Mississippi Atheists

Happy Holidays, Mississippi Atheists

2011-12-22T08:44:00.001-06:00

When someone says "happy holidays" this time of year, I always smile and think to myself, "Now here's someone who respects the fact that there are many holidays in December and that people celebrate different holidays." I take it as evidence the speaker is seeking to be inclusive rather than trying to impose his or her religious values on me. It strikes me as a sign of progress in a society with entirely too much religious conflict.

That some conservative Christians believe the Fox "News" hype that this is part of some war on Christmas is unfortunate. They are being used to raise money for right-wing politicians and probably don't even realize it. They've managed to ruin their own holidays.

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Contemplating Nonexistence

2011-09-24T13:35:00.001-05:00

This post was submitted by Doug from Ocean Springs, MS.

Darkness... Emptiness... Nothingness...

What awaits us after death?

It's one of the two major deciding factors in religion. It's only second to whether or not there is a God. But for those of us that have decided our answer (at least for the time being) on the 'God' question, what answers do we provide ourselves to the 'afterlife' one? At first glance, perhaps you'd think that it was a moot point; that since there is no God, there is no afterlife. I find it hard to automatically attach these two answers, however. Why do we not believe in a God? Because there is no good enough evidence of one, of course. And since we don't have any reputable evidence of an afterlife, it would be logical to come to the same results. I get that. The thing that bothers me is this whole idea of non-existence. Have you ever really tried to consider what it might be like to simply not be? I don't think the human mind can even conceive of such a concept. But does that mean we've got it figured out? I mean, we don't remember anything before our births, yet we know there was time before us.

I have a Christian friend with whom I frequently discuss matters of science and religion. He is actually very approachable and though we disagree on many things, we never grow angry with one another. I once asked him what he thought was going to happen to him when he died; to give me a sort of chain of events, or a play-by-play. He said pretty much what I expected him to say: awaken in Heaven, new body, family members around, angels, God, etc. He returned the question to me, and I answered saying that I was almost convinced that nothing happened, and that we just died. He paused, and then said, "That must be terrifying."

In all honesty, yes, it is terrifying. I mean, who wants to stop existing. I imagine that being dead wouldn't bother you, but the thought of dying is the scary part. Of course, we all realize how precious life is, and perhaps we take better care of ourselves since we know that this is all there is, but the end still looms. Aside from explanations of nature, the whole point of religion may lie in the human fear of death. How does one cope with the realization that it was a fairy tale?

Whenever there is a death around me, I usually go and read Thanatopsis, a poem by William Cullen Bryant. The last verse reads as such:

So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan which moves

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

How he equates approaching death like approaching your bed at night amazes me. We go about our entire day not fearing the end of the day, but looking forward to it in many cases. But is that only because we know that another day will come? Is there something of death in dreamless sleep?

There are many ideas, even amongst those that do not believe in God, about the persistence of consciousness, and to some, it may just be a lot of hoodoo. But where does the consciousness spring from? What cell does it reside in? I'm not suggesting the work of any charlatan new age psychonaut babble, either. For those of us who have come to the conclusion that there is neither a God, and probably no afterlife, how do we... cope, I guess is the word, with the thought of our ultimate end?

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Mississippi Deserves Safe Drinking Water

2011-07-24T12:25:00.001-05:00

We know that Mississippi is the most religious state, but I never imagined how primitive this state is in other ways compared to the rest of the U.S. I continue to marvel at how people who grew up here put up with conditions that would not be tolerated in many other parts of the country. Take one of the most basic services as an example, that of safe drinking water. Before moving to Mississippi, this was something I simply took for granted. I never had to think about it and recall maybe one "boil-water notice" being issued every 5 years or so.

If you take a look at the information provided here by the Mississippi State Department of Health, you'll see what I mean. And this is typical. A big storm is not necessary. On any given day, one will find several of these notices, telling residents that their tap water is not safe to drink. One of the recent ones I was under told me that E. Coli was found in a sample of the drinking water that goes to roughly 17,000 people.

These boil-water alerts usually do not last more than a few days, but we've had a few that lasted more than 5 days. People in some parts of Mississippi are not even that lucky. I have seen some of these notices last over 30 days.

I cannot imagine this being tolerated anywhere else I have lived, but I rarely hear a complaint about it locally. I keep wondering how we got to the point where something as vital as the safety of our water supply became an afterthought.

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Congress is Not Supposed to Represent Only the Religious

2011-05-15T10:19:00.001-05:00

This post was written for Mississippi Atheists by PK ATHEIST.

The state has not the right to leave every man free to profess and embrace whatever religion he shall deem true.

-- Pope Pius IX, Dec. 8th, 1864 [Source: p. 116, Upton Sinclair, The Profits of Religion].

This seems to be the attitude of Rep. Palazzo and such was the attitude of his predecessor, Gene Taylor. Often when people have not wanted to elect members of the Roman Catholic Church to public office, it has been the well-grounded fear that this would be the attitude.

We should continue to ask our congress critters to do right by ALL of us, not just those who agree with their particular religious dogma. I applaud my fellow blogger for asking Palazzo about his position on women's reproductive rights.

When I was still a wee preschooler, my minister father warned me that as a woman I must never to go to a Catholic hospital as they would, per their religious beliefs, let the mother die any time there was a question of whether to save the mother vs. the fetus. Now, of course, we aren't getting that choice as the fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholics have joined together to try to prevent abortions and now (with the coming "personhood" amendment) they are going after birth control.

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If There is No God to Punish You, Why Be Moral?

