The Columbus Dispatch Profiles Cassandra

Hat-tip to Brent: the Columbus Dispatch runs a positive article about atheism, profiling four different atheists living in the Columbus area, including Cassandra.

Cassandra Cox, 28, of Gahanna, grew up in a military family, spending much of her earlier life in Virginia.

(…)

Cox — who spends some time blogging on her Web site http://www.theatheistmama.com — said she and her husband, Robert, will give their children, now 4 and 2, a Bible to study when they get older. But they also will have companion books of mythology, she said.

“We’re not going to tell them they can’t believe in it (God),” Cox said. “We’re going to allow them to go to church with their friends, as usually happens with kids. We’re not going to say there’s anything wrong with it, but we’re going to tell them what we believe and why.”

It’s not particularly difficult to write a story about atheists without demonizing anyone, or portraying atheists as firebrand anti-Christians who like China’s policy on religion.

Amanda Warner, who lives on the East Side and runs a tutoring center in Granville, said being an atheist doesn’t cause friction with her family or friends.

“I have friends who are very Christian, and they are fine with it,” she said.

Warner, 23, said she attended a United Methodist church growing up. She wasn’t angry at religion, she said, but as she grew older, she concluded there just wasn’t enough evidence to convince her there is a god.

With today’s politicians courting religious constituencies so heavily, Warner said she sometimes feels ignored.

“I think we’re almost like a group no one wants to appeal to,” she said. “I think they’re scared of us, and I can’t figure out why.”

Unlike Amanda Warner, I think there’s a clear reason why politicos don’t like appealing to atheists: because they’re afraid of being left of mainstream.

Democratic politicians have this idea that if they don’t pretend to espouse medieval values, they won’t be elected, and then, on the off chance that they win anyway, decide that if they don’t legislate said medieval values, they won’t be reelected. Then, Democratic activists find excuses why the Democratic politicians are right to throw the entire liberal agenda out in search of an elusive victory, and tell liberals that if they don’t shut up, the conservative bogeyman will come get them.

The article actually gets the number of non-believers in the US wrong. In 2001, it was 15%, and it’s trending up sharply (it was 8% in 1990); right now it’s likely around 18%, meaning that there are more non-religious people in the US than blacks or Hispanics or non-Christian religious people.