lot has been happening recently that has upset me as much as it upsets Christians. I?ll refer here to only two examples so as not to stretch your patience. I cannot give full particulars, but they are bona fide and publicized occurrences. And they are, as you will see, of equal merit.

In California the ACLU ? of which I?m a member ? brought suit against Los Angeles County to force the removal of a small cross from the county seal. It appeared, together with other symbols, because the area had once been the scene of considerable missionary activity. In other words, the cross played an important role in local history. So its appearance on the county seal is an acknowledgement of this fact and obviously not an attempt to promote Christianity in particular or religion in general. Or if it is an attempt to promote, it?s not what I would call an aggressive one. Kind of muted, wouldn?t you say?

I?m sorry, I have no idea who asked the ACLU to step in. But whoever it was, or whatever group, my question is, why? What conceivable harm does a cross on a county seal cause? Who in his right mind would take offense at it? For that matter, how many people spend any time inspecting county seals?

This is the nadir of nit-picking, a totally useless exercise that does no one any good, and succeeds only in angering Christians. Do we have nothing better to do with our energy?

The next incident occurred quite recently in Utah, where a fraternal order of state troopers has placed crosses along highways to mark sites at which law enforcement officers were killed. The cost of building and maintaining the crosses is paid by volunteers. No ?government money? is involved. But in jumps American Atheists, at whose behest I know not. Violation of the First Amendment? C?mon, people, what earthly harm does this practice do? And why would we go out of our way to antagonize people whose only motive here is to honor their loved ones? If the survivors are Christians, what symbol would you expect? And would the crosses be more acceptable if Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu symbols were interspersed?

And if you look at the broader picture, why must we consider Christians to be opponents? They believe things that we don?t. Big deal. The vast majority of Christians are decent people? the neighbor from whom you borrow a lawnmower or the neighbor whose daughter baby-sits your child. And unless they are actively proselytizing, why do we have to jump on everything they do?

Christians admittedly do a lot of dumb things, too. The hysteria over ?Merry Christmas? is a good example. If the issue is more serious, however? if Christians are trying to introduce religion into science classes, or to censor the contents of the local library, I?ll be among the first to go for their throats. But when we take a punch at them every time a believer does something religion-related but innocuous, it hurts our cause more than it harms theirs.

Could those of us who are atheist bring a little common sense to bear? Even the Christians who think we are allied with Satan shouldn?t be full-time punching bags. When believers are wrong on a serious issue, we should be the first to say so. But when they do things not intended to offend anyone, why can?t we leave them in peace? I bet we?d all get along better.


Related Reading:
Los Angeles County Seal:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/123/53.0.html

Utah Roadside Memorials:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635167968,00.html

Original URL:
http://www.smallgovtimes.com/story/06jan01.atheist.not.right/index.html