2011-04-28T05:10:00.001-05:00

This post was submitted by DocMcC1 of Ocean Springs, MS.

In the strictest sense, I am not an atheist. I am an agnostic, but I'm sure many of you would acknowledge that there is little practical difference between the two. In either case, you have taken the reigns of your mind from tradition and faith and started your own search for truth, if such a simplification can be permitted. I am happy that even in this land steeped in that “old timey religion”, there are people who like to analyze existence and take it at face value. But that doesn't mean we can't have similar values to our faith-driven counterparts.

One common statement I hear concerning my beliefs, or lack thereof, I should say, is something similar to the following: If you have no belief in God, then how can you have a solid system of ethics and morality? Of course, the question seems almost silly when reading, but I'm sure most of you have come across some variation of it. People of faith love to pair morality with religion, and make them inseparable. But giving it some thought, how does one answer this question, especially to someone asking it from a religious point of view?

Obviously, the asker means to imply that one cannot have morals unless they were dictated to them by some religion. Put another way, if no one was there to punish you for “wrong-doing”, then what's to stop you from going on a murderous rampage, or robbing a bank, or committing any number of other immoralities? Notwithstanding the legal deterrent to this behavior, the faithful NEED to have some reason to be “good”. You can't just quote them the golden rule, as a lot of them will say that it is religious in nature. In a way, I suppose they are right. So what do we tell them? What advantage is there in morality to we who have no expectations of postmortem tortures?

It's actually quite simple. When we refrain from killing each other, stealing, etc., we are acting in a way that is conducive to a civilized society. We are contributing to our own progress as a species. It is within our best interests. Of course, this doesn't satisfy some of the faithful as well as it should.

I'd be interested to hear what other freethinkers have said in response to this question.

-DougMcC1

Ocean Springs, MS

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Yesterday Was Interesting Day on Facebook

2011-04-25T07:47:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are on Facebook, I wonder if you found yesterday as interesting as I did. Many of my Christian friends evidently decided that yesterday was the perfect day to share their delusion with the rest of us. It seemed much worse than anything I remember last year. It was not just a matter of wishing everyone a happy Easter; there was lots of Jesus talk, bible quotes, blatant proselytizing, and even the sharing of absurd videos. One guy in particular went out of his way to respond to nearly everything anybody else said with Jesus drivel, whether it was relevant or not.

At some point during the day, it occurred to me that I would quickly be condemned for posting something about zombie Jesus, and yet, I was expected to endure the garbage some of my friends and acquaintances were posting. The double-standard was clear. It was okay for them to share their views on religion, but it would not be okay for me to do so.

I came very close to "unfriending" a person or two who really went overboard with the Jesus stuff. But I didn't. I found myself a bit hung up on the idea that I'd criticize them for doing that to me if I posted something pro atheist. I'm also not crazy about the idea of building a cocoon in which I surround myself with like-minded individuals and exclude everyone else. That seems a bit too Fox "News" for my tastes, and I do not consider it particularly healthy.

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Do You Ever Feel Trapped?

2011-04-04T07:19:00.001-05:00

Do you ever feel trapped in Mississippi? Maybe you want to leave, but your life circumstances don't permit it. You'd like to live somewhere where you could be more open about your atheism, but your family is here, you like your job, or you have some other reason to stay.

I feel this way sometimes. In the bio for the Twitter account I use for Red State Progressive, I describe myself as a progressive trapped in Mississippi. Sometimes I think my political values make life here almost as hard for me as my atheism. Anyway, it appears that my bio caught someone's attention because I just received an email offering me a solution:

Your problem is easily solved. Go online and check flights from any major airport near you to your choice of socialist or communist countries on earth. Then, purchase your ticket with your capitalistically earned money, drive to the airport, take that flight...and never come back.

Perhaps I'll give this a try someday. For now, it doesn't seem like much of an option.

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Real Christians

2011-01-25T05:27:00.001-06:00

Once one realizes the absurdity of the common "but they aren't real Christians" claim we atheists hear every time we call attention to Christians behaving badly, reminders like the one depicted in this poster can be effective. Let Christians keep struggling to define themselves. As long as "real Christian" means nothing other than agreeing with the person using the label in every possible way, it has no meaning.

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Not Easy to Be an Atheist in Mississippi

2011-01-17T09:32:00.001-06:00

With the recent hullabaloo related to the nativity scene in our state capitol building and efforts by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) to add a display of their own, I was reminded of something important about atheists in Mississippi. Quite simply, it can be downright scary to be an atheist in this state.

When the FFRF asked for help in getting their display set up in the capitol, they found it. But it took awhile. And a big part of why it took awhile is that atheists in Mississippi have to be careful that their atheism doesn't get them fired, dumped, assaulted, or worse.

While it is undoubtedly true that atheists face similar obstacles in many parts of the U.S., hearing some of my fellow Mississippi atheists expressing these fears was a powerful reminder of how far we have to go here in Mississippi. There are clear benefits to "coming out" atheist, but it remains a risky proposition for many of us. It puts us in a hell of a bind.

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Cycle of Poverty in Mississippi

2011-01-11T05:53:00.001-06:00

I often listen to Mississippi Public Broadcasting on my way to work. I don't much care for it, but it is the only way I can access NPR while driving. On a recent morning, however, they said something that really caught my attention. Evidently, 1 in 3 children in our state lives below the poverty line. And if this sounds high, it is. They went on to say that our state ranks worse than any other state by a fairly sizable margin on this statistic.

