Christian right down, but not out Movement re-energizing for elections in 2008 BY ERIC GORSKI The Associated Press
BRANDON, Fla. — Headed into the 2008 election season, Christian conservatives are weary. Their movement has lost iconic leaders and the Republican presidential field is uninspiring. But they may have found hope in a trailer on the campus of Bell Shoals Baptist Church. There, in Annex Room No. 3, Ruth Klingman nods as a leader in Florida’s pro-family movement describes how gay marriage would open the door to other “aberrant forms of marriage.” He holds up a printout of “polygamy pot lucks” as evidence. Yes, Klingman says afterward, she will do her part to pass a constitutional amendment cementing marriage as a union between one man and one woman in this presidential swing state. The first Family Impact Summit had minted a new activist — tangible results from three days of talks and workshops meant to replenish the roots of the Christian right. “I just feel the opposition is growing so strong, I need to grow stronger,” said Klingman, 34, who drove two hours from the one-stoplight town of Hawthorne to join activists in this Tampa suburb. Organized by a scarcely known Tampa-area Christian group and ending Saturday, the summit sounded a back-to-basics theme: that evangelicals are called to be active citizens to combat threats from the left; that the work must involve not just national advocacy groups but local people and pastors; and the fight requires patience and persistence. That last sentiment is a reminder of the challenges facing the Christian right. KEY ALLIES LOST Activists lost key allies in Congress when the Democrats retook Congress in 2006, movement pioneers Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy died this year, and there’s apathy over the current crop of GOP presidential candidates. Even this weekend’s summit had its disappointments. Organizers had hoped up to 350 people would attend, laying the groundwork for a new Florida activist network. But only 104, nearly all from Florida, had registered by Friday. A workshop on the basics of grassroots activism drew a handful of people — and one was a spy, an activist for Americans United for Separation of Church and State researching the opposition. “There will be peaks and valleys, but I don’t know if people understand the depth and breadth of our movement,” said Gary Cass, former executive director at Kennedy’s Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, which closed after the South Florida preacher fell ill. “While we lament the loss of our leaders, their ideas that have been sewn into the larger church culture are just now starting to germinate and take root.” In a sign of just how much Christian activists want new blood, the summit drew some of the movement’s heavyweights, including former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. However, the organizing group was a Tampa-area shoestring operation: the Community Issues Council, previously known for fighting a local bikini bar. The group’s sole full-time employee is former state Christian Coalition operative Terry Kemple. Such national-local partnerships are the way to go right now, Kemple said: “It means more troops on the ground and more feet on the streets. “The old saying is all politics is local. It gets people involved.” FLORIDA IS BATTLEGOUND The power of state-level organization was seen in 2004, when 11 states passed amendments prohibiting gay marriage and were credited with driving up GOP turnout. The next marriage battleground is likely here in Florida. In the workshop that won Klingman over, John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council described the particulars. Volunteers have collected 597,702 verified signatures toward the 611,009 needed to get an antigay marriage amendment on the fall 2008 ballot. Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, said state and local groups tend to stick close to social issues that please religious conservatives. Many in the movement wrote off the national Christian Coalition as just another mainstream GOP group vying for power after it got involved in foreign policy and tax cuts, he said. “Even if these local groups merely exist for one election cycle and go out of existence, they can still have a real impact turning people out to vote,” Rozell said. Beyond gay marriage, abortion remains the cornerstone issue for conservative Christians, the one that got evangelicals involved in contemporary politics in the first place, said Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention. The GOP needs to take that into account when picking its presidential hopeful, he warned. “If the Republicans are foolish enough to pick a pro-choice candidate, they’ve given the Democratic Party a license to go hunting for evangelical votes,” Land said. There is only one GOP hopeful who fits that description: front-runner Rudy Giuliani. A Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey this month showed white evangelical Protestants are the only major group that considers social issues like abortion and gay marriage very important to ’08 presidential decision-making. But even among that voting bloc, social issues trailed the Iraq war, the economy and other domestic issues. STEVE NESIUS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Rep. Katherine Harris addresses a workshop on Christian citizenship with Dr. Gary Cass, left, during the Family Impact Summit Friday in Brandon, Fla.
