Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Atheists have their moment at the Inauguration?

President Obama including "nonbelievers" in his address, and declaring them as American as believers in any religion is neat.  I wonder if this the religious equivalent of "only Nixon could have gone to China" in the sense that having clearly conveyed to the religious people his belief "in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ", Obama could then boldly state that nonbelievers are a part of this country.  Hey, thanks President Obama.  

But, am curious about his choice of the word "nonbelievers".  After all, Obama is immensely talented with words, which means that he carefully chose this word.  It can mean different things based on the one listening.  It can mean those who don't believe in Jesus, or those who don't believe in Mohammed, or .... , or it can mean atheists.  

As Sam Harris observed, to a believer in one religious faith, the others are non-believers.  
Our religions are intrinsically incompatible with one another. Either Jesus rose from the dead and will be returning to Earth like a superhero or not; either the Koranis the infallible word of God or it isn’t. Every religion makes explicit claims about the way the world is, and the sheer profusion of these incompatible claims creates an enduring basis for conflict.
Well, the infidels!  And these are no different from atheists.

I asked Joe Conn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State if any other president had included atheists and agnostics in an inaugural speech, and he couldn't think of one. I can only be grateful to Obama for reminding his audience--including Rick Warren--that nonbelievers are Americans, too.



No comments: