K~
I'm a little ashamed
to say that at one point I was a militant atheist. I believed that
Christians were wrong and needed to see the error of their ways –
and of course they were all closed minded bigots. Any theological
debate turned into an argument, no matter how innocently framed. Any
mention of God in society needed to be eradicated, from being on our
money to being in the pledge of allegiance.
It was bad.
My family was Irish
Catholic, and by that I mean mass was attended twice a year, once at
Christmas and once at Easter, and the remainder of the time alcohol
was the God that we prayed to. Nevertheless, a healthy dose of
Catholic guilt flowed like the beer from our family's keg-erator.
I recall one Easter
that my dad insisted I go to church. I threw a fit the best way any
hormonal 14 year old girl could: with tears, spite, and door
slamming. In the end it didn't matter. My dad was a pro, and my older
sister had primed him for any possible tantrum a teenager may throw.
Dad said I would go, and it didn't matter if he had to carry me. I
was well aware that that wasn't an idle threat.
So being the spiteful
atheist that I was, I wore a baggy t-shirt that boldly stated “It's
called thinking, you should try it some time.” I was hoping at the
very least I could embarrass him and offend the churchgoers as a
whole. Dad rolled his eyes and grunted, but didn't say anything. I
sat in the pew, the entire time reading Frankenstein for class. I
don't remember anything about the service.
Luckily everyone at
the church took the hint and didn't risk talking to me.
Eventually, as I
became older and met different people I became significantly less
zealous about the whole thing. Although I still don't feel that we
should have any reference to God on our money or in our pledge of
allegiance*, I no longer see the need to argue over it. There's no
point. The militant atheists of the world are nothing but the big bad
wolf trying to blow down a brick house: in the end they're red in the
face and nothing has changed.
*Just a brief
historical note, the phrase “under God” was added to the pledge
of allegiance June 14, 1954, by President Eisenhower, after a
campaign by the Knights of Columbus. Originally that line in the
Pledge of Allegiance read “One nation, indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all”. The Knights of Columbus argued that the
inclusion of the phrase “under God” didn't violate the separation
of church and state, because it didn't condone a specific religion,
but instead "The phrase 'under God' recognizes only the guidance
of God in our national affairs.”
More on this subject at
the Smithsonian Magazine website:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The_Pledges_Creator.html?c=y&page=1
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