Godless America

So I took a day off to go see my beloved Red Wings lose to the Sharks. I have to say, the Sharks look good this year.  At any rate, please forgive me for a brief foray into a slightly-stale news story.

Elizabeth Dole has launched an ad in the NC Senate race "accusing" her opponent, Kay Hagan of consorting with atheists:

The ad then shows members of the group, which promotes rights for atheists and the separation of church and state, declaring that neither God nor Jesus exists.

"Godless Americans and Kay Hagan," the ad continues. "She hid from cameras. Took 'Godless' money. What did Kay Hagan promise in return?"

The ad ends with a picture of Hagan and a voice that sounds like hers declaring, "There is no God."

It's good to see that the Hagan camp is willing to fight back, but the way they do it feeds into the very biases that Dole is attempting to exploit in the first place:

"I think Elizabeth Dole has just gone to the lowest of the lows," Hagan said of the ad during an appearance on a talk show on WPTF-AM in Raleigh, North Carolina. "This is an attack on my Christian faith."

Hagan, who described herself as a Sunday school teacher and an elder at a Presbyterian church in Greensboro, North Carolina, urged Dole to "pull this kind of despicable ad."

Let me get this out of the way: I'm an atheist.  To be clear, I'm not a Dawkins / Maher / Hitchens anti-theist, I simply believe that there is no god.   People often ask: "Well, if you have no proof and don't want to convert others to your belief, then aren't you just an agnostic?" Frankly, no.  As I said, I believe that there is no god.  I'm not on the fence.

Those are my beliefs, and I'm aware that yours are equally personal.  So I'm not in the business of trying to interfere with people's faith or religious traditions, unless they contradict some independent moral standard -- as, for instance, a belief in human sacrifice would.

That said, I wonder when someone with a big soapbox will have a Colin Powell/Campbell Brown moment and stand up to say "so what?" What evidence do we have that atheists are immoral -- or even amoral? Why does morality pre-suppose a belief in God?  Isn't there room in our public square for those who openly admit that the world we can see contains more wonder than a single person can perceive in a lifetime; whose love for humanity stems directly from their belief that life is fleeting, profound and unique?

The simple human desire to be taken seriously as a moral agent is my only motivation to profess my atheist beliefs. Make no mistake about it, until standing up and announcing to the world "I'm a proud atheist" does not disqualify you from federal elected office, I will continue to stand regularly and announce to the world:

I am a proud atheist.

In doing so I'm not trying to take away your beliefs ... just to keep mine from being ridiculed.