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Dec. 26, 2005 Last week, the son of Indianapolis Colts’ coach Tony Dungy apparently committed suicide at the age of 18. A few days before, a federal judge ruled that Intelligent Design (ID) was old-school creationism in disguise, and barred the Dover, PA school district from teaching it in science classes. On the surface, these two stories appear unrelated, but they share a popular – albeit disturbing – conceit. Let me explain. Let’s start with Dover schools. The judge ripped the board members of the school district, saying they demonstrated “breathtaking inanity” by trying to force ID on its students in the guise of science. “The students, parents and teachers … deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources,” said Judge John E. Jones. He also accused the board of being deceptive and evasive on the witness stand and more than once implied that they committed outright perjury. No mincing words from this guy. But then he slipped: “It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.” Why, I wonder, is this immoral behavior “ironic”? It is not ironic at all, unless, deep down, you equate being religious with being moral. The judge was spot on in every other way with regard to his 139-page decision, and yet, with this one sentence, fell prey to an ancient and absurd generalization: that being religious automatically reserves a seat for you at the Table of Righteousness. The death of Tony Dungy’s son points up another long-held prejudice against the non-religious. Before I begin, I must say that none of what’s bothered me about this story has anything to do with Mr. Dungy, his family, or what he is going through. As a parent with two children, I cannot imagine anything worse than having to bury your own child, and I sincerely wish Tony and his family well during this horrific period in their lives. What has bothered me is the media’s incessant harping about Tony Dungy’s faith and how that faith will get him through. I have no doubt that his faith is sincere. I also have no doubt that it will help him deal with this tragedy. What I find offensive is the implicit declaration that those without faith would somehow be handicapped in a similar situation. Once again, a ridiculous canard is trotted out and swallowed whole by a credulous public: those with faith can endure painful hardships; those without cannot. I have never lost a child, so I cannot say for sure how I would deal with it. Whereas a religious person might fall back on his faith and find comfort in the possibility of reuniting with his loved one in an afterlife, I suspect I would find comfort in the memories I was already carrying with me. I have no illusions about what lies after death, and even if I did, I doubt that they would help me much. Knowing that someday I may reunite with a loved one in some alternate reality would do little to heal the pain I was feeling in the here and now. But the point is, I would deal with it somehow, and I would survive, just as millions of non-religious Americans do every day. To suggest that it takes faith in the supernatural to overcome life’s most painful moments is neither fair nor accurate. Contrary to popular perception, there are plenty of atheists and theists alike in those metaphorical foxholes. I’m sure Tony Dungy is every bit as generous and kind as people describe him. But his faith does not elevate him to a special perch. When it comes to the death of a loved one, we are all on common ground. We grieve and we overcome that grief the best we can. Faith, or the lack thereof, is irrelevant, just as irrelevant as it is to the question of morality. One can be a moral person without faith in the supernatural, and the questionable dealings of Jimmy Swaggart, Tom Delay, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Kenneth Lay, President Bush and countless other born-again Christians – not to mention the actions of Muslim fundamentalists – should be enough to convince us that (faith = moral behavior) is just as absurd a generalization as (faith = strength of character). One day these truths will be self-evident. Until then, non-religious Americans will continue to be relegated to second-class status. ------------ About the author: David Gleeson is an aerospace engineer and skeptic of all things supernatural. He maintains a website of opinion pieces at: http://homepage.mac.com/coskeptic/blog/index.html Email: coskeptic@mac.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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