Christian Nation/atheists truly believe in God deep down? Of course not

I hear Christians state “In God We Trust” is in our national motto and we adopted it because Christian men and women founded this nation, along with Christian principles. This, is a gross oversimplification. There is not one right in our Bill of Rights that is found in the bible. No right against unlawful searches, no freedom of speech and definitely no free exercise of religion. Indeed, the bible gives harsh punishment for those who don’t worship the “right deity.” We are a nation founded upon the ideals of the Enlightenment by children of the Enlightenment such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Ethan Allen and others who often were not Christian but deist, although there were certainly Christians among the Founders. Indeed, Ethan Allen who did not share one doctrinal belief of Christianity led Americans to one of their early victories in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. The treaty of Tripoli, approved without dissent in the US Senate under the first Adams administration stated the United States government wasn’t “founded in any way upon the Christian religion.” Yes, we are majority Christian but our government and its’ principles are secular.


Atheists believe in God?

I hear some people state that atheists truly believe in God, deep down. . As an atheist I never understood this. Atheists don’t doubt there are sincere people who believe in God. Of course there are, their statements and actions support that such a belief actually exists. After all no one doubts Muslims believe in Allah, and capitalists believe in capitalism. But atheists are all liars or deceiving themselves. Go figure. Atheists don’t take action against church/state issues because they want attention, the vast majority of atheists will never file such a lawsuit in their lives though they may support them, but because they believe that the government shouldn’t’ support or endorse religion. Atheists as a rule along with many theists believe in neutrality. Government shouldn’t support the idea that a God exists or not, let the marketplace of ideas debate the idea out. Now, to the point by Mr. Wiggins that we need religion to be taught in schools so that we can curb the rate of crime; a 1997 Federal Bureau of Prisons showed .209% of inmates identifying as atheists, or 156 out of 74, 341. Even if we include those who might have identified themselves as agnostics or humanists it is doubtful if that number reaches more then 1% total, if that. While non-believers are only a minority of Americans that is still a tiny fraction of their population in the general population. The fact is that we are the most religious of the developed Western democracies. More so then Germany, Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and even Spain and Italy. All of those nations have higher rates of atheism and non-belief then the U.S. but all conversely have lower rates of violent crime per capita as compared to us. So, it is not as simple as teaching religion in public schools that will make crime and immoral behavior disappear or decrease. I do not believe religion is a cause of crime among individuals but that larger social-economic problems overwhelm certain communities in America which create such negative consequences. Children need good fathers as role models, especially boys. Gangs are an unfortunate and depressing alternative that children often turn to instead. Teaching moral principles are a good thing and I do not oppose such actions in public schools but morality doesn’t need an appeal to a religious authority or a deity. Morality is universal. Even if a God exists then morality would still be dependent on not harming one’s fellow man or woman. This is what we should and must teach in public schools that must serve all Americans, believers and non-believers.