Last Sunday, the local paper printed a guest viewpoint by Gil Gaudia concerning the negative view that religious people have of non believers. He refers to them as “nones” because they check the box labeled “none” when they fill out forms asking their religion. They include atheists, agnostics, secular humanists and other free thinking types.

He mentioned that non believers can be perceived as negatively as homosexuals are, and for that reason a lot of them fail to speak out to express their views. I think it is important for non believers to come out in order to slow the trend toward theocratic rule that seems to be happening in the world today.

The gay rights movement profited greatly when more gays started to come out. People with preconceived notions about homosexuals started to see them in a different light when they saw their family members, friends, and acquaintances admitting to being gay. In the same way, the anti-theocratic movement can be aided if people realize that people they know are non believers.

It will come as no surprise to people that know me, but I am now officially coming out as a non believer. I do prefer to be thought of as a non believer, and not as an atheist, though. To me, atheism implies a belief that “God” doesn’t exist, and as a non believer I have to accept the possibility (however remote) that it does.

It would be interesting to see a study comparing the brains of believers and non believers. A lot of people started viewing gays more positively when they saw reports of studies that showed physical differences in the brains of straights and gays. Those studies confirmed that a person’s sexual orientation is not a choice. I wonder if the same sort of study could show that believing is not a choice.

I do not think that belief is a choice. I am not able to believe in “God”, but I know people who claim that they do. I wonder if they really think their beliefs are real or if they are just suspending their disbelief because of their religious training. Or is there something in their brains that makes it impossible for them to not believe?

Whether or not there are physical differences, it will be beneficial for non believers to come out and band together in order to work towards the goal of having truly secular governments. The mess in the Middle East is just the worst example of what happens under theocratic rule,  but we could all benefit from less religious interference in our government.