Geezzzz, I forgot how scary looking that Kathrine Harris was!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Episcopal leaders promise restraint in electing gay bishops Measure may not be enough to prevent split with Anglican Communion BY RACHEL ZOLL The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Episcopal leaders, pressured to roll back their support for gays to keep the world Anglican family from crumbling, affirmed Tuesday that they will “exercise restraint” in approving another gay bishop and will not approve prayers to bless same-sex couples. The statement mostly reiterated previous pledges made by church leaders, and it will not be known for weeks or even months whether the bishops went far enough to help prevent a schism in the Anglican Communion. Theological conservatives in the Episcopal Church immediately rejected the document as too weak. Bishops released the statement in the final hour of an intense six-day meeting and at a crucial moment in the decades-long Anglican debate over how the Bible should be interpreted. The Anglican fellowship has been splintering since 2003, when Episcopalians consecrated the fi rst openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Anglican leaders had set a Sunday deadline for the Americans to pledge unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an official prayer service for same-sex couples. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, took the unusual step of attending the meeting for the fi rst two days, pushing bishops to make concessions for the sake of unity. Anglican lay and clergy representatives from overseas also participated, scolding Episcopal leaders for the turmoil they’ve caused. The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. Anglicans across the theological spectrum will interpret the language differently. And Williams said he will take time to evaluate the document with a committee representing Anglican leaders and the Anglican Consultative Council, an international lay-clergy panel. Episcopal conservatives noted that many priests conduct samegender blessing ceremonies, despite the lack of an official prayer. Critics also said that national Episcopal church leaders didn’t do enough in their statement to provide alternative leadership for conservative dioceses. “This is a ‘try to keep your foot in the door’ maneuvering effort,” said Canon Kendall Harmon, a leading conservative from the Diocese of South Carolina. “It feels like they want to change the ground rules instead of pay the price for what they believe.” The 77 million-member Anglican Communion is a fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England. It is the third-largest Christian body in the world. In the document, Episcopal leaders made some demands of their own, including that overseas Anglican leaders stop coming into the U.S. to take oversight of breakaway conservative Episcopal parishes. Anglican leaders from Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and elsewhere have consecrated bishops to oversee congregations in the United States. Four dioceses — Fort Worth, Texas; Pittsburgh; Quincy, Ill.; and San Joaquin, Calif. — are taking steps to break away and align with a like-minded Anglican leader overseas. And about 60 Episcopal parishes have left or have voted to leave the national church. A meeting of U.S. traditionalists who have either split from the national church or are considering leaving began Tuesday in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The next crucial event for the Anglican Communion will be the Lambeth Conference, in July in England. The once-a-decade meeting brings together all the bishops in the Anglican world. Whether Williams can persuade bishops to attend will be a measure not only of his leadership, but also of the strength of the communion. Williams did not invite Robinson or a U.S.-based bishop, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, who leads a network of breakaway conservative Episcopal parishes aligned with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. But some Anglican prelates don’t want to be even at the same table as Episcopalians who consecrated Robinson. Separately, Robinson has been in private talks with the archbishop of Canterbury to find a way he can attend, as an observer perhaps, and bishops in New Orleans this week voted to support that effort.
