The Snarky Humanist

We got to the rally about 40 minutes before it was set to start, and my 12 old son used that time to go see the Lincoln Memorial. When he came back, he showed us a card someone had given him. This was the card: Ok, so we're at an event for atheists and it was to be expected that people would be handing out literature about atheist-related things. My son also told me that the person who handed him this card had on a tshirt that said "atheist", so my first thought is "ok, it's an org for gay atheists". Orrrrrr, not. It was really sneaky of you to use rainbow lettering on the front of your card. It was also really sneaky of you to wear a shirt that suggested you were part of the rally, because for my son, that made you "safe". That meant you weren't a stranger. We later discovered that you and your crazy friends were wearing shirts to advertise a movie about how atheism is wrong. My son told me that when you handed him this car...

Four years ago, Madscutter and I attended the first Reason Rally in Washington D.C, as well as the American Atheists convention that followed. It was an amazing weekend, and a bit surreal to be surrounded by literally thousands of atheists. I had this feeling of kinship and belonging that made me realize just how "taboo" atheism still is in normal life. Though most of my family is generally accepting of my lack of belief, and most of my friends are also atheists, it can still be difficult to navigate society as a non-believer. A non-practicing lapsed Catholic is still perceived as "good" because you know, at least they believe in god. Atheists, until very recently, have sat at the bottom of the list of various identities that the general public would be willing to vote for in a presidential election. We now rank above Muslims (thanks, Trump), and Socialists (thanks, Bernie) , but should an openly atheist candidate ever attempt a run at being president, discriminat...