The Last Acceptable Discrimination
I had to comment on the Globe and Mail's article today about the Boy Scouts' centenary yesterday. You can read the article and its comments at this link, but I provide my comment in full below.
I give a bitter-sweet congratulations to the scouting movement on its centenary. With the inclusion of so many different cultures now, why is it that I, as an atheist, am discriminated against? The first principle of scouting is a Duty to God. I spent much of my childhood in the Boy Scouts of Canada: first as a Beaver, then a Cub, then a Scout, 7 years total. I still have my uniform, lanyard and sash with all my badges, yet this sole "principle" is the one reason I am not active in scouting today. This troubles me because I have a new son who I'd like to enroll, and I would love to be able to volunteer as a leader, but as I matured and studied the natural world around me, any such supernatural beliefs were shed. I am now an upstanding and productive member of society who contributes the best he can, yet I cannot yield to this barrier. I ask the scouting world, if you can be accommodating to so many different people, why can you still find it acceptable to reject me?
Earlier today I listened to the latest Point of Inquiry podcast that is produced by the Center For Inquiry. The interviewee was asked about his thoughts of atheism being the last form of discrimination that is publicly acceptable in our society, his being American. It's much easier, I think, to be an atheist in central urban Canada because it's such an inclusive society, but the interviewee made a good point. He didn't believe that we are persecuted to the point that we have to ride at the back of the bus (though that was a coveted seat in my school days), or have to use a separate water fountain. It's not nearly that dire, but it is still difficult to be a leading public figure and be an atheist. George Bush the First stated that he didn't believe that an atheist should be allowed to be president of the USA, I doubt that George II is any more lenient. CNN actually allowed an atheist to ask a question to the recent Democratic debate, and he probed the candidates for the personal stance on belief / non-belief and whether they would consider him an equal citizen. This prompted each candidate to, what else, state they were good Christians, but it also brought out a couple of proclamations of equality and church/state separate. Praise be to Obama!
Our current Prime Minister is cut from a similar cloth as the Bushes, but then, look at who he represents. And I'm not talking about a forward thinking constituency. He looks like a used car salesman for gawd's sake, and we all know how trustworthy they are. No, I think that society at large is still apprehensive about my kind because they don't believe that we have morals enough to lead. Well, we've got morals all right, just not the backward, archaic morals they've managed to cling to. Thankfully there is a march forward among atheistic notables with Hitchens', Dawkins' and Harris' books catching wind. Someday we will be equal, someday, and I'll get to scout again.
