By R.J. Beaumia
As a Catholic school boy in the 1960s, the mere mention of a name that could induce the fire of fear and panic in my little chest – even more than Sister Ludwina's – was that of Madalyn Murray O'Hair.
Becoming a practicing homosexual and sinner who long ago changed venues in which I choose to kneel in public, I had forgotten about arch-atheist O'Hair until I saw a fantastic documentary on the Sundance Channel, "Godless in America," which chronicles her life as a national scourge and as founder of the organization American Atheists.
O'Hair was one of those fascinating American radical lefties of the old school, a hardened product of the Great Depression and World War II, a Communist who tried to defect to the Soviet Union and had children out of wedlock.
Her greatest "achievement," though, was being a party to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that in 1963 ended coerced religion in taxpayer-funded schools. The next year Life magazine called her, without much hyperbole, "the most hated woman in America."
O'Hair was abrasive and, at times, her own worst parody, literally performing for cash and media exposure. But she called the religious and political establishments on their hypocrisy, walking into the middle of their parlor carpet and peeing on it like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist," and for that the fiery hatred burning out of control for her in my altar boy's heart has mellowed into a warm glow.
What would O'Hair (murdered in 1995 for her money) see around her in America today? According to several polls, a population in which one-third believe the Bible is literally true; a nation where 81 percent of people believe in angels; where 25 percent believe that 2007 will see the second coming of Jesus Christ.
While I'm astonished and, quite frankly, a little appalled by these numbers, I'm not concerned about other people's beliefs in the supernatural except when they try to write them as law into my daily life.
I think that allowing the placement of a monument of the Ten Commandments in a public court house or putting up a display of the Nativity in front of a town's city hall is as ridiculous making Jeane Dixon's birthday a national holiday or planning fiscal policies during a Santeria dance. Well, that second one may have actually happened.
Equally absurd is turning me and millions of other men and women into half-citizens by passing laws prohibiting us from marrying in civil ceremonies, or from being immune from job discrimination in hiring both secular and military, or from safely walking down the street without getting our skulls bashed in.
Without the slightest morsel of empirical proof, around ten percent of Americans are deemed filthy and immoral per the dictates of those whose chosen lifestyles are ruled absolutely by a few passages they've read in some old books.
If the real world worked this way, your iPod would weigh 15 pounds and run on vacuum tubes. Truly, there's much good to be said about progress.
Growing up gay in the United States, having lived through Vietnam, Nixon, Reagan, George W. Bush, 9/11, and two Iraq wars, I have lost my faith, my patriotism, and the inalterable belief that the American way is the only way forward. I am a better man for having done so. This is my progress, and it has been painful.
I have had to learn to accept my humanity despite being loathed by my culture and my chosen religion, both which I loved. I have had to watch my country disgrace itself in Southeast Asia and the Middle East because of rigid ideology. I've witnessed wholesale murder justified by religion and caused by blowback to American foreign policy.
So, when I see someone getting things right, living out the good concepts I've distilled and taken from my religion and American patriotism – peace, justice, and hope – it reminds me that the world can be a beautiful place, a realm of progress.
This happened recently when the British House of Lords passed laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, extending laws that already covered gender, race, religious affiliation, or physical ability.
Great Britain, a country where you can marry your partner with all the rights and responsibilities of the rest of the human race, where you can proudly serve in the armed services without an audible, collective gasp or show of disgust from the general public, has now made it illegal for doctors, pharmacists, hoteliers, and others from turning away gays and lesbians based on religious objections.
Peter Tatchell, the groundbreaking gay activist, was even allowed to say that the new law was "much more than a victory for gay rights. It was a victory for modern, liberal [emphasis mine] Britain."
Modern? Liberal? Can you imagine for one minute Joe Solmonese having the balls to use those words to describe the moldering crumbs we're thrown in this country that are supposed to suffice for civil rights? Of course not; he pays lip service to organized religion and conservative politicians instead. Disgusting indeed.
The fact is, the British and the Europeans (American code words for "godless swine") won't put up with the religion-based hatred and bullying we tolerate here, and this probably has to do with their attitudes towards what we call "faith."
According to a poll conducted in 2002 by the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Americans surveyed said that religion played a "very important" role in their lives. Compare this to 33 percent of Britons who answered such. Even deeply Roman Catholic Poland and Italy answered 36 and 27 percent, respectively.
My favorite respondents are, of course, the French, with 11 percent of them saying that religion plays a central role in their lives. Hey, any country that shuts down weekly from national labor strikes is okay in my book. Paris, Jean-Luc Godard, Catherine Deneuve, and empty-but-beautiful churches. What's not to like?
How does our number compare with other countries outside of Europe? Let's just say that we're giving Turkey, Angola, and Iran a run for their money.
So, is it any wonder why we lag so far behind on civil rights compared to the rest of the modern, educated world?
According to Tatchell, British evangelicals tried to organize like those in the U.S. to try and stop the anti-discrimination laws from being passed. They used the same scare tactics in London that their counterparts use in Topeka or Dallas, positing that the laws would "curtail freedom of religious belief and expression," that schools would be "forced to promote homosexuality," and that those who condemn homosexuality would face criminal charges.
There were protests by the evangelicals outside of Parliament, but their political sectarian nature was obvious to the Brits and to ALL of the mainstream churches as well. According to Tatchell, there was not one word of support from the Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, or Baptist churches, nor from the Muslim Council of Britain or the Board of Deputies of British Jews. This silence was absolutely stunning, especially refracted through my American mind and experiences.
I mean, I'm still trying to understand why we can't get national health insurance, let alone equality.
Am I the only one who can see that religion is one of the main obstacles that the United States faces before it can achieve its long-cherished goals of liberty and justice?
As Madalyn Murray O'Hair said, "An atheist believes a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated." And I'm sure it's safe to add to that last sentence "and equality for all people."
Therefore, I would say that if you're a true Christian, Muslim or Jew, you'll act like an atheist.