What is our state doing to address this problem and the many others that stem from it? Besides cutting money for public education, mental health services, and other programs which just might help because we'd prefer to keep taxes low for the wealthiest residents, what is our state government doing to help?

It seems to me that most of the steps our state leaders are taking will have the cumulative effect of keeping people stuck in a cycle of poverty. I'm not saying they are doing this deliberately; I suspect they simply lack the courage to make the politically difficult decisions required to solve such massive problems.

Good thing fundamentalist Christianity is so entrenched here to help control the populace. Otherwise, we might see more people asking for effective government instead of just continuing to elect those who may not have their best interests in mind.

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Recent Thoughts From PK Atheist

2010-12-04T13:53:00.002-06:00

FROM PK ATHEIST IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI:

Oh, don't get me started on the election in Mississippi. Suffice it to say that one should never say a Mississippi politician is the worst one they can get. There's some kind of challenge that seems to bring in the minds of Mississippi voters & they outdo themselves. I'm still speechless just over having a tobacco lobbyist/Mexico lobbyist/Republican National Committee governor whose gall includes supposed national aspirations. I'd like to ridicule that as too Orwellian to be possible, but I have learned that the worse a Mississippi politician is the farther they seem likely to progress in power.

In some places in the U.S. actual liberals won; even in Mississippi Benny Thompson won. The conservative Blue Dog Democrats were the ones who lost, trying to be all things to all people, finger to the wind, but really Republicans-in-drag. The Blue Dogs lost the Democrats' their faux numbers. Since they served as place-holders for the Democratic Party to maintain the putative Congressional majority, losing them puts us in a more obvious right-wing tilt. Still, the Blue Dogs caused the Democrats to spiral downward toward a swirling vortex of all that was the worst of the right wing in this country. Every time you turned around some principle was being sold out to some Blue Dog in the usually forlorn hope that they might actually vote with the Democratic Party which they were technically members of. Therefore, Gene Taylor and Travis Childers were not much of a loss insofar as birth control and reproductive rights, church-state separation issues and so much else were concerned because they kow-towed to Republicans and, as I say, just tried to send the Democrats farther to the right. They were a loss ONLY in that they were placeholders for the Dems like the rest of the blue dogs.

I'm always surprised to remember that Mississippi actually fought against the Axis powers in World War II since now when the opportunity to vote fascist arises they vote overwhelmingly that way. While disgusting, the Mississippi votes in 2010 were not a surprise to me. The ONE positive note in Mississippi politics in my opinion was in North Mississippi where Congressman Benny Thompson won. From what I have seen and read, he seems to actually care about his constituents.

Ring Lardner, Jr. (in his 2000 autobiography) makes the point that those who believe this is the only world would be motivated to do more to protect its environment. The recent blog suggestion that the most religious states are the fattest ones would neatly fit into his thesis. Also, obesity can be an expression of unhappiness and trying to live as a religious fundamentalist is not a happiness recipe.

The reason the blogger wasn't pawed at Jackson's airport over our recent Thanksgiving holiday is (1) not all airports have the feature yet and (2) of those that do if you agree to the radiation you won't be pawed unless they have questions about, say, the wire in your bra as though they don't know that most modern bras have wire in them.

I posted that I was angered by someone at one of the soup kitchens in Jackson who wrote of encouraging the homeless to get an education as though that was their problem and as though education was appreciated in this state. Judging from one of the comments made to this blog, I did not make myself at all clear on this issue. I do think education is a most important part of life and should be ongoing and constant. Yes, formal education is very important. But formal education is NOT appreciated AT ALL in Mississippi especially not by Mississippi employers outside academia and burdening the recently homeless with student loans is not going to keep them from being homeless again. In an ideal world, they might need to take more classes and get a university degree (assuming they do not have at least one already), but my point was that they do NOT need to do it at the expense of ending up indebted to some of the villainous student loan companies that are out there these days. Some of the current student loans seem to be a form of indenturing them for life and if they aren't careful they also will be signed up to go to some proprietary "college" which teaches them nothing and gains them entrance nowhere. A disturbing number of jobs in this state are given only to those who are relatives of the oligarchs. Most of us have seen this happen time and again. It is a big fiction that the poor and homeless JUST need better educations or they wouldn't be poor and homeless. Pretending that this oft-spoken bromide that they just need education is true just comforts the consciences of the oligarchs and I want no part in comforting those who prey on the poor and downtrodden.

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No Groping in Jackson?

2010-11-27T08:59:00.001-06:00

I heard from a few people who recently flew out of the Jackson-Evers International Airport. They told me that this airport does not have the "porno scanners" and that they were not subjected to any sort of pat-downs when going through security. In fact, they said that the security procedures they experienced were no different from what they have seen over the last several years (e.g., walk-through metal detectors). Needless to say, they were surprised.

Does the Jackson-Evers International Airport not fall under the authority of the TSA for some reason? Could this finally be a benefit of living in a state that sometimes feels more like a third-world country?

Seriously though, I have to assume the invasive and ineffective practices that make up "security theater" will soon be coming to Mississippi. When this happens, we need to ask ourselves whether we are willing to give up our 4th Amendment rights in exchange for the appearance of security. I sincerely hope that the answer will be a resounding no.

We atheists are used to asking the hard questions and considering the answers with a healthy dose of skepticism. Much like extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence, extraordinarily intrusive screening measures better be demonstrably necessary and effective. so far, neither has been the case.

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Defending Contraception and Reproductive Rights in Mississippi

2010-10-02T08:45:00.002-05:00

Another post from PK ATHEIST

I appreciate the warm greetings from you that I received with my first post and the additional post about the issue of "coming out" fully or not.

I've been thinking a lot about birth control lately given that there is said to be a push on by the Republicans to fight cheaper birth control in the new health care bill. I hope that all of us will fight to keep birth control (and abortion) legal and available for all. I realize that there will be people of varying political opinions in this group of Mississippi atheists, but only the most backwards of religions are against birth control and abortion rights and I think we all need to stress that at every given opportunity. Even here in Mississippi. Even members of those backwards and woman-hating religions often choose to use birth control and abortion for themselves, but by funding church donations they don't fight for the right for others to have the same choice. Perhaps we should remind them when we can?

Recently, I reread the part of Bertrand Russell's autobiography in which he described his efforts to get birth control in the 1890s. He said that in his early married days in (at least his part of) England even the Protestants were negative about it like the Roman Catholics are still now. I cannot help but think how much misery has gone on for years with this anti-birth control and anti-abortion attitude. The U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut and its provision of rights for birth control for those who are married was as recent as 1965. I think more people need to be reminded that they can and may lose their choice about how many children to have -- or whether to have children at all -- if the forces of fundamentalism and Roman Catholicism have their way as too many Mississippi politicians want them to do. 20% of the population has chosen not to have children for reasons of choice or economic necessity, yet that right of choice may be taken away by the very ones who will not finance any help for the poor. Mississippi's governor is a good example of one who will do nothing for the poor or unemployed.

When I first read Bertrand Russell's, "Why I am Not a Christian," I thought it should have been more accurately entitled, "Why I Am Not a Catholic" since the criticisms to me at the time of that reading did not apply to the more liberal Protestant denominations or the more liberal Jews. I wonder if I will think that on reread as fewer seem to be speaking up against the extremism. When I first read the book I thought that the more liberal denominations were doing enough good to be needed.

Like most people who are aware of their ancestors at all, I know that I lost more than one great-great-great + grandmother to death in childbirth.

The proposed "personhood" amendment for fetuses in Mississippi would potentially endanger even one's right to the Pill. I trust those of us who are concerned are following this closely and trying to fight it.

It seems to me that birth control and abortion rights are getting to be too much on the back burner in even so-called progressive organizations. This post is meant as a call and reminder for us all to wake up and see if we can stop the unnecessary misery that is coming otherwise if we snooze.

I was angry when I heard the head of a Mississippi soup kitchen saying that the problem in Mississippi was lack of education. The problem in Mississippi is those who cannot afford children are having them and their choices in that respect are shrinking even as jobs vanish even for those without encumbrances.

--PK ATHEIST IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI

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Burning the Confederate Flag is Not the Answer

2010-09-10T08:03:00.001-05:00

The following post was written by dogsmycopilot. I really appreciate her contribution to this complex issue.

When the Mississippi Atheists blog announced Burn the Confederate Flag Day I was actually pretty shocked. Before that I would have thought the atheist community a bit more informed than that. But why? Why would I think that when over fifty years of indoctrination has taught people that flag = racism? In the words of Clyde Wilson, Southern gentleman and professor, “History gives you your symbols- you cannot make them up.” Modern day skinheads wear crosses, arguably a symbol of great torture and pain, should we burn them? To say the Confederate flag needs burning is to be ignorant of a huge piece of history and what that history really means to the people of the region. It’s too big a symbol for that narrowed treatment. And why this particular flag? Why not the Bonnie Blue, which flew above some of the first battles of the war. Or the Van Dorn battle flag, it too was used by Confederates?

Wonder what the flag meant to the Marines of the Fifth Regiment as they raised the Confederate flag over Shuri Castle in Okinawa after an intense and desperate battle? I doubt they had racial implications in mind. Or the men aboard the USS Columbia, which flew the flag throughout combat in the South Pacific. Somehow I don’t think they were showing their solidarity with slavery or racism. What about Sheldon Vanauken? He often used a placard with the Confederate flag on it and “Confederates for civil rights” on the other side. What did the symbol mean to him? For me the flag is identification with ancestors and a symbol of the struggle to remain an individual against forces that compel compliance. What about Southern black people and their heritage (if they so choose to claim it.) Should they be looked down upon for embracing the flag? What about Mr. Earnest Griffin, a black man, who owns part of the land that once held the Camp Douglas prison. He flies the Confederate flag in remembrance of the some 6000 men who died there of various diseases, exposure, and neglect.

Few things have inspired the hatred and disgust that slavery and racism does. Neither of those things is native only to the American South. Slavery, unfortunately, continues to this day. It was never about race, either. Many a white slave was traded. Slavery was not at all uncommon in the American North, the northerners were not free of racism, and Lincoln did not free the slaves. All those are myths. If you are curious to read up on a better, more precise treatment of this than a blog post can manage I implore you to turn to Walter Kennedy’s Myths of American Slavery. The recognition that slavery is and was a horrid institution is not the same as understanding the entire story around it. The winners assert that the North fought for human equality while the South fought to uphold slavery even at the cost of the Union, but it’s just not the truth. Truth has been hidden in myth, a very successful myth judging by people’s willingness to burn that symbol as though burning it will wipe out that horrid institution. But it won’t. The best thing we can do for those who suffered slavery is to not let its real story be forgotten. Not a single slave ship ever flew that Confederate flag. Once we got free of Britain it was our American flag on those ships, ships that came and went from northern ports. The largest slave ports were up in Rhode Island where the slaves (and rum) built the economy. New York and Philadelphia were the largest trading markets, yet as early as 1774, the Carolinas had passed a law banning the importation of slaves. The subject of racism is even more complex. Most of the people who opposed slavery did not do so for reasons of equality.

