Yo go, Emma Thompson!

I have been an atheist for the better part of 15 years. Looking back on it I think I started out agnostic and atheism was a gradual evolution. Religion did not play a role in my upbringing, which is ironic given that my father hails from Iran and my mother from Mexico & both came from families with a good amount of religious overtones. We had the Christmas tree every year and ran around looking for Easter eggs but it was always about celebrating family vs a religious tradition.

It can be an alienating experience when you're asked about your faith and you tell people that you believe there is no supreme deity, no heaven or hell. I get perplexed stares. I suspect people want to believe that I'm rebelling against a strict religious upbringing. When I tell them I was never baptized and never attended church (minus going to weddings, funerals, and the couple of times when my mother probably felt guilty for raising a sinner and dragged me to a service), they simply can't believe it. "Are you sure?" a friend of a family member once asked. Um, pretty sure, yah.

I've learned to mind my tongue when people talk about their most recent church outing or baptizing their baby or their annual trek to the synagogue. I don't say anything when colleagues write passages from the Bible and post them in the kitchen or worse, in the bathroom stalls. I am not the slighest bit curious about their faith, nor am I keen to turn around and pitch them on the glory of atheism. Just tone down all the fervor so I can nuke my bagel in peace, please.

So I was super excited when I came across an interview that Emma Thompson did and the subject of religion came up. She is not only an atheist, she is anti-religioius, which takes it to the step I always tacitly avoid. She remarked, "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur'an, and I refute them."

Preach it, girl! : )