IF ONLY...

As an atheist, I am a bit vexed that they opened the Democratic National Convention with The Battle Hymn of the Republic sung by a church choir. This was followed up by The Pledge of Allegiance with the magical thinking "under god" lyric. Sadly the separation of church and state is not in full effect and probably never will be. To people like me it seems as weird as if we had a witch doctor dance out and bless the lecterns. And there are sure to be lots more "God bless America" pronouncements. What I think is most unfortunate is that, like being gay years ago, atheists are not permitted to admit their beliefs. They are so unwelcome in fact, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was going to "out" Bernie Sanders as an atheist in order to discredit him with evangelicals. I would feel that I was on a losing team if it weren't for The Freedom from Religion Foundation and their monthly newsletter Freethought Today, which I highly recommend to all to all non-superstitious persons.