Secularism in America: Growing American Movement Raises Concerns

Catholic News Service ^ | 4/20/12 | Chaz Muth

[marshmallow]

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Arianne Gasser of Canton, Ohio, is proud to call herself a graduate student at a prestigious Catholic university, and she also is proud to call herself an atheist.

The pride she has in her atheist status is part of what inspired her to travel from the Philadelphia area, where she is enrolled at Villanova University, to Washington in March to join thousands of other atheists, agnostics and other nonbelievers for the "Reason Rally," an event that was billed as an assembly to unify secular people nationwide.

Carrying a sign that reads, "This is what an atheist looks like," Gasser is part of a growing segment of Americans under the age of 30 who identify themselves as atheists or agnostics.

It's a movement that concerns Catholic leaders worldwide, including Pope Benedict XVI.

"We have morals and we have beliefs and we have these values," said Gasser, as she walked along the National Mall and marveled at how many people turned out for the rally. "People just think that we're evil, God-hating. We're just people. We just don't believe that something happens to us after we die."

A survey released in 2009 by the Pew Research Center found that a quarter of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 surveyed said they were atheists, agnostics or had no religion.

"Radical secularism" threatens the core values of American culture, the pope warned a group of U.S. bishops visiting the Vatican in January. He called on the church in the U.S., as well as politicians and other laypeople, to render "public moral witness" on crucial social issues.

"The larger concern with secularism is that it damages people, and that it actually keeps people from being reasonable with one another," said Chad C. Pecknold, assistant professor of systematic theology in........

[dfwgator]

Islamists hate atheists more than christians.

This is very true....and they'd better wake up and realize that.

[onedoug]

"We have morals and we have beliefs and we have these values," said Gasser....

That you made up. That are as flighty as the breeze.

A god based system will win, over secularism, over communism eventually. Whether it's islamism, or American Judeo-Christianity is up to us.

[MirrorField]

Statistically atheists are overrepresented in the military and underrepresented in prison.

I think that most significant reason for the latter is how much "finding God" can help you to get into the good graces of the parole board...

[allmendream]

Yes, as long as there are lowbrow lowlifes like Huckabee deciding parole based upon how well your religious experience matches his own - we will have a bias towards such experience being ‘self reported’.

[dmz]

surely, as an atheist, you would want to stick to your principles of so-called ‘rational thought’, and seek to live where there is no ackownledgement of a higher power than man himself.....

and since they do not seek this, but just spout their atheistic claptrap with no small sense of pride, i call that moronic behavior.

<><><><><

Really? You consider it moronic behavior for someone to live where their beliefs (or lack thereof) are protected by law?

Sounds pretty smart to me.

We are not required by law, nor are we penalized, for not being in lockstep with the founders (who, of course, were not in lockstep with each other as it relates to religious belief) on the issue of religion.

[raygunfan]

i know as a believer, i wouldnt want to live my life pretending like atheists do.

living somewhere where your core principle, i.e. there is no god, thus man is the ultimate and pinnacle of existance, is completely pushed on the backburner, shows a lack of character, in living ones life. living a lie, saying there is no god, yet living with a government that acknowledges this higher power from its very foundational documents....amounts to tacit admission of this higher power.

and that is moronic behavior.