The Day that Atheism Got Cringe
Remembering the fall of the New Atheists
Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which every one in himself calleth religion.
- Thomas Hobbes
In college, I embodied an archetype of male English major since extinct: arrogant, unapologetic. Assured of the inevitability of my success. On top of the world with this precious pre-phone preconception, I even started a semi-weekly college newspaper with intentionally provocative headlines about campus news. The Rambler ran for a total of four, possibly five, issues. To build a readership, I printed fifty copies of the debut at the library and tossed these stapled diatribes across the college’s cafeteria tables right before dinner.
In the first issue, I targeted an on-campus club dedicated to atheism. I asked if these students champion a belief in nothing, what, exactly, is the belief that gets them to all come together? How do the people who believe in nothing find some common belief?
The next day, I received a formidable clapback from the founder of the college atheist club in my inbox. He described in haunted passages how his escape from Christian fundamentalism destroyed his relationship with his family. He explained why a club for atheists was a sanctuary for the freshly faithless. The founder of the college atheist club lambasted my ignorance on the damages done by organized religion and called The Rambler, only one issue into publication, “a rag.”
The founder of the college atheist club challenged me to print his counterpoint in the next issue. I did. I think we were the only people who read it.