RELIGION NEWS IN BRIEF The Associated Press Sainthood sought for priest shot in Guatemala in 1981 OKLAHOMA CITY — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City has begun the process of seeking sainthood for an Oklahomaborn priest who was gunned down by Guatemalan guerrillas in the 1980s. The Rev. Stanley Rother, who was born in Okarche, Okla., in 1935, would become the first Oklahoman to be canonized. Rother was ordained as a priest in May 1963 and served parishes in three Oklahoma cities during the 1960s. He spent 13 years as a missionary in Guatemala, working with two parishes. While in Guatemala, Rother assisted in the translation of the New Testament into the Tzutuhil language and in 1973, he began to celebrate Mass in that language. He was shot to death in his rectory by left-wing guerillas early one Tuesday morning in 1981. Oklahoma City Archbishop Eusebius Beltran said the process of seeking beatification for Rother, the step before sainthood, will formally begin Oct. 5 with the commissioning of a canonization committee after a special mass at Holy Trinity Church in Okarche. The committee members will interview people who knew Rother in Guatemala and Oklahoma. They will also determine and record instances of miracles attributed to Rother, which is required for elevation to the Catholic sainthood.
Instructor claims remark led to firing DES MOINES, Iowa — An instructor at an Iowa community college claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve is a fairy tale and should not be interpreted literally. Steve Bitterman, 60, said offi - cials at Southwestern Community College in Red Oak sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class. “I’m just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college … have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job,” Bitterman said. “As a taxpayer, I’d like to know if a tax-supported public institution of higher learning has given veto power over what can and cannot be said in its classrooms to a fundamentalist religious group.” School President Barbara Crittenden would not comment on whether Bitterman was fired over the Bible reference, saying it was a personnel issue. “There was no action taken that violated the First Amendment,” she said. Bitterman, who taught part time at Southwestern and Omaha’s Metropolitan Community College, said he uses the Old Testament in the course and teaches it from an academic standpoint. He said he called the story of Adam and Eve a fairy tale in a conversation with a student after the class and was told the students had threatened to see an attorney.
Cuban prelate says religion spreading MIAMI — A top Roman Catholic prelate in Cuba said during a visit to Miami’s Cuban exile community that religious practice is slowly spreading in the communist nation despite rigid restrictions. Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez, named earlier this year to lead Catholics in Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city, said the church has been able to expand its reach, though it will be years before it achieves goals of even more openness. “The faith of our community has manifested, it has been reborn,” he said in a recent interview during a visit here. “The Catholic faith in our community has resurrected.” Garcia would not pin the loosened restrictions on Fidel Castro’s decision to temporarily hand over the government last year to his brother Raul. He said he has witnessed piecemeal improvements since his ordination in 1985. Catholics once hoped simply to knock on doors and spread the Gospel, Garcia said, a dream that has since been realized. They prayed they could hold religious processions in the streets; he says there have now been more than 90. They pushed for Catholic radio broadcasts, which are now allowed once or twice a year. “Hope is relative,” the 62-yearold archbishop said after a Mass at Ermita de la Caridad, the spiritual heart of Cuban exiles here. “We always need to work toward what we think is necessary, is fair.”
Woman claims bias over Christian faith CONCORD, N.H. — A former employee has accused a New Hampshire child advocacy agency of harassing and discriminating against her because she shared her Christian beliefs in the office. In her lawsuit, Penny Nixon of Concord said she was sarcastically referred to as the “good Christian” at Casey Family Services. She says she was forbidden from giving out religious Christmas cards. Nixon also claims that although the agency promoted tolerance and diversity, it would not allow her to hold voluntary lunch-hour Bible studies but permitted a gay and lesbian group to meet during business hours. “Penny Nixon is not saying she has any objection to working with gay men or lesbians,” Nixon’s attorney, Chuck Douglas, wrote in a lawsuit filed in Merrimack County Superior Court. “She does not object to diversity training that is evenhanded. However, she does assert her right to have her practice and belief in Christianity unmolested in the workplace.” Casey Family Services has not yet responded to the lawsuit in court. Lee Mullane, a spokeswoman at the agency’s Connecticut headquarters, said the agency promotes respect and tolerance for all beliefs and believes Casey will be vindicated in court.