None of this is new to previous generations of Americans. Only in the last fifty years or so has this concerted effort to rewrite the history of my fellow southerners been embraced. Only since the Dixiecrat Party of the late forties has this myth become firmly entrenched in the American psyche. It’s no great leap to say a war the size of the Civil War had no single and simple cause. Until the Civil War this country was based on a Union made up of people who chose to be in it. Some of those people decided that they no longer wanted to be in with the other people and tried to leave. That attempt to leave was met with an attack. Attacks that wrought destruction on blacks and whites alike. The very right to rise up and shake off the shackles of a government no longer embraced by the people and to form a new one, the very same right Madison and Washington took, was denied to the South. We are no longer a Union by choice and it’s that resistance that the Confederate Battle Flag represents to so many. Resistance against a government that is far away and hard of hearing.

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Secular Laws Require Secular Debate

2010-09-08T12:23:00.006-05:00

Greetings from Oxford, Mississippi!

So I opened "The Daily Mississippian" (paper for the University of Mississippi) this morning and the cover story is titled "Selling on the Sabbath". There's a movement afoot to change the blue laws and allow the sale of alcohol on Sundays in our community. The story is from a mostly religious perspective, complete with a photograph and quotes from the pastor of the First Baptist Church here in Oxford. I wrote about this pastor here on Mississippi Atheists teaching hurtful things about homosexuality and the abortion procedure to suit his own political leanings.

Personally, I think it's silly to limit the sale of a product to 6 out of 7 days in a week for no other reason than to satisfy someone else's belief system. And I know there are several businesses in town that could benefit from an extra day of sales. This year alone, Valentine's Day and our Double Decker Festival landed on Sunday. This caused several local businesses to loose business due to the current laws. On the other hand, I'm sure people supporting the current laws might cite an increase in drunk driving accidents. The point is that this debate regarding secular laws should remain secular.

But the pastor at the local First Baptist Church wants to inject "spirituality" into the debate:

"Whether you're a person of faith or not, I still think it's a good thing to say you're part of a community that says spiritual things are important." -Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Oxford

As a person who does not have faith in anything divine, what the heck is he talking about? I don't recognize anything as being "spiritual". Spirituality is one of those "eye of the beholder" concepts: something is spiritual to you only if you say that it is spiritual to you.

He even tries to play this off as a discussion on love: "This is really about love, it's not about control or being a nagging parent." If he were really standing on the side of love, he would stand in support of homosexuals seeking equal rights and on the side of women who are in struggling situations where an abortion is simply their best option. And I think he should be doing his best to express his concerns without projecting his faith tradition's stances onto others.

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Thoughts on Coming Out Atheist in Mississippi

2010-09-03T07:21:00.001-05:00

I want to follow up PK's post with some thoughts about atheists in Mississippi choosing to remain closeted. Concealing one's atheism can be a lonely experience indeed, and it can be expected to take a toll on one's emotional well-being. Having said that, I agree completely with what PK said about how disclosing one's atheism should be made in consideration of how it might affect one's ability to earn a living. I think this holds true for many regions, but it strikes me as especially good advice here in Mississippi.

Even though I work in a university setting where somewhat greater tolerance of different belief systems is expected, I have little doubt that indiscriminately disclosing my atheism the way my Christian co-workers disclose their Christian beliefs (something the do at least every couple days) would lead to unpleasant consequences. I have heard enough anti-atheist bigotry at work to be cautious. In the minds of many people, there is a world of difference between "not being a religious type" and being an atheist. I can get away with the former without too much difficulty, but the later is a different animal entirely.

And yet, I recognize just how lucky I am to work in such a setting. I have heard plenty of horror stories about what others have faced in assorted work environments here in Mississippi - not for being atheists but simply for not attending church on a regular basis or for practicing a religion other than Christianity. In fact, some of the comments I have heard directed at Catholics make me think that even being Christian and going to church is not sufficient for some Mississippians.

The decision to remain in the closet or to come out is a personal decision that should be made carefully and with deliberation. It is also the sort of decision that is probably best thought of as a process rather than a one-time event. For example, since I have been in Mississippi, I have progressed gradually from "No thanks, I'd rather not attend church with you" to "No thanks, I am not interested in church" or even "No thanks, I don't have a particularly high opinion of religion." I'm to the point where I respond in the affirmative to people I know who ask me directly whether I was an atheist, but I'm not careless in my disclosure. My family knows, and my close friends know. For now, that is enough. I'm not hiding it, and I'm not broadcasting it.

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Many Promises Unfulfilled Five Years After Hurricane Katrina

2010-08-29T08:23:00.002-05:00

Cross-posted at Atheist Revolution

August 29 was once a day with no particular significance for me, but that seems like a long time ago. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, and maintained hurricane strength over more than 150 miles of our state. When the immediate effects were combined with significant damage to the infrastructure, massive flooding in New Orleans, and an inadequate federal response, we endured the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. And as difficult is it may be for those outside the South to grasp, the effects of Katrina are still evident today.

Personally, I find that the memory of Katrina continues to provoke strong and mixed emotions. I recognize how fortunate I was to make it through the storm with only a couple thousand dollars worth of damage and that I only had to endure a few days without water or electricity in the awful heat and humidity of a Mississippi summer. At the same time, this good fortune make me feel guilty, for I recognize the price so many paid. I feel a mixture of sadness and sympathy for those who suffered during the storm and its aftermath, including those who continue to do so today. And I feel an intense, burning anger toward those who so hopelessly botched the federal response while insisting they were doing as much as they could.

