Assumptions and Atheists

I finally agreed to Google's generous offer to send me "alerts" for astronomy news.

Most of the articles sent to me are interesting. There's a new type of variable star out there (well, I think it's interesting), there's a Jupiter-sized planet being torn apart by its sun somewhere far away from our solar system, and President Obama is "aiding" a get together with atheists.

Wait a minute.

What does that have to do with astronomy?

While I am actually interested in the content of the article, it's really only by accident. Is there an immediate correlation between astronomy and atheism... or did Google pick up on the one book in the article that is next to the astronomy section in the bookstore (Christopher Hitchens' G-D IS NOT GREAT: A CASE AGAINST RELIGION)? How many really stupid articles will I receive alongside my pulsars and an exploding stars? I deleted the alert that had an article on Molly Shannon in the list.

As it turns out, President Obama had little to do with this meeting. This reminds me of why I'm not a big fan of newspapers or current events. The title sort of blames the president for this meeting... while later admitting that it was unlikely that he would even be there. It was a morning meeting during which organizations such as the American Atheists and the Council for Secular Humanism sat "quietly" to discuss certain significant issues. Among the topics of the meeting were issues involving "child medical neglect, military proselytizing and faith-based initiatives."

The story that bothered me the most was the story of a young teen whose Christian Scientist parents refused to send her to a doctor when she contracted a bone infection which, a little over 30 years later, cost most of her leg. This problem is not so easily answered. If the government were to say this was wrong, then they condemn a religion, a large group of people, and alienate them due to their way of life. It's like calling them unfit parents, maybe even crazy or cruel. If you or I say that, it's our opinion. If the government says that, we have problems bigger than untidy arguments at a table on the White House campus.

However, this woman, as an adult, seems to wish things had happened differently. She joined the meeting by phone hoping to affect change by sharing her story. She was an innocent child who could not act on her own behalf and her parents put her in a position to lead a highly "un-normal" life.

It reminds me of why I cry at infant baptisms. I get angry and devastated to the point where I have had to leave services to calm myself. I feel that the parents are committing the souls of these innocents to something they don't understand. I have no feelings whatsoever about adult baptisms or even when teenagers choose to get baptized. If it's your conscious choice, knock yourself out. But, infants don't even know what's happening. Not only will they not remember this supposedly significant ritual, they weren't given the time to elect to enter into the church ritual on their own.

So, I agree with this woman that something probably should be done to prevent truly life-altering problems parents inflict upon their children due to religious beliefs. Problems beyond the relatively "harmless" church ritual of baptism. As to what should be done... I have no idea. People in this country have a right to believe what they want to believe... that's one of the main reasons our ancestors got onto those big scary boats and sailed away from the comfort of a developed, European society to rough it out in the American wilderness. I suppose, if an adult chooses to use prayer instead of antibiotics, that's totally his or her business. However, for a child who can't decide on their own yet whether or not they want to risk life and limb to support a religious doctrine, I'm not as sure that's right.

I'm not interested in debating faith however. Weird things have happened, and I'm not going to dispute that. Still, I can certainly understand the concern of this coalition for children like the girl in the article. While many of us uphold the faiths of our families, I'd bet just as many of us change our mind and go in another direction in adulthood. Still, how involved should the government be in the private lives of citizens? Who is the government to tell us how to raise our kids? How far would it go? How many other choices would we then allow the government to make for our children?

I have no answers... but I'm definitely happy that the conversation has begun.