Recently, I was watching a online panel discussion on atheism when one of the participants cited a statistic from a survey that I found to be very disturbing. According to the American Psychological Association, atheists are perceived to be less trustworthy than rapists. Really? I'm tempted to do my best John McEnroe impression: "You CANNOT be serious!" Let's start by acknowledging a simple fact: any harm that may come from atheism would be largely self-inflicted. If anyone suffers from atheism, it is first, and foremost, the atheist. Atheism simply means that one does not believe in any sort of supernatural God. Period. Rape, on the other hand, is violent and evil--the pernicious act of a predator. By its definition, another person is harmed. In short, there really  is no comparison between rape and atheism. None. Whether or not the poll was accurate is not important. The question is, how could anybody even think someone's beliefs, or in this case, their personal non-belief in God, is worse than a vicious sexual assault on another human being? Would you rather your daughter's friend confide that he doesn't belief in her God, or that he brutally raped her? Having a daughter, it's easy for me to answer that question. I know my daughter is not easily influenced by the thoughts and words of other people--God only knows, she heard enough of my words of advice that went into one ear and right out the other. The words of her friend would not affect my daughter's personal belief in a supernatural God, which happens to be quite strong. I know … [Read more...]