Greater than the Sum of Its Mass

Around four years ago, a content creator called Genetically Modified Skeptic posted a video on his fairly new YouTube channel entitled “I Came Out Atheist and This Happened.” In typical YouTube fashion, the creator, who’s real name is Drew McCoy, made a simple, to the point title in order to catch the attention of whoever might stumble on his work. His video details his personal experience as what he deems “coming out” as an atheist, and attempts to make an encouraging and open atmosphere both for those who themselves may be considering coming out as atheist, and those who may know others who have decided to leave their faith. However, while the video itself accomplishes this goal in isolation, it reveals troubling and pervasive patterns about how faithful people interact with, perceive of, and identify atheists, one that has become ever more important to understand in the years since the video’s posting.

Of course, atheism in of itself is an important discussion. Drew must have known having the word ‘atheist’ in his title is key because he knows it is a hot button topic, and should someone casually scroll past the video, they could be immediately interested in watching, most likely for two possible reasons. First, they may simply be interested in a word that is well-known yet nebulous in functional definition. Be it an atheist themselves, someone who knows someone who is an atheist, or someone who’s heard the word but also heard a lot of conflicting ideas alongside, the video is telling a potential viewer that it will give them some personal perspective. This is what the title suggests, and ultimately what Drew says his goal was at the end of the video. After all, atheism, with all its different flavors and myths surrounding it, is in dire need of proper definition. The joke is to say that atheism, by definition, is undefinable, since a main tenet is to be separate from organized religion. But beyond this, there has been not only a wide range of confusion but deliberate cloudification around the atheist in recent years by those that’d rather see the practice as falling astray. This would be the second prime demographic, those who wish to watch purely for the sake of watching their villains. Atheists are often accosted for their worldview by theists, most commonly those of Christian faith, and these degradations have only become louder and more dehumanizing in public spheres as atheism becomes more mainstream (though that notion in itself is somewhat orchestrated, something to touch on later). As such, simply the mention of atheism is a beacon sure to attract a slew of viewers indulging in hate watching. In either case, having the word atheism in the title isn’t just truthful, but also excellent marketing. Maybe a bit clickbaity, but the word atheists has garnered that status as one of those words sure to draw a viewership.

This is indicative of the strange place atheism holds in modern society. Historically, atheism was unheard of not because it didn’t exist, but because its existence was silenced (a parallel with LGBTQ+ people in history explaining why Drew dubbed the experience as ‘coming out’). Much of early philosophy is based around arguments for God not because every philosopher was a true believer, but because the religious rules at the time were enforceable by death. This was essentially the situation up until the Enlightenment, at which point reliance on religion in all aspects of life began to wane, a trend that continued all the way to the modern day, where the freedom of religion has been thought to include the freedom of no religion. Of course (speaking strictly in America), there was always the implicit assumption that everyone was on some level Christian, what with references to God and faith in common lexicon, popular culture, and governmental code. But religion was more or less a private, personal thing for much of the 20th century, and day-to-day life was mostly left religionless, and it was simple to go through the motions of the Christian-influenced society. The shift came with the simultaneous rise in terrorism from islamic-indentifying groups, growth in nativiist white-sumpreacy sentiiments, and the co-opting of christianity by the politicians of the right wing. Atheism went from being slightly drowned in blissful ignorance to being barely tolerated in national debates. Once religion entered politics, atheism became taboo for either side of the aisle. Recent polling showed that in general Americans were less likely to vote for an atheist president than most other minority groups, with little variance by political alignment. Added with the right-wing rhetoric that implies straying from the Christian god is corrupting the American identity and leading the nation towards Biblical ramifications, and atheists was become vilified to a point where, if the rumors about us were true, then the screaming mods would have every right to be terrified. We are in a time where it’s better to pray to a ‘false’ god or gods than to not pray at all.

This has led to many stories like the one Drew tells in his video. He was raised in a Fundmanetlaist Christian church, grew up with religious family and friends, and then deconstructed his faith and eventually came out to those who were still religious. When he was, as some would say, losing his religion, he was making logical considerations and conclusions on his own, a process he talks about in a different video. He was not swayed by Lucifer or came to reject God out of hatred of him or to get away with self-indulgence. It was through thought processes and self-examination that he came to his beliefs. Religion is not set in stone, but a fluid way of viewing the world, unique to every single follower. When he comes out to people, he comes out not because he wants to change their minds, but simply because he loves them and wants to be accepted as himself. He is not playing Devil’s advocate, he’s just being human. And most of the people Drew told were, understandably confused and somewhat sad (another point to touch on a bit later), but still loving Drew. He says that one friend said something along the lines of his love of Drew was not from his Christianity, but who he was as an individual. If there’s one thing religious organizations are incredible at, it’s providing community. But everyone in that community is going to have their own slightly tweaked ideas of what that religion means, so really the ‘religion’ is just the circumstance, the reason for people to make connections with each other and form a community. Drew’s religion, that of no religion, despite being vastly different from the religions of the community he grew up with, can be looked over for the sake of seeing him as an individual. This, Drew argues, is a redeeming hope for atheists. He believed he’d essentially lost his life, a life that was so intimately interwoven with his previous faith. It was his connections with individuals, in essence, that saved his life, regardless of his beliefs.

However, in the past few years, this narrative has become increasingly naive. A person’s religion, especially those of Christianity, have made their beliefs a major part of their social and political identity. What’s more, people have been more openly identifying with their religious community, a trend inherently harmless, but worrisome due to the increased religious rhetoric in politics, and the reciprocal effect of politics on religion. Now, religious communities are more centered on the religion, less on the individuals that make up the whole, and a twisted religion at that where the focus isn’t on individual virtue but the saving of a nation in perceived peril. The focus is on the success and strengthening of the group. People are fear mongered into staying, for fear that not being in the group means courting the Devil. And for those who want to leave, they are shamed and demonized. They accuse those of different forms of Christianity of committing horrible atrocities and planning for the damnation of the soul of the nation, and for atheists, they believe we ought to be reeducated or made examples of. There’s not even a boogeyman possessing us to do his bidding, we, the human individuals, we are the Devil.