By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer Monday, October 1, 2007
The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear Catholic Charities' appeal to exempt the group and other faith-based employers in New York from paying for their employees' birth control pills.
Catholic Charities of Albany and several groups sued the state Insurance Department over The Women's Health and Wellness Act of 2003 that required employers that provide group insurance coverage for prescription drugs to cover prescription contraceptives.
The religious groups argued the law required them to violate the dictates of their faith.
The law was upheld unanimously by the state Court of Appeals in 2006 and today's announcement from the Supreme Court means the law stands unchanged.
I onder what Ms. Hillary would have to say about this. Maybe the court shouldn't be considering this due to the "separation of church and state," which doesn't exist, although everybody thinks it does.
Atheists to meet at annual convention MADISON, Wis. — For one weekend, those who don’t believe in God will find sanctuary here. Members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics, will gather for a weekend of nonprayer breakfasts and raffl es for God-free currency at the group’s 30th annual convention. Despite a new survey that shows most Americans still have negative views toward nonbelievers, it’s been a pretty good year for atheism. The foundation has added thousands of members, is starting a national talk radio show and claimed two legal victories in disputes with states in recent weeks. Meanwhile, a spate of books have been selling around the nation, spreading its message that religion is the root of many evils. Against that backdrop, prominent atheists and agnostics will gather from Friday to Sunday to hear speeches, give awards and plot strategy in downtown Madison’s Monona Terrace.
Book probe shows tension between Vatican, theologians Professor’s writing suggests other religions may have merit BY ERIC GORSKI The Associated Press
It’s not easy being a Roman Catholic theologian these days. Trying to explain a centuries-old faith’s place in modern times is hard enough. Now some Catholic thinkers worry the Vatican is more concerned with unity than messy debates that can lead to new ideas. The case of the Rev. Peter Phan is the latest example of the tension between church authorities and Catholic theologians. A 2004 book by Phan, a Georgetown University professor, has come under scrutiny for going beyond the Vatican’s comfort zone in suggesting that other religions might have merit. “Individual theologians can be creative, or they can be irresponsible,” said the Rev. James Heft, director of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California. “The exercise of central authority can be overbearing, or it can be a necessary corrective. So it’s a complex situation.” American Catholics and the broader public have good reason to care about what may look like an intramural squabble, Heft said. Theologians often do the thinking that contributes to profound changes in Catholic teaching — on everything from the church’s relationship with Jews and other Christians to the role of lay people. The conflict at the heart of the Phan case, he said, strikes at “one of the major questions of our time, especially in the coming decades: How we can speak of one faith expressed distinctively in a variety of cultures?” Over recent decades, the Vatican has clamped down on theologians who advocate fighting poverty and injustice through the social gospel and liberation theology. More recently, the focus has shifted to the nature of Jesus Christ and salvation, one of the defining concerns of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy and his previous work as a cardinal. Earlier this year, Benedict released a document reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, reiterating themes in the 2000 Vatican document Dominus Iesus. That document states non-Christians are “in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation.” Phan explored salvation and other themes in his 2004 book, “Being Religious Interreligiously,” the focus of the Vatican inquiry. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said the book is “notably confused on a number of points of Catholic doctrine and also contains serious ambiguities,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. Among the chief concerns, said the independent Catholic weekly: that Phan’s writings could be interpreted as saying non-Christian faiths “have a positive role in salvation history in their own right, and are not merely a preparation for the Christian Gospel.” A committee of U.S. bishops is conducting a separate inquiry into Phan’s work. The increasing diversity of Catholic theologians, Phan among them (he is Vietnamese-American), is greatly influencing the debate about Catholicism’s place among other religions, said Terrence Tilley, chairman of the Fordham University theology department. “What we have in the last 20 years is a new development,” said Tilley, president-elect of the Catholic Theological Society of America. “Discussions of the saving value of other faith traditions had been carried on in a European context by European theologians who had little deep and rich understanding of other religious traditions. Their conversations ran on some pretty clear rails. But the train these days is on a different set of tracks.” A refugee from the Vietnam War, Phan is a priest of the Dallas Diocese and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He was the first non-Caucasian to hold the post. Phan has declined comment on the investigation. Officials at Georgetown, the nation’s oldest Catholic university, issued a statement saying the Jesuit school “embraces academic freedom and supports the free exchange of ideas in order to foster dialogue on critical issues of the day, especially those related to faith, ethics and international affairs.” The Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown, said the Vatican too often views the Catholic theologian as working in an echo chamber, repeating back church teachings and documents. The process of debating theology can be messy, but better to endure the messiness than stifle thought, said Reese, who was forced to resign as editor of America magazine after it published articles challenging church teaching. “If you knew a company where the executive leadership was not on speaking terms with the research division, would you invest in that company?” Reese said. “That’s what we have in the Catholic church today. The hierarchy is very suspicious of the theologians and the theologians are very suspicious of the hierarchy. And that’s a very unhealthy situation.” The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict whose publishing house is the primary publisher of the pope’s writings in English, said the Vatican is neither heavy-handed nor closeminded in weighing questionable theology. What often fails to be disclosed, he said, is the long process allowing all sides to be heard. “It’s important for theologians to talk to each other, reflect and try to reformulate and understand more deeply what the church’s belief is,” Fessio said. “But if they move outside the realm of the church as soundly defined, then it’s a sign that they have gone beyond their competence as a theologian.” “You can boil it down pretty simply,” Fessio said. “Who has the final say in on what Catholics must believe? The answer is, ‘not the theologians.’ ”
Muslims request piece of land Mosque, site proposal leaves some residents uneasy BY DAVID DISHNEAU The Associated Press
WALKERSVILLE, Md. — A Muslim group’s plan to build a mosque and convention site on a 224-acre farm has met with resistance from many residents of this rural, overwhelmingly Christian town who fear its tranquility and security may be jeopardized. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA insists it will be a friendly neighbor, but its proposal — including an annual national gathering of thousands of Ahmadis — could be blocked by a measure under consideration by the town commissioners. “Muslims are a whole different culture from us,” said the mayor, Ralph Whitmore, taking a break at his livestock feed store. “The situation with the Muslims is a touchy worldwide situation, so people are antsy over that.” Two days after Ahmadiyya leaders fielded questions at a public forum in August, town Commissioner Chad Weddle introduced a zoning amendment that would prohibit places of worship, schools and private clubs on land zoned for agriculture — including the farm the Ahmadis have contracted to buy. If the five commissioners approve the measure in a vote expected as early as next week, the Ahmadis could be blocked from building a mosque on the site. Even if the amendment fails, the group still would need a special exception to proceed — their request for one is pending before the town’s planning commission. To some, Weddle’s amendment smacks of discrimination. “The situation indicates this is an action that is being directed toward one specific faith community and, as such, that makes it highly suspect,” said Roman P. Storzer, a Washington attorney who has been