Constitution Protects the Atheists, Too

By CHARLES M. GUTHRIE

of the editorial page staff

published by the StarTribune

March 22, 1964

   THE ATHEIST is pictured by the fervently righteous as a fellow of base instincts who wears a cynical sneer, lurks in dark alleys and is up to no good. He thinks the Golden Rule is for suckers, morality for morons and honesty for boobs.

   WHAT'S MORE, runs the theory, the atheist is a Communist and not entitled to such constitutional rights as freedom of speech and assembly, rights which he is out to destroy.
   All this is nonsense, of course, and the wonder is that so many accept it as fact. It does violence to the very democratic principles we have fought to defend. It is lunatic-fringe thought control. It says that a man cannot believe what he chooses to believe, and that while freedom is a word with a nice ring, nobody should be free to say what he thinks if what he thinks does not jibe with popular and majority opinion.
   The public must be protected against radicals, grandstanders and screwballs. If such characters are allowed to speak, their baleful influence might spread. Better play safe and gag them.
 

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  BUT  THOSE who fancy themselves as keepers of public morals and who inveigh the loudest against deviation from "right thinking" are not the kind who lead the search for the brave new world, or who score economic, political or philosophical breakthroughs. Rather than stimulate inquiry, they do their best to stifle it, thus slowing what should be man's eternal and uninterrupted quest for truth, understanding and a better tomorrow.

   Man does progress, but there are occasional regressions. In a time when immorality and crime abound, we are highly moralistic and pious in politics. The man without church affiliation is without political qualification, regardless of character and ability.

   Yet Abraham Lincoln was not a church member and neither was another president, Rutherford Hayes. And Robert G. Ingersol, a lawyer and Illinois attorney general, who established quite a reputation in politics in the post Civil War period, was an avowed agnostic.

   THE ASHBROOK amendment to the civil rights bill passed by the House is a jolting example of regression. It would sanction employment discrimination against atheists, a brash attempt by zealous do-gooders to violate the Constitution.

   The effort to equate atheism with communism is a manifestation of cold war jitters brought on by the Russian bugaboo, and it shows how a threat can be blown out of proportion by fear. The Russians are up to plenty and want to bury us. And one of their main desires must be to induce us to adopt Communist methods to fight communism, in the hysterical conviction that the end justifies the means. If that ever happens we'll be had.

   MY FATHER passed from the scene about the time our struggle with the Russians was taking shape, before communism was such a scare word. He was principal of the high school in our town, taught an adult Bible class for years and gave generously of his time and talents to the church.

   But all the atheists in the county knew him, respected him and considered him a friend. When one of them died the old pards would gather around in Charley Connor's funeral parlor and "Prof' would say a few words. He always found something kind to say, too, something praiseworthy but true.

   For, as is the case with practically everyone, there is good in atheists, too.

Copyright 2015 StarTribune. Republished here with the permission of the StarTribune. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the express approval of the StarTribune.