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The Importance Of Atheism In America

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In the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, one of the five freedoms people have in America is the freedom to practice any religion. Anyone living in America can believe in whatever they desire, and practice religion without persecution. However, it seems that we have “freedom of religion” but we do not have “freedom from religion”. What I mean by this, is that one cannot be nonreligious without being discriminated by the public. Although there are religions that are looked down upon, the one religion that is a taboo in society is no religion at all; atheism. There are no laws that discriminate atheist people, like there were on gay people in the past. However, just because there is no law that discriminates atheists does not mean that …show more content…

In fact, it took a lot of persuading to convince the University of Miami to use the word “atheism” in the chair. Appignani would not donate the money if the word “atheism” was not the name of the chair (Goodstein). Some people may say that atheism or nonreligion is not a legitimate study of academics or religion. They may dismiss it as unimportant. However, the percentage of Americans who claim to be either unaffiliated with religion has increased sharply in a short period of time (Lipka). As of 2014, non religious people made up 23% of the American adult population, compared to the 16% in 2007. Mostly millennials make up this group, 35% of the 23% are millennials. Millennials are the ones going to college to study. If the population of nonreligion is increasing, does it not make sense for their to be a study of it like any other religion? Though the number of atheists and agnostics that make up this 23% only amount to 7%, that is a 3% increase from 2007. A chair for atheism is a good start for breaking the discrimination against this minority group. There are no laws against being atheist, though it is very shunned by society. There is much discrimination against atheists. The first two stories are only two of many instances of prejudice against atheists. The last story, however; shows that the prejudice is just starting to melt away. Atheists still have a long way to go to be truly be accepted in society. The discrimination must come to a close eventually, no matter how long it takes. Over time, if people are aware of the view atheists have, and see that they are not harmful, immoral people, maybe some of the discrimination will slowly

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