Another first comes with the inauguration...
SMACK!
About time.
Of course this particular article is from one of the more gods-fearing papers in the country...so after the quick blurb about acknowledging non-believers, the entire piece is about how Godly Obama is.
Guess they didn't wanna scare people too badly.
Obama may well be a closet non-believer or agnostic, but if he is I doubt that's why he acknowledged people like me in his speech. That was purely political in a time when the numbers of atheists, agnostics and the non-religious are growing. I know that he has hired some people with rather out-there (even dubious) Christian-ish beliefs to his staff, but once again - political I think. The simple fact is that there a LOT of very rich, very influential people out there that are members of one UberFlock or another.
If the closet skeptics were to emerge all at once I think their large numbers would be extremely shocking - even to other non-believers.
Anyhoo. It might all be political posturing, but it's nice to be acknowledged. Because it might mean we've become a little less pussified and invisible. That's the rub though, isn't it? When your belief-system EXCLUDES exclusionary gods...it's tough to be evangelical about it.
Especially if, like me, you don't claim to have any ultimate answers.
About time.
Of course this particular article is from one of the more gods-fearing papers in the country...so after the quick blurb about acknowledging non-believers, the entire piece is about how Godly Obama is.
Guess they didn't wanna scare people too badly.
Obama may well be a closet non-believer or agnostic, but if he is I doubt that's why he acknowledged people like me in his speech. That was purely political in a time when the numbers of atheists, agnostics and the non-religious are growing. I know that he has hired some people with rather out-there (even dubious) Christian-ish beliefs to his staff, but once again - political I think. The simple fact is that there a LOT of very rich, very influential people out there that are members of one UberFlock or another.
If the closet skeptics were to emerge all at once I think their large numbers would be extremely shocking - even to other non-believers.
Anyhoo. It might all be political posturing, but it's nice to be acknowledged. Because it might mean we've become a little less pussified and invisible. That's the rub though, isn't it? When your belief-system EXCLUDES exclusionary gods...it's tough to be evangelical about it.
Especially if, like me, you don't claim to have any ultimate answers.