“Why I am An Atheist” : The Freedom to Atheism

Charles Chilton Moore, a notable American atheist, founded the newspaper Blue Grass Blade in Lexington, Kentucky, 1884. The paper was known to promote forms of atheist activism, including criticisms of religion, mainly Christianity. Naturally, this was not popular subject matter, especially in Southern United States. They were dubbed as a “radical thinking” paper. Blue Grass Blade faced many financial and legality issues because of its unpopular covering of topics such as, of course, atheism, agnosticism, women’s suffrage, and many more controversial topics of the time. Moore, the founder and editor, eventually even spent time in prison for blasphemy. Despite the prejudice and silencing, the newspaper knew the importance in advocating for individuals’ first amendment rights. In 1903, they requested their readers submit personal letters expressing how and why they became atheist. Blue Grass Blade’s title of “Why I am An Atheist” provided the space for both community and freedom of expression to atheists across the nation. 

The atheist activism movement is centered around the support for equality, and freedom of thought and expression. Paul Fidalgo from the Center for Inquiry perfectly explains the movement saying “[it] is about lessening the power of religion, superstition, and credulous thinking because we want to live in a world that maximizes human happiness, morality, freedom of thought and expression, and equality. [Atheism and skepticism] are not, in and of themselves, worthy of a movement. But we pursue these goals because we know they will bring about a society in which we are more free and equal, and in turn we will be more fulfilled and enriched as a result,” (Roth, 2012). Especially in 1903, revealing that you explicitly did not believe in God in a community built upon that faith would be faced with countless amounts of harassment. If it weren’t for this opportunity to write and share their beliefs, they would have continued to sit in silence. One example of the many letters was one written by Minerva Ola “Minnie” Parrish, 23 year old recently divorced mother of four children. She was known to be one of the first female practicing doctors in Northern Texas. Her letter of note, “Why I am An Atheist,” presents common atheistic ideologies of belief in science over faith and liberalism. Parrish explicitly writes, “It is ignorance of the scientific working of their own natures and mind that keep so much ‘mystery’ in the air,” claiming that faith is simply a lack of scientific understanding (Usher, 2017). Most of what religious folk dub as “divine” or “supernatural” are, in reality, naturally occuring in our world and can be explained through scientific fact. Her letter earlier explains, “Everything that so many people think transpires from the supernatural, and many things that would really perplex the average mind, have natural and material foundation in the workings of the human mind,” (Usher, 2017). This belief in supporting claims with scientific explanations rather than ones from scripture very much represents atheistic approaches to daily life. 

Branching off the lack of reliance on religious explanations, Parrish describes her undependability in the Bible’s teachings, “I am an Atheist because I know the Bible will not do to depend upon. I have tried it, and found it wanting,” (Usher, 2017). To her and other atheists, following the Bible isn’t a plausible thing to do. Earlier in the piece, Minnie Parrish explains, “I cannot accept a salvation that is based wholly upon the dreams of an ancient and superstitious people,” emphasis on “ancient,” (Usher, 2017). Seeing the Bible to be made up of old ideologies that go against more current strives for progres, her following of liberalism is presented. She later says, “I found in the scriptures the origin of women’s slayer,” claiming that the oppression of women is embedded in the religion and is a reason for its existence in society today and throughout history. The line, “I am in the ranks of Liberalism because of its elevating principles, it’s broad road to freedom of thought, speech, and investigation,” as well, adds to both her personal ideologies and those at the core of atheism: feminism and freedom of speech and expression. To reiterate an earlier point, the difficulty in 1903 was the common prejudice against the idea of rejecting religion, specifically rejection of the belief in God. Many submitters of Blue Grass Blade’s title “Why I am An Atheist” even wrote under pseudonyms in order to protect themselves against harassment and disapproval from family and colleagues (Lawson, 2011). Through this, they were able to speak their truths, despite being under aliases.

Not only did Blue Grass Blade’s act of asking for reader submitted letters provide the space to freely express their atheistic beliefs, but it created a sense of community and unification amongst American atheists. Living in hyper religious communities and likeliness of judgment, opportunities like this were difficult to come by. One of Blue Grass Blade’s central goals was advocacy for first amendment rights. As stressed before, this opportunity provided a space for freedom of speech, expression, and thought.

References

Usher, S. (2017). More letters of note. Canongate Books. 

Lawson, T. (2011). Letters from an atheist nation: Godless voices of america in 1903. Thomas Lawson. 

Sparks, J. (2009). Kentucky’s most hated man: Charles Chilton Moore and the Blue Grass Blade. Wind Publications.

Lee, A. Why I am an atheist activist. Big Think. (2021, September 30). https://bigthink.com/articles/why-i-am-an-atheist-activist/ 

Activism. American Atheists. (2022, August 12). https://www.atheists.org/activism/ 

Roth, A. from Twitter (2012, August 15). Speaking out against hate directed at women: Paul Fidalgo. Skepchick. https://skepchick.org/2012/08/speaking-out-against-hate-directed-at-women-paul-fidalgo/