By Jane Lampman, Staff writer of
The Christian Science Monitor
Thu Jan 4, 3:00 AM ET

"For some time, the religious right has decried "secular humanism," a
philosophy that rejects the supernatural or spiritual as a basis for
moral decisionmaking. But now, nonbelievers are vigorously fighting
back.

Only a small percentage of Americans admit to being nontheists
(between 2 and 9 percent, depending on the poll), but that equates to
many millions. And religionists' role in debates over stem-cell
research and evolution vs. intelligent design - as well as radical
religion in world conflicts - have galvanized some atheists to mount a
counteroffensive.

In bestselling books, on websites, and with a national lobbying
effort, atheists and other nontheists are challenging the growing
religious influence in government and public life. Some are attacking
the foundations of religion itself.

Two particularly provocative books, in fact, hit the top of Publishers
Weekly's religion bestseller list in December. No. 1, "The God
Delusion," by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, and No. 2,
"Letter to a Christian Nation," by writer Sam Harris, are
no-holds-barred, antireligion polemics that call for the eradication
of all manifestations of faith.

"I am attacking God, all gods, anything and everything supernatural,
wherever and whenever they have been or will be invented," declares
Dr. Dawkins, the famed Oxford professor who wrote "The Selfish Gene."

These offerings are so intolerant of religion of any kind - liberal,
moderate, or fundamentalist - that some scientists and secularists
have critiqued their peers for oversimplification and for a secular
fundamentalism.

"They undermine their own case by writing in a language that suffers
from many things they say are true of believers - intolerance,
disrespect, extremism," says Alan Wolfe, a professor of religion at
Boston College, who is a secularist and author of several books on
American religious perspectives.

Yet the authors are anything but modest about their efforts to
supplant faith with pure scientific rationality. While critics point
out that religion is a genuine reflection of people's experience and
will always exist, Mr. Harris suggests it could be equated with
slavery, which once was widely acceptable, but eventually was looked
upon with horror. He sees it as responsible for many of life's
tragedies.

Harris first hit the bestseller bull's-eye in 2004 with "The End of
Faith," and he says the responses to that book, particularly those
from Christians, spurred his latest epistle.

A mere 96 pages, "Letter" may be dismissed by many for its
condescending tone or overheated rhetoric. Yet its bold arguments
offer a useful window into nontheist perspectives and could also
startle some complacent religionists into a rethinking and refining of
perceptions.

Many nontheists don't share this militant perspective, but have
decided that keeping silent in religious America no longer makes
sense. They are astonished that a majority of Americans question
evolution and support teaching intelligent design in the science
classroom. They are distressed over polls that show that at least half
of Americans are unwilling to vote for an atheist despite the
Constitution's requirement that there be no religious test for public
office. And they contend that in recent years, Congress has passed
bills and the president has issued executive orders that have
privileged religion in inappropriate and unconstitutional ways.

As a result, seven organizations of nontheists - including atheists,
freethinkers, humanists, and agnostics - began the Secular Coalition
for America (SCA), a lobby seeking to increase the visibility and
respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in the United States.

"In some parts of the country, children are ostracized if someone
finds out their families are atheists," says Lori Lipman Brown, SCA
director. "We need to educate the public that people who don't have a
god belief can be good neighbors and friends and moral and ethical
people."

They also intend to stand up vigorously for their rights. "Some people
want to go back to a time when religion was imposed, such as official
prayer in public schools," she adds. "For someone to say they can't
practice their religion appropriately if all schoolchildren are not
required to recite a public prayer is very disturbing."

The SCA intends to lobby the new Congress to override a presidential
veto on stem-cell research and to repeal land-use legislation and
other laws seen as "privileging one religion over other religions or
over those who don't follow religion."

Still, the group makes clear on its website that while it promotes
reason and science as the bases for policymaking, it also supports
religious tolerance.

"I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing differently than I
believe, as long as they don't impose their religion on me or my
government," says Ms. Brown, a former Nevada state senator.

To spotlight the prejudice against atheists holding public office -
and to encourage atheists to "come out of the closet," SCA is
sponsoring a contest to identify the highest US official who
acknowledges being a nonbeliever. They expect to announce contest
results in February.

Internet-based groups are also seeking to spread the atheist message,
particularly among young adults. The Rational Response Squad (RRS) has
chosen a provocative mode using the popular website YouTube. Their
"blasphemy challenge" calls on young nonbelievers to create videos in
which they renounce belief in the "sky God of Christianity" and upload
it on the site; in return they'll receive a free documentary DVD, "The
God Who Wasn't There," which includes interviews with Dawkins, Harris,
and others. RRS is publicizing its campaign on 25 popular teen
websites.

"We wanted to strike up more of a conversation about religion, and
this was a way for people to show their nonbelief and encourage others
to come out," says Brian Sapient, RRS cofounder.

Mr. Sapient says he was raised Catholic and then a born-again
Christian, but later learned that many things he was taught were
fictional. RRS now has some 20,000 people on message boards, with
about 5,000 actively engaged in debunking religious claims, passing
out fliers, and placing DVDs in churches.

As for the blasphemy challenge, "there's about 490 response videos so
far, and 85,000 views on our trailer video," he says. Sapient
acknowledges this approach may not persuade religious youths. "There
are people with a more palatable approach to talking about religion,"
he says, "but I wonder if those people would be as effective if it
weren't for us or Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins shaking up the group a
bit."

He also insists that you don't really respect people unless you speak
up when you think their beliefs are wrong. It's OK with him, he adds,
if religious people try to convince him they are right.

Harris and Dawkins make it clear that they think faith has gotten off
too easy for too long. Their books have spurred widespread commentary,
much of it a strong critique of their arguments and lack of religious
knowledge. But in a culture immersed in combativeness in politics and
the media, the intemperate books are selling well.

Yet one critic, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, calls for a
truce: "We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last
thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance."

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Yet one critic, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, calls for a
truce: "We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last
thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance."