Atheists in the news

The Times has an interesting article today about the rising visibility and numbers of atheists (or nonbelievers). It's nice to see atheists starting to come out of the closet so to speak, feeling more comfortable being openly atheist in public (as the article says much like gays!).

One poll shows that 15% of Americans are non-believers, and astonishing number to me considering how rare it seems to run into one. I guess it happens more often than one realizes. Then again, I live in the Bible Belt. The number of self-identified Christians has dropped from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2008. Hopefully, this will give the Christian Right some pause before imposing its beliefs on the public.

The article also noted Barack Obama's mention of non-believers in his inaugural address. I don't think it's realized yet what a notable event that was. I haven't been happy with Obama lately, particularly regarding the torture debate, but I do appreciate his respectfulness. He's a smart guy. I just hope he doesn't bow to the political winds too much.

Ian McEwan

Since reading Atonement during my trip to the UK, I've all of a sudden become fascinated by Ian McEwan. And coincidentally, the New Yorker just recently had a very good and lengthy profile of McEwan. He's at the top of the literary world right now, and I hadn't realized how far back his relative prominence in that world existed. He's been friends with Christopher Hitchens (of political talk show fame) and Martin Amis since the 70's.

He's apparently quite a thinker, interested in science, and does a quite bit of research before writing his books (What good author doesn't?). McEwan also has an interesting family history which includes discovering just a few years ago that he has an older brother born from his mother and father, but when his mother was still married to another man (or was it his father still married to another woman? already mixed up on that).

I see his name quite often now. Maybe he's just high on my radar. He's given some thoughts on John Updike, had his endorsement on the front cover of the Roman Republic history book Rubicon by Tom Holland (another book I picked up during my UK trip), and has been interviewed by Richard Dawkins on being an atheist. Here's McEwan's website, and the Richard Dawkins interview:

The man's all over the place. Err...will he get overexposed??

...and nonbelievers

Another notable line in Barack Obama's inauguration speech was this:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth."

I was stunned to hear the words above in bold, and Obama said practically the same thing during his interview with Al-Arabiya. For the nonbelieving me, it's an amazing but also quite welcome inclusiveness. I've never heard any American politician respectfully acknowledge nonbelievers, atheists if you like. These days it seems taboo to say such a thing. I am liking this guy. If she were a believer and looking down or up from wherever, Madelyn Murray O'Hair would definitely be cheering. I know, a contradiction.

I just wonder if Obama will keep up with such a line. Perhaps not because officially as President in his inaugural speech he has somewhat already introduced his governing philosophy to America and now to a Middle Eastern audience. But if he's going to be consistent it's got to crop up again, and you know the media and religious circles will be picking up on it. Unfortunately, too many people will have a cow (if they haven't already). However, it's a good sign that Obama welcomes nonbelievers in the political discourse.