I have been an atheist since I was 12. Besides the inconsistencies in the Bible and the scientific evidence against creationism/intelligent design, one of the main reasons why I became an atheist is the hypocrisy of many religious people. For example, religious people around me would say that "God loves all his children" and then would preach about why homosexuality was a sin and that gay people would burn in hell. My younger self had so many questions. "Whats wrong with being gay?" "Am I going to hell?" "Why cant I be a good person without god?""If God really loves me, why would he send me to be tortured if I dont believe in him?" "If God loves everyone, why would he want ANYONE to be tortured in hell?" I also have a problem with religion being used to justify the oppression of women all around the world, but that is a different story.
Most people are very accepting about my atheism, maybe because I live in a liberal area and younger people tend to be more accepting of atheism. However, this one time I was told that I would go to hell because I'm an atheist. That was a weird experience.
Serving in public office is something that I see myself doing and I often worry about how people will react once they find out that I dont believe in a God. Will they still vote for me? Will they think that I'm trustworthy? Will they let their biases get in the way? I mean research shows that only around 50% of Americans would vote for an atheist President and there is not a single openly atheist Congressperson. I hope public attitudes towards atheism/atheists will change by the time I'm old enough to serve in office and if not, I hope that I can be a step in that direction.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us, Kyungmin! A reassuring statistic may be that the number of Americans who identify as atheists has roughly doubled recently. Why do you think that it is that atheists are less 'trusted'?
I think that atheists are less trusted by many because morality has so often been linked to religion. So in some people's minds, a lack of religion=a lack of morality.
Kyungmin, I've always found myself adopting an agnostic stance towards religion, and like you have found these personal values widely accepted. The fact that you bring up distrust of atheism is interesting because, in my experience in an extremely liberal region of the nation, it is the devoutly religious that are often ostracized and struggle to have their beliefs heard.
I'm sure that should we speak to those from more conservative environments they would describe a very different setting, these differences in experience are a reflection of the tangible division plaguing our country at the moment. These discrepancies in trust likely stem from a lack of understanding, we are so enclosed in our own environments that we are often incapable of comprehending another side's perspective (one of the reasons why the premise behind Bridge the Divide is so refreshing.)
Until we as a country are more open to discourse on religion, I find it rather unlikely that we will see more diversity in Congress and social trust between those of different religious beliefs. In your opinion, what is the most effective path to building trust between individuals with such distanced religious values?
Interesting perspective! I actually was just discussing this concept on a panel at the BTD conference last weekend. We discussed the (understandable) tendency of moderately religious people to "let go" of their faith if they disagree with the more radical factions/ideas of religion. However, perhaps an unintended consequences of this pattern is that it yields the floor to those radical ideas, therefore characterizing that religion by its most extreme views. For example, in recent years, I've been more reluctant to identify as Jewish because of actions of Israel against Palestine. However, I realized that because recent Israeli actions are a very extreme form of Judaism, (to the point of religious/racial oppression), I should continue to strengthen the notion that not all Jewish people align with Zionism by identifying as Jewish.