The region of Mississippi where I live has recovered reasonably well since Katrina. While considerable progress has been made along the coast, much work is left to do. For example, the mental health services in the Gulfport/Biloxi area are not even close to be adequately staffed or funded to deal with the emotional toll Katrina continues to exert on coastal residents. I find it nearly impossible to be optimistic that this is going to improve because it does not seem to be a priority for state or federal government.

The situation appears even more dire in New Orleans. The number of homeless people in the city is roughly double today what it was prior to Katrina. Providing low-income housing to replace the projects demolished after the storm has not been a priority. Crime continues to be a problem, not surprising given the level of desperation felt by many. The sense that some of New Orleans is still being intentionally neglected hangs heavy over the city.

Anniversaries can be positive occasions to reflect on progress and recovery (or the lack thereof). I had hoped that President Obama was serious about all the promises he made to rebuild this area and help the residents who suffered so much. Sadly, this does not appear to have been the case. He will be in New Orleans today, undoubtedly trying to reassure people that they have not been forgotten by his administrations. But five years after Hurricane Katrina, we have heard this all before.

Technorati Tags: Mississippi, Obama, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans

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America: He Who Yells the Loudest Wins

2010-07-03T12:32:00.001-05:00

As I brace for the onslaught of fireworks until well after 2:00 am on Sunday night/Monday morning, I can't help thinking that one of the things wrong with America today is conveyed quite well by this great cartoon. In today's America, truth seems to have been replaced by the notion that the one who yells the loudest or the most often wins.

The infusion of Christianspeak into patriotism is something I have always despised. Even when I was a Christian, I never quite understood why some people found it necessary to insist that America was God's favored nation. It always seemed to me that every country would claim this and there was no way to know who was right.

When it comes to anti-atheist bigotry, it is not surprising that there is little concern for truth. But those with the loudest voices have been given media platforms the rest of us lack, and they are doing their best to perpetuate the old stereotypes at our peril. And what are we doing? What can we do?

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Itawamba County School District Makes Mississippi Look Bad

2010-03-20T11:52:00.002-05:00

As you know, Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, MS, recently told Constance McMillen that she could not attend her prom with her girlfriend and that she could not come dressed in a tuxedo. The school also informed Ms. McMillen that even if she dressed as they wanted and arrived by herself, she might be thrown out if she was seen slow-dancing with her girlfriend. Plain and simple, this is bigotry. Ms. McMillen was treated differently on the basis of her sexual orientation.

Being more courageous than many high school students, Ms. McMillen decided to stand up for her rights. She contacted the ACLU and asked for help. The ACLU came to her assistance, sending a letter to the school board requesting that she be permitted to attend the prom just like any other student at her school. The school board considered the letter and decided to do what few expected - they cancelled the entire prom.

Is this really how great fear of "teh gay" is in the Mississippi of 2010? Evidently so. My guess, and this is pure speculation, is that the board was worried about Christian parents of children who attended Itawamba Agricultural not being able to handle the idea of their kids seeing two lesbians dancing at their prom.

What people need to realize is that this is precisely the sort of thing that makes Mississippi look bad to the rest of the country. Our image as a bigoted, ignorant backwater hurts us economically and serves to deter the sort of businesses we claim we want from moving here. It also drives more and more people to leave the state as soon as they are able.

The ACLU has now filed a lawsuit against the school district in the form of Constance McMillen v. Itawamba County School District. The suit asks the district to reinstate the prom for all students and claims that district officials violated Ms. McMillen’s First Amendment rights by determining who she could take to prom, what she could wear, etc.

A hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Monday, March 22.

H/T to A Passion to Understand

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Mississippi Does Little to Change Backward Image

2010-03-13T07:37:00.002-06:00

By now, I suspect anyone reading this has heard about the absurd decision of the Itawamba County school board to cancel the high school prom simply because a lesbian student (Constance McMillen) wanted to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The story has been picked up by the national media and is making the rounds on a number of blogs. Not surprisingly, news like this reinforces stereotypes about our state, some of which are very difficult to challenge in the first place.

In all the reporting I have seen so far, the bit that really caught my attention was a story by the Associated Press in which Southside Baptist Church Pastor Bobby Crenshaw was quoted. Pastor Crenshaw was complaining about how many of the sources covering this story are depicting the South as "backwards." In an apparent attempt to refute this impression, he responded, "but a lot more people here have biblically based values." (Sigh)

There is some good news coming out of this mess, but again, it does nothing to change the image of our state. First, the ACLU is working with Ms. McMillen to protect her rights. Second, two members of the American Humanist Association have donated $20,000 to help support a replacement prom. Third, it looks like this situation has sparked such outrage at a national level that all sorts of offers of help have been pouring in and political efforts are underway to enact greater protections of GLBT students.

If you are frustrated by this situation and want to do something to help, visit Mississippi Safe Schools.

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Coming Out of the Atheist Closet: You Do Have a Choice

2010-02-07T13:46:00.001-06:00

I am on several different listservs maintained by atheist groups around Mississippi. I like to see what other atheists are doing around our state so that I can help spread the word about it here. This was a big part of why I created Mississippi Atheists. But what I like best about these listservs is that I get to experience the diversity of thought among atheists in our state. While we may agree more often than not, there is also intelligent, lively debate happening on these listservs. When I have time to read and participate, I always come away thinking on a deeper level. This post was inspired by some recent discussions about the need to remain secretive about one's atheism here in Mississippi.

