le véritable visage de la croyance

un sondage publié dans la revue american sociological review en avril 2006 révélait que les américains classent les athées en deçà des musulmans, des immigrants récents et des homosexuels comme groupe social "partageant leur vision de la société américaine". ce qui me laisse songeur: si d'une part je ne suis pas surpris du résultat, je me questionne à savoir si les athées américains sont l'objet des mêmes gestes discriminatoires violents.

et bien hier soir, à l'émission de paula zahn sur cnn, on présentait le fait divers suivant: un couple et leur enfant auraient été chassés d'une petite ville du mississipi après s'être plaints de la place trop grande accordée à l'étude de la bible à l'école élémentaire municipale. outre les regards mauvais, les messages téléphoniques menaçants, les graffitis, etc. le journal local a fait ses manchettes de leur athéisme "militant" et des citoyens on même harcelé l'employeur du père, l'accusant d'être responsable d'avoir accueilli des athées au sein de leur communauté. mais c'est véritablement le débat télévisé qui a suivi ce reportage qui m'a ouvert les yeux sur la haine généralisée que porte l'opinion publique américaine sur l'athéisme. en voici quelques extraits:

zahn: and welcome back. we're talking about whether there's widespread discrimination against atheists, folks who don't believe in god. let's check out with our out in the open panel now. [...] so do you think atheists should keep their religious beliefs secret? what's their beliefs period?

hunter: what does an atheist believe? nothing. i think this is such a ridiculous story. are we not going to take "in god we trust" off of our dollars? are we going to not say "one nation under god?" when does it end? we took prayer out of schools. what more do they want?

zahn: are any of you going to defend them here tonight?

schlussel: no, i agree with her 100 percent. i think that the real discrimination is atheists against americans who are religious. listen, we are a christian nation. i'm not a christian. i'm jewish, but i recognize we're a christian country and freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion. and the problem is that, you have these atheists selectively i believe attacking christianity.

smith: [...] i don't think people care too much about it. we're a christian country. there's no question about that. i love the lord. so does karen, so does everybody that i know. but the reality is that you're entitled to believe what you want as long as you're not imposing your beliefs on other people.

zahn: is that what you think they're really doing?

hunter: [...] i think they need to shut up and let people do what they do. no, i think they need to shut up about it.

smith: i don't think they need to shut up. the reason why i don't think they need to shut up is because there's a whole bunch of people in this world that we can look at and say they need to shut up and they certainly don't. you got everybody fighting for their own individual cause. this is their cause. we might not like it. i don't agree with it at all, but they do have a right.

hunter: i think they need to shut up about crying wolf all the time and saying that they're being imposed upon. i personally think that they should never have taken prayer out of schools. i would rather there be some morality in schools.

schlussel: [...] they are on the attack. it's obnoxious and they do need to shut up.

zahn: [...] what i find so interesting is when you look at the statistics, that they were the most hated of all the minorities.

smith: i'm not even willing to believe that. that's news to me. i heard that, i read that, i just don't believe it.

mais le bijoux de l'échange est le commentaire suivant:

schlussel: [...] europe is becoming islamist. it's fast falling and intolerance is increasing. that's the one reason our country has not become like europe because we have strong christians and because atheists are not strong. and i think that's a good thing.