Greta Christina, in a recent Op-Ed for Free Inquiry magazine asked this question “What Would Happen If We All Came Out?”
It is a great little article, do read it. She suggests that at very least all of us non-believers of varying stripes should all come out to just one person. She acknowledges how tough it is sometimes to “come out” as a non-believer or even as someone who merely questions the status quo of belief.
I live in the top of the Conservative American South, just below the Ohio River in rural West Kentucky where to use Christina’s terms either “overt or de facto theocracy” rules the culture down here.
It sure does.
I can’t count all the times I’ve heard a student, member of our secular group, good friend, or even casual acquaintance mention how difficult it is or was coming out or daring to question the hardcore beliefs of the Baptists, Church of Christ, or Pentecostal Conservatives down here.
Whether overt or defacto, it is formidable; blatant or subtle, its there.
But times are a-changing.
I too wrote a whole blog some months ago on “coming out” and suggested we might see the poll numbers of roughly 25% “nones” jump to 30? 40? 50%? of the American population: folks that really don’t buy into Xian beliefs but are still under the thumb of a “de facto” theocratic culture where they live and accordingly keep their mouths shut and don’t come out.
For those of you in that situation, Greta has written an entire book on the subject:
If you can’t jump out of the closet full-blown as a non-believer just yet, let’s take her advice and try to open up to just one person, just one.
Sage advice.
Glinda said it best decades ago:
“Come out, Come out, Wherever you are!“
(753)