There is no question that Mississippi is a difficult place for an atheist to live. Judging by what I have seen on the listservs of atheist groups throughout our state, the majority of atheists here remain securely closeted. Some may reveal their atheism to close friends or family members, but few are "out" at work or in their daily social lives.

This is perfectly understandable. I have the good fortune to work in one of the more enlightened settings, and I'm still not 100% out. From what I have heard about the less enlightened settings, I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be even a little bit out there. It almost certainly seems as if someone working in such a setting has no choice but to remain highly guarded.

And yet, we do have a choice. We always have a choice. I could be 100% out tomorrow, and so could you. We would almost certainly face some unpleasant consequences, and some might indeed be as bad as those we imagine. But we are still making a decision.

I often hear atheists complaining that they have "no choice," but I have always found it more empowering to accept my choice and realize that I am doing what I need to do in order to protect myself, my family, or my career. I can think of many good reasons for not being more open than I am, and I can think of many equally good reasons for not being more secretive and guarded than I am.

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Why Atheists Must Speak Out

2010-01-12T09:30:00.001-06:00

This post was inspired by an intriguing discussion on one of the many local atheist listservs I'm on, the Central MS Atheist Meetup Group. There are some great folks in this group, and they always make me think.

I want to start by acknowledging that living in Mississippi is no picnic for an atheist. This is about as oppressively religious environment as one is likely to find in the U.S., and we face situations on a regular basis that are virtually unheard of in more secular regions of the country. It is commonplace for complete strangers to approach us and ask where we go to church and whether we would like to visit their church. Church/state violations abound, and our complaints are often met with, "We're in the South; what do you expect?" Most of us have lost friends simply for describing ourselves as non-religious, and many of us have been threatened with hell.

In such an environment, it is only natural that we would learn to keep our views on religion concealed. We dread the point in the conversation when the topic comes up. There is tremendous social pressure to lie, even if only by omission. We don't want to use the a-word because we fear many negative outcomes. Some of us know - or at least suspect - that disclosing our atheism might mean the loss of our job, social ostracization, vandalism, threats of harm to our families, and even physical assault.

What makes all of this even worse is that most of us know, at least on some level, that this is no way to live. We deserve better than a life ruled by fear, and we know damn well that it is our silence that perpetuates these circumstances. By refusing to express ourselves honestly, we give power to those who oppress us. We know this rationally, but it provides little comfort to the individual contemplating such a disclosure.

A Relationship Analogy

I'd like to suggest that we take a moment and forget about the broader social implications of speaking out. Forget about how keeping silent enables discrimination and bigotry to continue. Set all of those considerations aside for now. Instead, I want you to consider how communication works in an intimate relationship and what happens when it becomes less than open and honest. I find that this can be a powerful analogy to help us realize that our silence is not fair to anyone.

Partner A was raised to be very conservative when it comes to spending money. She places great importance on saving, budgeting carefully, and planning for the future. Partner B has no interest in any of this, has never understood it, and derives great pleasure from impulsive buying. Partner A knows this about Partner B and due to her own fears of abandonment decides to keep her own values around money to herself. She does not want to be perceived as a nag, and so she refuses to tell Partner B what she wants. The outcome is inevitable. Partner B continues on without knowing anything is wrong, while Partner A becomes increasingly resentful, unhappy, etc. In all likelihood, this relationship is doomed.

Who is at fault here, and how do we fix the situation? Partner A bears the bulk of the responsibility here because her silence deprives Partner B of even knowing that there is a problem. She is guessing as to what Partner B's reaction to her values would be, but she is not willing to enter into any sort of negotiation or problem-solving. She becomes resentful because she thinks her partner should somehow know what the problem is without being told. Partner A needs to be honest with Partner B and express herself openly.

To Thine Own Self Be True

I know this is a difficult lesson to grasp, at least emotionally, but we atheists are not being fair to ourselves or to our Christian neighbors by remaining silent. Nobody enjoys feeling like they must live a lie, and doing so can be expected to take a toll on us. The harder lesson here is that our silence deprives our Christian neighbors of any opportunity for growth, compromise, or reconciliation.

Like Partner A, we fear all sorts of unpleasantries in exchange for disclosing our atheism. We've had enough life experience to estimate the probabilities of some of these as being reasonably high. But also like Partner A, we do not know for sure. We may be pleasantly surprised with some of the responses we receive. But even more important, our silence prevents our Christian neighbors from ever having the chance to develop increased tolerance.

"I'm not religious," "I do not attend church," and "I'd rather not discuss religion with strangers" are all perfectly acceptable responses. One does not need to identify oneself as an atheist unless one wants to. However, doing so can provide some Christians with a powerful learning opportunity (i.e., they can no longer claim that they've never met an atheist).

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What I Hate About the Holidays in Mississippi

2009-12-31T09:34:00.001-06:00

I've made no secret of my dislike for Christmas, but I have found that the worst thing about Christmas, New Year's Eve, and nearly every other holiday since I moved to Mississippi has nothing to do with religion at all. And no, it isn't the commercialism either. It is the damn fireworks!

I think must just be a Southern thing. When I complain to people outside the South about fireworks around Christmas, for example, they think I'm making it up.

