Letter to Governor Daniels

Late last year, my Governor made some comments in an interview which I feel were way off base, and today I wrote to him about it. The email form would only contain about a paragraph, so he’s going to get a real-live printed letter in the mail! I don’t hate the guy (although many of my fellow Hoosiers do), but I needed to set the record straight on a few of his remarks.

Dear Governor Daniels,

First of all, I would like to thank you for your service to our great state of Indiana. I have found your governorship to be financially prudent and I applaud your efforts in bringing new technologies and businesses to our state. Despite my liberal leanings, I voted for you in the last election, and in a strange turn of events, have found myself in the position of defending your actions to more conservative family and friends! (Who knew that the time change would continue to be such a big deal to some?)

However, I feel compelled to write to you about certain statements you made in an interview in December of 2009 concerning your faith, and atheism.

It is not my place to question your faith or try to convince you to believe other than you do; the myth of the "aggressive atheist" persists, but it is unlikely that you will find an atheist knocking on your door trying to "convert" you. I do take exception to some of your comments, however.

"Our country was founded—this is just an historic fact; some people today may resist this notion but it is absolutely true—it was founded by people of faith. It was founded on principles of faith. The whole idea of equality of men and women [and] of the races all springs from the notion that we're all children of a just God. It is very important to at least my notion of what America's about and should be about and I hope it's reflected most of the time in the choices that we make personally."

That is not true. Thomas Jefferson and other framers of our nation were Deists. Although they believed in a higher power, they believed that humankind's future was in its own hands; they were far from devout and practicing Christians. In fact, George Washington stopped attending church when his minister took him to task for not taking communion. They took great pains to ensure that our Constitution was worded in such a way that there was a clear separation of church and state. They realized that just as religion needed to be protected from control by the government, our government needed to be protected from religion.

"People who reject the idea of a God—who think that we’re just accidental protoplasm—have always been with us. What bothers me is the implications—which not all such folks have thought through—because really, if we are just accidental, if this life is all there is, if there is no eternal standard of right and wrong, then all that matters is power."

I assure you that most of us do not believe that we are "accidental protoplasm." We are a beautiful and amazing product of nature, and I find that divine in itself. The fact that humans have achieved what we have after millennia of development is astounding and to be treasured! I can also assure you that most of us have thought this through quite thoroughly, and many of us have struggled with coming to terms with what we do and do not believe. At times, we have dealt with derision from family members and friends, or have experienced discrimination in the workplace. For most of us, it is not an easy pathway to take, and it has come only through years of introspection and doubt and struggle.

Your statement that if this life is all there is, there is no eternal standard of right and wrong, and all that matters is power. is completely contrary to how most of us feel. While this life may be all there is, it doesn't mean that there is no standard of right and wrong; it is simply the right thing to do morally for the good of all. My actions are not predicated on any sort of wish for power; I try to be a good person because I feel that it is good to help my fellow human beings. I choose to not commit crimes not because of the threat of eternal damnation, but because it would be harmful to humanity and to the greater good. Many of us are able to do good without the threat of hellfire and brimstone; many of us think it's just the right way to behave.

"And atheism leads to brutality. All the horrific crimes of the last century were committed by atheists—Stalin and Hitler and Mao and so forth—because it flows very naturally from an idea that there is no judgment and there is nothing other than the brief time we spend on this Earth."

This is also completely false, in many ways. Hitler was raised as a Catholic, and the Nazi party was deeply based in religion. To call Hitler or the Nazis atheists is to be completely ignorant of that period of history. You will also find that religion has generated some of the most vile and bloody conflicts in history, whether the Inquisition, the Crusades, or the Salem witch trials. Atheism is the absence of worship of any deity, and there is no bloody agenda there designed to convert others. That is obviously not the case with religion; the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East bear that out. If you feel that the same doesn't hold true for Christianity, I would remind you of the conflicts in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants.

"Everyone’s certainly entitled in our country to equal treatment regardless of their opinion. But yes, I think that folks who believe they’ve come to that opinion ought to think very carefully, first of all, about how different it is from the American tradition; how it leads to a very different set of outcomes in the real world."

As I stated earlier, I and others have certainly thought very carefully. The American tradition as I see it states that we are all free to believe or not believe as we see fit. You state that we are all entitled to equal treatment regardless of our opinions; and yet you follow that with a "but." There is no "but." You caution that nonbelievers should think about the outcomes in the real world. I would caution you to look, honestly, at the results of religion in the world before condemning nonbelievers as the cause of all the ills and hatred in the world. You are not a stupid man; if you take the time to investigate beyond what your faith dictates to you, you might be surprised at what you find.

I also hope that you will remember the First Amendment and understand that you insulted a significant portion of your constituency; approximately 15% say that they identify with no religion. Those of us who choose no such affiliation are not necessarily amoral or "bad." It might surprise you to know that some of us are truly good for goodness's sake.