retained by the land’s prospective seller, David Moxley. Muqtedar Khan, a political science professor at the University of Delaware, said the blunt opposition voiced by some Walkersville citizens is reminiscent of the persecution Ahmadis have endured in Pakistan. There, they are forbidden to practice their religion because they believe there was a prophet after Muhammad — Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908. “It is quite ironic,” Khan said, that the Ahmadis — allowed to worship freely in the United States — “are suffering a backlash because of their association with Islam.” But Syed Ahmad, a federal economist who is managing the Walkersville project for the group, said the persecution in Pakistan is far worse. “Here, people are civilized and they get up and they talk and they oppose you,” Ahmad said, “but they’re not going to kill you.” Ahmad, who emigrated from Pakistan in 1980, says members of his community won’t go where they’re not wanted. The group’s leaders have gone door-to-door to persuade Walkersville residents that Ahmadis are not terrorists. Ahmad acknowledged that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the U.S. campaign against terrorism have made residents wary. “They hear ‘Muslims,’ and they don’t know anything beyond that,” he said. “To me, it’s natural until they get a chance to ask questions what our beliefs are — and then they realize these are good people.” Some residents aren’t convinced. When the Ahmadis visited Kambra Minor, a clerk at the Walkersville Market, “I told them, you have to understand — there’s a certain connotation to a Muslim group, especially in a blue-collar area like this,” Minor said. Resident David Sample testifi ed during a hearing last month that he is an intelligence officer whose office at the Pentagon, about 40 miles away, was destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks. “I just stress to the board and the community that we pay attention to what’s going on, what the motive is, who the people are,” he said. Others worry about the traffi c that large-scale Muslim gatherings would generate in the town of 5,600. Mark Mowen suggested that the Ahmadis continue holding their conventions at an exposition center in Chantilly, Va., where this year’s three-day event drew about 4,200 participants a day. Weddle said he offered his amendment not to block the Muslims but as part of a plan to preserve open space and help the Banner School, a private, nonsectarian institution for grades K- 8. The school, now located in nearby Frederick, won a special exception last year to build on a tract of Walkersville farmland, but construction was stalled by Frederick County’s refusal to extend public sewer lines to land zoned for agriculture. The town responded by rewriting its comprehensive plan to include a new “institutional” zoning category, Weddle said. The commissioners approved the category during the same meeting in August at which Weddle offered his amendment barring schools and places of worship on agricultural land. The timing, so soon after the Ahmadis’ community forum, was coincidental, he said. Weddle said the Banner School plans to have its land rezoned for institutional use, and the Ahmadis could do likewise. “My ordinance should benefit that group if they want to build on that property” because without rezoning, the site can’t be served by public water and sewer, Weddle said. However, Ahmad said the Ahmadis plan to use the farm’s private well and septic systems and won’t need public water and sewer. Resident Kris Anderson said he doesn’t trust the Ahmadis and that unless they’re stopped, “we’re opening the door to something we may not know and we may not like.” But others, including two neighboring farmers, said the community should welcome the Ahmadis as property owners who will help preserve open space. As for the once-a-year traffic congestion, said 64-year-old farmer Robert Ramsburg, “that’s no worse than the carnival, and I’ve learned to live with the carnival.”
I don't blame these people for not wanting this mosque in their area. Let's face the facts here. This country was attacked by Muslims who HATE the United States. They have hated and attacked American sites for decades. They hate our free and open society. They hate the way the girls dress. Our sexual practices. Abortions...and the list goes on. And perhaps I don't align myself with all of these practices personally, but I can choose NOT to participate.
But why the heck would anyone, in their right mind, dig up roots, move to another country that they hate every thing about? Most wouldn't! I don't trust them.
