opinion

Nonbelievers, often hated, deserve more understanding

There has been an interesting conversation in The Tennessean about atheists and how they are barred from holding public office in many states, including Tennessee.

I've been following this with interest, especially because I have an atheist in my family, and because I'd describe myself as a rational Hindu with agnostic leanings who ... never mind, it's complicated.

It reminds me that atheists are the most despised and mistrusted minority in America.

A University of Minnesota study found that atheists and other nonbelievers are despised more than Muslims, recent immigrants, and gays and lesbians, and that's saying something.

In my view, that's unfortunate, especially because we are talking about a fast-growing minority here.

We often fear/despise what we don't understand, and nonbelievers are indeed not understood properly.

First, who are nonbelievers and where do they reside? What are their backgrounds?

The term "nonbelievers" is, of course, a grab-bag that includes atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, New Age practitioners.

They aren't just coastal elites, but reside everywhere, including here in the South in the Bible Belt. They are from every religion and background, and often grew up in devout families, then turned away from religion.

Why they turn away is interesting: Their religion wasn't providing them the answers they wanted; they got more rational and were turned off by the irrationalities inherent in every religion; they grew to dislike the judgment, exclusivity and hypocrisy in most every religion.

But this column isn't about bashing religion and extolling atheism. One of the problems in our discourse is that we tend to make simplistic characterizations, one of which is that religion confers an automatic morality on its followers; conversely, that someone of no religion is immoral.

That is one reason why our politicians wear their religious faith on their sleeve conspicuously, and sometimes falsely.

There are many realities when it comes to both the religious and the nonbeliever communities.

Reality No. 1 is that morality isn't the exclusive preserve of religious people. Looking back at the long parade of prominent "fallen" preachers should remind us of the truth of that.

Fact is, there are religious people who are moral, but nonbelievers are often moral people too. They are often thoughtful people who've pondered the "big" questions of life and come to their own conclusions.

Their morality is "purer" in the sense that its motivation isn't fear of the afterlife, but morality for its own sake.

Reality No. 2 is that both the believer and nonbeliever communities cover a wide spectrum of people. The believers can include those who are devout; those who are wavering; those who call themselves culturally Catholic, Jewish or whatever; and those who primarily attend a place of worship for the sense of community.

The walls of a place of worship are often comforting to the religious, but confining for nonbelievers. For the latter, those walls can convey a boxed-in feeling, with religion offering an ungenerous explanation of an all-encompassing reality. Their view is typically a more expansive one.

Reality No. 3 is that doubt is a healthy and natural part of religious faith. In reality, many, if not most people, including Mother Teresa, have experienced doubt in their faith.

Reality No. 4 is that in our modern world, one reason religion is foundering is that people see that millennia-old absolutes are clashing with some empirical realities. One example: the strictures against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

At the end of the day, the nonbeliever community deserves more understanding and respect for developing and upholding its own convictions.

Saritha Prabhu of Clarksville is a Tennessean columnist. Reach her at sprabhu@charter.net.