The Out Campaign

The Out Campaign is a campaign to let the world know you are an atheist. It is meant to give a sense of belonging and community and I feel it is a very important campaign.

Part of their stated goals are as follows:

The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.

Atheists are often viewed as mean, narrow minded, immoral, and a slew of other negative things. It is felt that without a divine baby sitter all that is left is the rotten core of human nature.

This truly lays bare the true nature of religion: human nature is bad and it needs strong-armed guidance and direction. Man can't be trusted to do be moralistic and just without a divine judge to dictate what is right and wrong.

It is stifling and limiting to think in such a manner. One can't help but wonder if religious followers find themselves wallowing in fear of their neighbors and friends because some of them may not believe! What a sad state to be in that you'd shun your fellow man in favor of a sadistic sky lord to help you out.

The Out Campaign speaks volumes. It is more than simply atheists being open. It is about human spirit, ingenuity, and compassion. It is about sympathy and empathy with your fellow man and it is about joining together for the common good.

Atheists realize that man is responsible for his own faults, failures, and deeds. Man must ultimately answer to future generations and historical scrutiny of his deeds. Most will fade away and never be heard from again; a few will spark such strong revolutions that they'll forever be remembered as long as the human species goes on.

With many religions man is given a free pass as long as he seeks salvation. What a disgusting and shallow view on justice. True salvation is when you free yourself from the shackles of narrow-minded bigotry and see the big picture; it is when you hope the best for all of mankind and wish to seek to help in any way possible.

No deeds of men will go unnoticed, for it is that measure that they will be ultimately judged by their fellow man. The Out Campaign may very well go down as an important, pivotal point in which atheists finally stood up to be counted and finally told the world that enough was enough; it is time to move from the Age of Faith, and into a new Age of Reason. That it is time to move beyond hollow threats of eternal judgment and into a time where we are all held individually responsible for our actions.

That time is now. I ask any atheists to put the Out Campaign scarlet A onto their website and to be counted. It is imperative to take a stand and I can't think of a simpler way than to simply show yourself in the open. It is an important first step.