DangerousTalk

Today is the President’s first official State of the Union Address. But what is the state of our union with respect to atheism?

According to the ARIS Poll done at the end of 2008 non-belief has been up not just all across the nation but in every single state. Obama has reversed Bush’s policy on Stem Cell Research, and state-after-state have been pushing to legalize marriage for everyone. While Obama had given non-believers a shout-out at his inaugural address and included us in some meetings, he has increased the faith-based initiative.

Politics aside, atheists have organized a lot over the course of the past year. With the help of UnitedCoR, atheists have been able to work together with other non-believers. The billboard and bus ad campaigns have generated publicity and new members to atheist organizations.

Atheists have continued to command a strong presence on the internet. There are large communities of atheists on the various social networking sites and on YouTube. Atheist Nexus has continued to grow and has become a safe haven and networking tool for atheists around the world.

Greg Epstein has pushed his atheism 3.0 and helped to give a positive face to atheism. Even though I am critical of Epstein’s 3.0 in that he seems to want to fight against atheists rather than theists I still see his efforts as useful.

We still have a long road ahead of us and we still need to not only keep up these efforts but come up with new efforts that will help advance the cause of reason over faith. New ideas are welcome.

Filed under: atheism, People of Reason