Are you good without god?

My buddies in the Connecticut Valley Atheists recently erected this year's display on the Vernon town green. For those of you not in the know (or not living in North Central Connecticut), the CVA first began doing this in 2007. For years, the town had been displaying a creche on the town green around this time of the year. While the CVA really wanted no displays at all (either for or against religion) on town property ('cause it violates the establishment clause and all that fun stuff), the town decided to allow other groups to put displays up, as well, so that's when the atheist display went up.

There was quite an uproar about it, too. A lot of people felt the atheists were wrong to put up their display or felt they were attacking religion or religious folks. We had angry letters to the editor pouring in, angry comments left on local news web sites, you know the deal. I remember one letter writer criticizing atheism as a "philosophy of despair." (Despair? Hardly! I'm quite happy with my life, thank you very much!) I don't believe their display was ever vandalized, though.

Now, I know a lot of people tend to be of the opinion that "it's OK to not believe in God, but geez, why do you have to go and broadcast it all over the place??" Some people don't "get" why atheists put up displays and billboards and posters and things like that, or they view it as proselytizing, or as an attack on people of faith. I've often heard this opinion coming from other non-religious folks, the "don't rock the boat" types.

But in a society where we're constantly bombarded with religious images and viewpoints, where our political and military leaders consistently invoke God in speeches, where one president even said atheists should not be considered American citizens, it is so important to put an opposing point of view out there. Essentially (and this is just the way I see it), it's about making sure that your voice gets heard, too, amid the din of shouting and arguing. Honestly, why not have that viewpoint out there?

For me, this happened at a pretty pivotal point in my life. I was agnostic for years. Maybe about a year or so prior to CVA's first display, I had come to terms with the fact that I was an atheist. I was carving out this very crucial part of my identity, and seeing that display there on the Vernon town green reminded me that I wasn't alone and reaffirmed that it was absolutely OK to be upfront about my atheism.