Here's my conspiracy theory....they are all moving here to eventually take it over. They will infultrate our neighborhoods, schools, businesses, medical fields, media outlets and lastly our government. Than WAM! Gotcha! Okay, so how's that for a theory?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Rising numbers fi nd no reason to believe in religious dogma BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
“Are you the non-believers?” The question doesn’t offend the small group of people sitting around the table at Malt River Brewing Company in Latham. Instead, they nod and smile. Who they are is a source of pride. They wish more people shared their views. It’s a Saturday afternoon in early October, and the Capital Region Atheists and Agnostics have gathered at the brewery for their monthly get-together. For two hours, their free-form discussion touches upon philosophy, science, politics and religion. They talk about right-wing pundit Ann Coulter’s recent comments that Jews should perfect themselves by converting to Christianity, and they reminisce about when they first realized that they didn’t believe in the existence of a deity. Much of the time, this discovery was made at a young age, while sitting in church. They also discuss more mundane matters, such as whether they should meet more often and whether anyone wants to get together for a hike. It might seem almost counter-intuitive, a group of people with no need or desire for church or worship coming together for fellowship. But for many of the group’s members, this meet-up provides an opportunity to discuss ideas and spend time with like-minded people. In a country where many Americans still regard atheists with distrust — according to a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, atheists are viewed more negatively than any religious group — such opportunities, they say, are rare. “I’m sitting around a table with God existing was an assumption, not a question,” Dreidel said. “I say it’s a question.” MOMENTS OF REALIZATION Dreidel and others refer to the moment they decided to reject their religious backgrounds as their “deconversion.” “I really believe I was born an atheist,” said Martin, who was raised Lutheran. “I remember sitting in church and listening to the things they were saying and saying to myself, ‘This isn’t real.’ ” It was in college, during a freshman-year philosophy class where he studied Bertrand Russell and Rene Descartes, that his beliefs came into sharper focus. “It hit me all of a sudden that of course there’s no God,” he said. “I didn’t have to put on a facade anymore.” Joe Sala, 62, of Clifton Park, a former altar boy, had a similar revelation while working on his doctorate in philosophy. The work of people who think the way I think,” said Rick Martin, a 60-year-old retiree who lives in Altamont. “I don’t have to put up a guard. … We’re starting a community — a community that doesn’t depend on a facade of belief. “You can relax and talk about stuff because you’re with people who have gone through the same journey you have,” Martin said. NO PROOF, NO BELIEF There are a variety of names for non-believers: atheists, humanists, secularists, freethinkers, brights. They believe it is both possible and preferable to live ethically and morally through reason, science and intelligence, rather than what they consider supernatural mythology. They see no compelling evidence that any gods exist, and they refuse to take it on faith. There’s been an upsurge of interest in atheism in recent years, driven partly by a slew of new books — such as Christopher Hitchens’ “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Ayn Rand, who argued that people should use reason alone to shape their actions and beliefs, strongly influenced him. “The thing that separates us from animals is our ability to reason,” he said. “I thought, ‘Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I accepting faith when I’m a rational being?’ ” Today, Sala objects to references to God and religion that many people probably find innocuous. When presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton says, “God bless you,” “It just drives me up a wall,” he said. “She’s assuming everyone wants to be blessed by God. I don’t want to be blessed by God. That has no meaning for me.” Sala, who is gay, said that with the way atheists are often viewed in society, it’s easier to tell people he’s gay than that he’s an atheist. Dreidel said he first realized he didn’t believe in God at age 7. He was learning about Greek myths and realized “humans have been trying to figure out the world for a long time, and they’ve almost always been wrong,” he said. “I went to Catholic school and church, but I thought, ‘This is just a version of the Greek stories.’ ” Dreidel’s wife, Chris Dreidel, sometimes joins him at Capital Region Atheists and Agnostics gatherings. She described herself as more of an agnostic than an atheist. “I’m not firmly settled in the atheist camp,” she said. “My little brain can’t get around the fact that there’s nobody minding the store.” She said she’s not as passionate about atheism as her husband. “For me, there are so many other little things to worry about,” she said. Andy Badera, who dropped by the meet-up at Malt River, also stops short of calling himself an Everything,” which was recently nominated for a National Book Award — and anger over what many atheists and agnostics perceive as the increasing religiosity of the country. The Internet, they say, has been an invaluable tool for organizing events and promoting their views. Sitting in the middle of the table is a copy of the book “Letters to a Christian Nation,” a response by writer Sam Harris to critics of his earlier book, “The End of Faith,” which argues that religion is both absurd and dangerous, the cause of most social ills and problems. It’s a book Martin recommends to the other people at the table. The Capital Region Atheists and Agnostics meet-up group formed in January; events typically draw eight to 10 people, although the group’s Web site lists more than 40 members. With numbers comes confidence, said Ben Dreidel, 36, of Clifton Park, who serves as the group’s organizer and often dons a well-worn T-shirt that says “Happy Atheist.” “We’re getting more comfortable being external about our beliefs,” he said. This is the direct result of the rise in public religious expression that took place after 9/11 and President George W. Bush’s “uniting of church and state,” he said. “Even before the books [on atheism] came out, I’d gotten a little more outspoken.” atheist. He began participating in online “Until I see the evidence, I’m of discussion forums; at one point, he the mindset that there’s no God,” went to an online Christian forum, he said. where he debated users. “I was amazed at how weak their GROWING COMMUNITY case was,” he said. “I thought it Badera, 28, a software engineer would be stronger.” from Latham, learned about Capi-“I know a bunch of people where tal Region Atheists and Agnostics shortly after moving to the area from Rochester. He was online looking for a group of people who like to eat sushi and came across the atheists and agnostics group. “It was nice to see there were other like-minded people out there,” he said. “I didn’t have a lot of social contacts.” For Therese Broderick, 48, a freelance poet, and her husband, Frank Robinson, 60, a retired administrative law court judge, Oct. 13’s meetup was their first Capital Region Atheists and Agnostics event. “We wanted to make friends,” Broderick said. “I wanted a group my husband and I could both belong to, that we can do things with and have interesting conversations. I’m grateful to find people that I can talk about these things with.” SURVEY: ATHEISM ON RISE One survey suggests that atheism is on the rise. Though 6 percent of seniors define themselves as secular, the percentage steadily increases with decreasing age, hitting 19 percent among 18- to 22-year-olds, according to the Barna Group, a religious research group. The Rev. Stephen Butler Murray, the college chaplain at Skidmore College, has read some of the recent atheist books and believes that interest in atheism waxes and wanes depending on cultural forces. Right now, “quite a bit of it is the secular reaction to problems seen with religious fundamentalism,” he said. Today’s interest in atheism is accompanied by growth in the evangelical Christian movement as well as declines in mainstream Protestantism, Butler Murray said. When he arrived at Skidmore six years ago, there were three religious groups on campus and one worship service. Now, there are seven religious groups and nine worship services. Butler Murray, who also teaches in the religion department, said he views as part of his job meeting the needs of atheist and agnostic students. To do this, he organizes events, such as a lecture series titled “What Matters to Me and Why?” where religious and nonreligious speakers talked about their beliefs. At the meet-up, Dreidel tells everyone about Freethought Radio, which bills itself as the No. 1 Internet radio station for freethinkers, humanists, atheists, agnostics and naturalists. He also tells the group about the Washington-based Secular Coalition of America, the first-ever lobbying group for atheists, formed five years ago. The conversation also turns to more mundane matters. Do they want to meet more often? Do they want to meet on a weeknight? Is it simply a social group, or are people also interested in activism? As time goes on, the group’s identity will become clear. “We’re just building a community now,” Martin says.
I generally agree to let others believe what they want, but I get a little testy when my savior is belittled, as he was in your Oct. 13 article, “Unitarian minister helps others travel the journey.” In it, the Rev. Linda Oddy states of her church’s position on Jesus Christ, “We honor Jesus as a great religious leader, but we also honor Buddha and others. I myself have moved away from the deification of Jesus, but we do have a group who call themselves Christian and that’s fine...” Great religious leader? Is that all? I’m sorry, but that’s an insult to him. Jesus was, and is, the Christ — son of the living God, one-third of the Holy Trinity. The article says that Rev. Oddy attended Harvard Divinity School, so I must only guess that she cut class the days they were discussing what happened on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Ascension Day. Jesus lives today. Now. He’s still “teaching,” and don’t tell me he died because I was just talking to him a few minutes ago and intend to speak with him many more times today. When I do, I will be praying for Rev. Oddy and everyone else who still has not found Jesus or has forgotten him. REV. ALAN HART Scotia The writer is deacon of Christ Church in Schenectady.
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