Thanks, vjack, for this great venue and for the opportunity to share my views in the open marketplace of ideas.
As a brief introduction, I am Steve Schlicht (pronounced “Schlikt”). I live, work and play in the
City of Biloxi, MS. I’m married to a teacher and have three terrific children. I am also a
proactive and vocal atheist involved in community service and a positive voice for educational outreach on issues such as civil liberties, secular government and other socio-political topics most often centering around atheism, humanism, ethics and the importance of an honest critical analysis of religious assertions.
For those who’ve lived a great length of time on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, my grandfather was Norbert E. Tracy (NET), the wire editor for The Daily Herald (now the Sun Herald) and my grandmother was Carmen Tracy, a beloved member of the community of Gulfport for many decades, musician, artist and all around renaissance lady. Together they had seven children who went on to become teachers, soldiers, civil and public servants each with loving families of their own. My mom worked at Keesler Air Force Base and my father was vice president of a major electronics company in California. My parents are now retired and living out west.
Most of my life was spent growing up in Mississippi where I enjoyed many childhood adventures walking the railroad tracks, watching Saturday matinees at the Paramount Theater, collecting Barq's bottles for nickels, reading and learning at the Gulfport Library, running around the friendly oaks of Jones Park and fishing from the harbor docks filled with the majestic sail boats and shrimp boats of the Sound.
I graduated from Long Beach High School (Class of ’82) and then from the University of Southern Mississippi with Honors and Dean’s List awards in the fields of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Business Law. I went on to become a police officer and a graduate of the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer Training Academy (Class 155). I have been a patrol officer in both the City of Gulfport and the City of Biloxi during my 18 year career in law enforcement and am currently a criminal investigator with special training in forensic video analysis, computer forensics and hostage negotiations.
It has been my fervent hope in life that my words and experiences will not only provide better information to the general public who are so often misinformed about atheists and atheism, but will also reach out to those who are skeptical about religion and offer them a bit of basic human commonality and support in meeting the personal challenges of discussing a valid viewpoint that simply runs counter to deeply held cultural and unquestioned religious assertions.
Further, now that I have this first opportunity at msatheists.org, I do encourage even more public educational outreach by atheists of all walks of life especially in Mississippi. In this day and age of high speed internet communications and relatively inexpensive ease of use technological devices, there really is a nearly limitless opportunity to reach a wider audience with a responsible message.
It is, after all, an honest effort to be one to set the record straight about atheists and atheism in general.
In my view, we can do this by providing reasonably articulated corrections countering common mischaracterizations regarding atheists using forums here at msatheists.org, on newly generated and linked personal blogs, in local and national news outlets and by providing whatever financial support we can manage for proactive ad campaigns by groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Center For Inquiry, American Atheists, American Humanist Association and the New Orleans Secular Humanist Association among many others.
Simply put, silence implies consent and for far too long our society has been provided only one view of atheists and atheism via the bully pulpit of churches on a weekly basis.
It really is no wonder that so many people have such a low regard for folks who merely have no belief in God(s)ess(es) due to a distinct lack of evidence to support the many and varied claims regarding such purported being(s).
It is also no wonder that some atheists must decline to make the effort to set the record straight or must resort to using ambiguous language to deflect any unfounded criticism of their actual views.
While it is truly understandable that certain business owners and service providers have chosen the necessary path of anonymity, this has inadvertently led to the additional problem of allowing the public statements of religious adherents to monopolize the open airwaves defining atheists incorrectly which then successfully remain unchallenged and, by default, perpetuate.
These good atheists simply must remain silent out of a very real concern that to refute the claims of religious authority would lead to being outcast by friends, family, customers and co-workers.
With this in mind, my view is that atheists are fully justified in joining the growing number of meet up groups, blogs, letter writing campaigns, emails, community action and ad campaigns to find support, information, networking and basic human kindness and care by those who are able to come “out” and who have chosen to engage the common mischaracterizations full on, in responsible civil debate and discussion for the greater good of clarity and understanding.
Yes, I know, we’ve heard it before. This is like herding cats.
That said, I think it will continue to be a wonderful challenge to be a part of the historic cause of confident atheists past and present.
This is a sincere cause that has an ethical purpose for the greater good and that can succeed with the understanding that we are not actually striving to be a "melting pot" of conformity under a banner of “atheism”, but that we are adding ourselves to a brilliant and colorful “mosaic” of unique human personalities experiencing the wonders of life, the universe and everything…together.
Y’all take care, see you soon and keep up your great efforts.
Steve
Like many Americans, I watched Obama's recent Congressional address. Truth be told, I was more interested to hear from Jindal. You see, I've heard so many wonderful things about him but had not previously seen him speak (aside from brief sound bytes on the news). I'm no conservative, but with Jindal being heralded around here as the next serious GOP presidential contender, I wanted to see more. Having intently watched his response to Obama's address, what most stood out to me was his utter disdain for science. Yep, this stood out for me even more than the fact that he lied during his brief speech. It looks like the Republican Party has not learned much from the catastrophic failures of the Bush administration. Those of us hoping to promote reason, science, and reality-based education have reason to be worried about Jindal.
