Before the New Atheists: Confessions of a Lonely Atheist

by Natalie Angier

Thanks to Florian Widder for the link.

Reposted from:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20010114mag-atheism.html

This article was published January 14th, 2001.

At a time when religion pervades every aspect of public life, there's something to be said for a revival of pagan peevishness.

In the beginning -- or rather, at the end of a very lo-o-ng beginning -- George W. Bush made an earnest acceptance speech and urged our nation to "rise above a house divided." He knows, he said, that "America wants reconciliation and unity," and that we all "share hopes and goals and values." After his speech he reached out, up and down and across aisles, to embrace Republicans, Democrats, Naderites, Palm Beach Buchananites, the disaffected, the disinclined.

The only problem was what President-elect Bush wanted from me and "every American." "I ask you to pray for this great nation," he said. "I ask your prayers for leaders from both parties," and for their families too, while we're at it. Whatever else I might have been inclined to think of Bush's call for comity, with his simple little request, his assumption that prayer is some sort of miracle Vicks VapoRub for the national charley horse, it was clear that his hands were reaching for any hands but mine.

Click here to continue the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20010114mag-atheism.html

Posted: Monday, July 16, 2007 | Permalink

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1. Comment #56481 by Rtambree on July 16, 2007 at 2:03 am

I wonder if the flag and calls for unifying prayer are just to cover up for the divisive policies of successive White House administrations - i.e. drive down tax rates, increase the gap between rich and power, dismantle social programs, turn multimillionaires into billionaires, transfer trillions in tax revenue over to the defense contractors, etc.

Patriotism and religion are useful in hoping no one will notice or care. I wonder if how many of the elites in the White House over the years are actually genuinely religious or patriotic, as their policies are actual unchristian and seek to undermine the country and its people.

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2. Comment #56486 by CJ22 on July 16, 2007 at 2:35 am

A thoughtful and well-written piece - well worth reading the whole thing. I can't help but feel this is the sort of piece that will reach a thoughtful theist more effectively than any amount of polemic, and help them see the point-of-view of the vocal atheists.

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3. Comment #56487 by toomanytribbles on July 16, 2007 at 2:47 am

i'm an atheist. i don't believe in god, gods, godlets or any sort of higher power beyond the universe itself, which seems quite high and powerful enough to me. i don't believe in life after death, channeled chat rooms with the dead, reincarnation, telekinesis or any miracles but the miracle of life and consciousness, which again strike me as miracles in nearly obscene abundance. i believe that the universe abides by the laws of physics, some of which are known, others of which will surely be discovered, but even if they aren't, that will simply be a result, as my colleague george johnson put it, of our brains having evolved for life on this one little planet and thus being inevitably limited. i'm convinced that the world as we see it was shaped by the again genuinely miraculous, let's even say transcendent, hand of evolution through natural selection.

sometimes a bit of text can effect people unexpectedly and profoundly. i've never hidden my non-belief, but i also had never felt at ease with my isolation in the midst of superstition. when I first read this essay, this one paragraph summed up my thoughts and provided a foundation to quit feeling pressured. after i read this, i felt free to say that i'm an atheist � and it feels and sounds right.

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4. Comment #56489 by jonecc on July 16, 2007 at 2:56 am

What a star!

I think we may have found the sequel to the Dawkins/Harris/Hitchens trilogy.

Has she been invited to the September conference?

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5. Comment #56491 by toomanytribbles on July 16, 2007 at 3:02 am

jonecc,
i'd say prequel.

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6. Comment #56493 by Theocrapcy on July 16, 2007 at 3:06 am

This is from 2001, ahead of its time and well worth digging up again.

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7. Comment #56496 by jonecc on July 16, 2007 at 3:29 am

I'm sorry, it is indeed a prequel. I would say that made her the theists' Phantom Menace, but there's nothing mediocre about her.

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8. Comment #56502 by bamboospitfire on July 16, 2007 at 4:36 am

My copy of The Canon is expected to arrive on Wednesday. If it's as good as this article, I cannot wait.

A couple of points which made me wince:-

"My older sister is rearing her two kids as semiobservant Jews,"

WTF does "semiobservant" mean? Is that like half believing in God? Again, the poverty of religious moderation is exposed.

"My children's religious beliefs are their own," says Florence Haseltine, a scientist and advocate for women's health. "And as long as those beliefs do not require you to kill your parents, they're O.K. with me."

And if those beliefs require your children to kill someone else? Presumably Mrs Haseltine's comments were said in jest, but they are more illuminating that I expect was intended.

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9. Comment #56507 by blueollie on July 16, 2007 at 4:51 am

Interestingly enough, an atheist doesn't have to be that lonely, provided that he/she belongs to, say, a mathematics or science department at a university!

Actually, among my academic friends, I am sort of the religious conservative in that I find that prayer and meditation useful in my personal life (to calm and steady myself; nothing supernatural about that)

But the author does bring up something. I think that we should prosletize to a degree; one of the ways to do that is to show things like "Growing up in the Universe" to folks who might be open to it.

Shedding dependence on supernatural beliefs has been very liberating for me!

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10. Comment #56510 by Rtambree on July 16, 2007 at 4:58 am

7. Comment #56496 by jonecc

>I'm sorry, it is indeed a prequel. I would say that made her the theists' Phantom Menace, but there's nothing mediocre about her.

Mediocre? What's your definition of a bad movie? Mediocre is a compliment for TPM. Has there been a worse movie? :)

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11. Comment #56511 by smart-bean on July 16, 2007 at 5:02 am

Here's another article by the same person, with a rather more confrontational tone

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/angier_24_5.htm

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12. Comment #56529 by konquererz on July 16, 2007 at 6:17 am

Wow, definitely an article ahead of its time. But she is right, it is lonely being an atheist most of the time. For me, there really isn't any one that is even willing to openly discuss religion around me.

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13. Comment #56539 by sane1 on July 16, 2007 at 7:55 am

Natalie's 2004 review of Harris' the End of Faith was a watershed moment in this movement:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE7D9113EF936A3575AC0A9629C8B63

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14. Comment #56630 by Big T on July 16, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Wish we had a columnist like Natalie Angier writing for The Kansas City Star. We have a couple of religion columnists who write sympathetically about religious belief, but no professed atheists representing the other side.
CJ22, love your avatar.

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15. Comment #56748 by nancy2001 on July 17, 2007 at 5:24 am

You are right, sane1. Natalie Angier's review of Sam Harris' book was a watershed moment for atheism. After I read Natalie's review, I promptly bought Sam's book and began to get involved in atheism.

Natalie is a great science writer who's written many fascinating articles for the NY Times. I hope she's working on a book about atheism. I think it would be a terrific read and a best seller.

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16. Comment #57352 by rokort on July 19, 2007 at 2:29 am