Atheists Among Us

One of the best newspaper front pages I've ever seen appeared in the Daily Oklahoman a few years ago. A full-color photograph above the fold showed a pretty, smiling young woman with glasses and blond hair above the portentous headline, "The Face of Atheism in Oklahoma." The story, written in the style of a exposé, described an atheist club that this smiling heathen had founded at one of the local universities, and it went on to incredulously examine the murky world of unbelief that she and her minions inhabited. It was as if the reporter had uncovered a hidden race of aliens living among us, aliens who adopted our language and manners and even our appearance, but who decidedly are not humans and are just waiting for an opportunity to take over the planet.

I was reminded of that story a few weeks ago when I heard that state representative Todd Thomsen, a former University of Oklahoma (OU) football player, had introduced a resolution calling on the House to oppose a scheduled appearance by Richard Dawkins at OU. Dawkins, of course, is one of the more prominent of the current worldwide crop of God deniers and was a guiding force behind the atheist bus campaign in the UK that I discussed some time back. The resolution reads, in part:

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma is a publicly funded institution which should be open to all ideas and should train students in all disciplines of study and research and to use independent thinking and free inquiry; and

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma has planned a year-long celebration of the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of Darwin's theory of evolution, called the "Darwin 2009 Project", which includes a series of lectures, public speakers, and a course on the history of evolution; and

WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma, as a part of the Darwin 2009 Project, has invited as a public speaker on campus, Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published opinions, as represented in his 2006 book "The God Delusion", and public statements on the theory of evolution demonstrate an intolerance for cultural diversity and diversity of thinking and are views that are not shared and are not representative of the thinking of a majority of the citizens of Oklahoma; and

WHEREAS, the invitation for Richard Dawkins to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma on Friday, March 6, 2009, will only serve to present a biased philosophy on the theory of evolution to the exclusion of all other divergent considerations rather than teaching a scientific concept.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:

THAT the Oklahoma House of Representative strongly opposes the invitation to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma to Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma.

THAT the Oklahoma House of Representatives encourages the University of Oklahoma to engage in an open, dignified, and fair discussion of the Darwinian theory of evolution and all other scientific theories which is the approach that a public institution should be engaged in and which represents the desire and interest of the citizens of Oklahoma.

Regardless of your feelings about the whole God thing, the above cannot be otherwise than chilling to anyone with even a passing respect for the principles of democracy and free speech. Denying somebody the chance to speak because his views "are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma"? I don't know what they're teaching OU football players in their civics courses, but clearly Rep. Thomsen has an underdeveloped sense of what liberal democracies are supposed to be doing: you know, things like protecting the views of minorities, not permitting governments to interfere with people's religious practices or beliefs, and other little things that help to ensure the free interchange of ideas. Perhaps the university isn't the ideal forum for such a free interchange of ideas but - oh wait - yes it is.

It's easy to poke fun at small-minded knuckledraggers like Thomsen, and plenty of people have already done so. It's also easy to get angry on learning that after Dawkins did, indeed, give his speech at OU, the OK legislature launched an investigation into the speech and the circumstances surrounding it. It's also easy to shake your head and go tut-tut when I tell you that I've been in OK for several days now and have heard almost no public outrage or even discussion of the issue - it's mostly bloggers outside the state who have dogpiled on Thomsen, while everyone around here seems either oblivious or indifferent to the (to me) rather grave matter of a state government attempting to regulate religious discussion.

But my purpose today is rather different. I recognize that I'm sometimes a little harsh on my home state, and I haven't exactly been doing all I could to challenge certain stereotypes about the bible-humping hicks amongst whom I grew up. In the interests of being a better cultural ambassador, therefore, I'd like to draw your attention to two things. The first is that, just before Thomsen began trying to legislate away religious freedom, the OK Senate narrowly defeated a bill that would have allowed (but not mandated) the teaching of alternative theories of creation/evolution - that is, a bill that would have allowed state schoolteachers to teach Genesis in their science classes. This seems to me rather significant. The second thing I'd like to do is to show you this video of Dawkins' speech at OU, with the purpose not so much of letting you hear Dawkins himself (though his response to his persecutors is quite amusing) but rather of letting you witness the rapturous reception he received in the packed auditorium.

This state may be ruled by a bunch of petty ayatollahs, but I hope it's clear here that there are still plenty of folks around here who refuse to conform to the reigning idiocy. Both of my parents report feeling a lot more embattled, relative freethinkers that they are, in recent years by the forces of willful ignorance that dominate this place, and there's definitely a new shrillness creeping into the conservative ethos of the state that wasn't really there when I was growing up. But as long as some atheists continue to walk amongst us, and as long as they're able to listen to one another and talk to one another and form clubs (even at the risk of legislative and media harassment), all is not quite lost.