The fireworks started more than a week before Christmas on a Thursday night at exactly 10:30 pm. I know because I had just fallen asleep. They woke me up and kept me up for roughly 1 hour. Multiple neighbors have been playing with their damn fireworks nearly every night since then. I can count on at least four full hours of fireworks tonight. Besides keeping me up, my dogs are terrified of the loud noises and none of the various remedies I've tried seems to help.

The holiday season means many things to many people, and that is as it should be. What irks me to no end is that it seems to mean lack of consideration for one's neighbors here in Mississippi. I suppose Jesus must really love fireworks.

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Merry Christmas, Charlie Mitchell!

2009-12-25T18:33:00.012-06:00

Yes, the title is definitely an homage to the great work of the talented and wise secular humanist, Charles M. Schultz, and his wonderfully traditional Christmastime show featuring the entire Peanuts crew sharing hope, love and caring with their good friend Charlie Brown.

Of course, the world is still filled with its scrooges, grinches and curmudgeons who promote selfishness and their own myopic cravings wrapped in the facade of piety while hoping to steal a bit of joy from all others.

Northerners ("Yankees" to the cultivated Southerner), have their own surly representative found in the famed Garrison Keillor via his latest beloved sermon to the choir found over at The Chicago Tribune:

"Christmas is a Christian holiday -- if you're not in the club, then buzz off."

But, as sweet as Keillor's hemlock tea is to the faithful masses, the latest Mississippi humbug (apparently receiving the same church bulletin) comes from The Vicksburg Post.

Columnist and Executive Editor, Charlie Mitchell wants everyone to know that celebration, family gatherings, generosity and love is conditional and only his kind can have it ~

"Christmas is a religious holiday. Deal with it."

Mr. Mitchell even presents his own anecdotal "evidence" by conflating a free speech, church/state case to support the false notion that Christian words, deeds, symbols and rituals are being ejected from "mainstream life".

Nothing could be further from the truth, of course, but no warrior for any God worth worshiping ever let something like that stand in the way of a good fire and brimstone speech to motivate the soldiers.

Well, I think I can clear up a couple of things for Mitchell who, obviously, is a great fan of hyperbole.

First, this season of love, sharing and celebration has been observed in many societies for thousands of years and pre-date the co-opting of ancient Saturnalia by Christian authority figures who did a bit of "ejecting" of traditions and cultures themselves throughout history.

Further, most theologians know and will publicly state that there is no identified "birthday" of Jesus, that Easter is a pagan fertility rite and that Halloween is a pre-Christian Celtic memorial of the dead.

So, that said, Christmas in its religious form is a Christian holiday, but it is also a secular and pagan holiday as well.

Non-believers in the religious aspect of Christmas (virgin birth, talking serpent, original sin, human sacrifice, resurrection, etc.) are still human beings with heartfelt traditions and can fully celebrate it as a secular tradition complete with fun and imaginative tales, a jolly old gift giving elf, flying reindeer, songs, family gatherings, feasts and an abundant generosity to others.

Besides, we all know that this same Christian community will be out in the streets of Biloxi, New Orleans and other cities in a few more weeks reveling side by side with the pagan gods of old capturing the spirit of wine and wealth in abundance.

No ideology or religion "owns" such natural celebrations/observations and our entire human family can fully share in the joys of living in many different ways without attempts to dominate others through any government representation that favors one over all others.

Second, Mr. Mitchell presents both a weary ad hominem and false dichotomy by opining that his kind of atheists "content to live and let live" have been replaced by "evangelists" waging war on religion.

Of course, this is not correct and paints with the broad brush of xenophobia that is so common from the bully pulpit.

Atheists are not of a single mind on the topic on how to approach world religions and their respective adherents (liberal and/or extremist) because atheism is only the non-belief in the existence of God(s)ess(es) due to a distinct lack of evidence for the many and varied assertions of religious adherents.

Atheism is not an ideology with additional creeds, commandments or dogma that requires fealty to criticizing religion at all.

Some atheists simply choose not to comment on religion until it begins to affect their own lives, some simply find it irrelevant, ignore it as best they can and get on with their lives.

Many others have begun to speak up with more assertiveness and some rather agressively, I admit, but most often only when one dominant religion tries to legislate human liberty with interpretive religious decrees through the power of government by men claiming to be the special conduits to the desires of a divine being, such as in the Middle East and, at times, in western countries like our own.

What our society needs is not isolation and separation within our own diverse society as Mitchell and Keillor (and others) seem dedicated to promote.

We need more free and open discussion from everyone, atheists and theists even if it happens to be a good, hard critical analysis of all claims regarding life, love, the universe and everything in the open marketplace of ideas.

Merry Christmas, one and all, have a wonderful season of celebration and a happy and safe new year!

Steve Schlicht

Biloxi MS

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Why I Refuse to Donate to the Salvation Army

2009-12-13T11:34:00.001-06:00

There are many worthwhile charities in Mississippi who do good work locally. Of course, nobody has enough money to support all of them. In selecting which organizations to support, it seems like there are some fairly obvious decision points. For example, I refuse to support organizations that engage in any form of bigotry or religious proselytizing. Sadly, this excludes the Salvation Army and the local chapter of the United Way.

Pam's House Blend recently reminded us that the Salvation Army discriminates against LGBT individuals on religious grounds. They also discriminate against non-Christians in their hiring practices even though they receive federal funds. As far as I am concerned, this is more than enough to exclude them as a charity I am interested in supporting.

I am not denying that the Salvation Army and similar groups can do good in Mississippi and elsewhere. However, I would prefer to support charitable organizations that do not find it necessary to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or religion.

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