Shock and Awe

by Bob Collins

Grand Haven Tribune

I used to think of myself as tolerant and open-minded in the days before Christian Fundamentalists seized power in our country. Now they are busily consolidating that power with attacks against any and all imagined slights, e.g., most recently, “Happy Holiday” greetings. Lawsuits to remove, “under God,” “In God We Trust,” the Ten Commandments, manger displays, and intelligent design from public spaces are reviled by a Christian majority. Christians have never gotten over their sense of persecution. When they persecute others they don’t recognize it. The escalation and application of “wedge” theory to “split” the American public is calculated and fostered by the politization of religion in our civil space. The “winner take all” philosophy with a calculated “marginalization” of all minorities was rejected by our founding fathers who sought to protect minority beliefs.

I find myself reacting strongly to assumptions that everyone who is good and normal is automatically assumed to be a fellow Christian. I now openly state that, “I am an atheist” among friends. Talk about “shock and awe”! Typically a stunned silence follows! After the listener recovers, I have frequently heard, “I will pray for you,”, “What is the source of your morality,” “We are a Christian nation!” “Your wife can’t be one!” After 41 years of marriage and a successful career I have enough gravitas to speak out. Also, I am retired and likely won’t face severe economic and social consequences of “coming out of the closet”. Finally, I have the opportunity to educate and maybe “wedge” open and insert some reflection among the “believers”. I don’t seek to convert, but to “open” people up and foster inclusiveness as a patriotic American in the spirit of our nation’s original national motto, E Pluribus Unum (“Out of many, one”).

Respectfully,

Bob Collins
Spring Lake