More atheists than Hawaiians, and other surprising facts

Who They Are, What They Are
 

            Call them atheists, agnostics or whatever, unbelievers have some traits in common. For one thing, they’re a minority group -- but a big one.

            Ten to fifteen percent of all adult Americans have no religion.[1] That’s at least 24 million people.[2] Non-religious Americans outnumber American Methodists or Lutherans or Presbyterians. Among American religious groups, only the Baptists and Roman Catholics have more adherents.[3]

            But not everyone who has no religion goes so far as to call himself or herself an atheist. Self-declared atheists account for less than two percent of the American population, and agnostics are under three percent.[4]

            Do those numbers sound tiny? Consider this: The U.S. has more agnostics than Episcopalians or Anglicans or Mormons or Jews. The country’s atheists outnumber the population of Philadelphia or Dallas or Detroit or Idaho or Maine or Hawaii. Combined, atheists and agnostics account for at least 3.5 million Americans -- and that’s the lowest reputable estimate. The actual figure may be millions higher. [5]

            What’s more, the nontheists are growing. The number of unreligious Americans has nearly doubled since the end of the 1980s. At the same time, most religions have held steady or lost members.[6]

            And the unbelievers are young. The adults likeliest to have no religion are the youngest adults. While nontheists account for ten to fifteen percent of all American adults, they’re 22 to 25 percent of Americans age 18 through 29.[7]

            What about Americans who aren’t yet adults? At least five percent of Americans age 13 through 17 are atheists. As many as 18 percent are agnostics. And it looks like the numbers are rising.[8]

            (In nearly all age groups, by the way, American guys are more likely than girls to be nonbelievers. “Men always tend to be more secular than women,” according to Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at southern California’s Pitzer College.[9])

            But the U.S.A. is only one country. What about the rest of the world?
            The next post will get into that subject.

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[1] Uncredited, “Survey Reveals the Life Christians Desire,” The Barna Group website (July 21, 2008), http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/18-congregations/29-survey-reveals-the-life-christians-desire?q=atheist; Barry A. Kosmin, Ariela Keysar, Ryan Cragun and Juhem Navarra-Rivera, “Highlights,” American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population, Trinity College (2008), http://americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/NONES_08.pdf; Uncredited, “Major Religious Traditions in the U.S.,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (February 2008), The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life website, http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

[2] Uncredited, “DP-1. General Demographic Characteristics,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/

[3] Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008,” American Religious Identification Survey: Summary Report (March 2009), Trinity College, http://americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/aris_report_2008.pdf; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (February 2008), http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf

[4] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.”

[5] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.”; Uncredited, “Table 27. Incorporated Places With 100,000 or More Inhabitants in 2008 -- Population,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2010), http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0027.xls; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Idaho,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Maine,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Hawaii,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “DP-1. General Demographic Characteristics,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/

[6] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “The Unaffiliated,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, page 20

[7] Kosmin, Keysar, Cragun, and Navarra-Rivera, “Conclusion,” American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population, page 21; Uncredited, “Summary of Key Findings,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, page 5

[8] Melinda Lundquist Denton, Lisa D. Pearce, and Christian Smith, “Personal Religiosity and Spirituality,” National Study of Youth & Religion, (2008), http://www.youthandreligion.org/publications/docs/w2_pub_report_final.pdf

[9] Erin Anderson, “Scientists Investigate If Atheists’ Brains are Missing a ‘God Gene,’ ” The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (April 3, 2010)

Atheist or Agnostic -- Who Cares?

Who Needs Labels?
 

            “Do I call myself an atheist or agnostic?” asks an unbeliever on the Internet forum Newgrounds who calls himself ouchichi. He chooses neither word, “because they have become religious labels themselves, almost as if atheism is a religion, or agnosticism. Anyone [who] wants to label me because of the way I think can go fuck themselves.”[1]

            A lot of unbelievers like ouchichi don’t want any labels. They’re not marching in a political movement or otherwise declaring themselves for one tribe instead of another.

            Besides, quite a few atheists pride themselves on having independent minds. Tagging their viewpoint with a specific name feels almost like signing up for a church denomination. As a 17-year-old unbeliever named Matt says, “I don’t really wanna call myself anything or give myself a label. I just wanna live my life.”[2]

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[1] ouchichi, “Atheists Suck, Not Atheism,” Newgrounds forum (May 18, 2008), http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/908908/2

[2] Matt, “Have U noticed, so-called ATHEISTS are of 3 categories!?,” Yahoo! Answers website (June 6, 2008), http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080617115440AA0XfhQ

Atheists and Agnostics Put Up Their Dukes

My Unbelief Is Better Than Your Unbelief
 

Isn’t [an agnostic] just an atheist without balls?

Stephen Colbert, comedian[1]

            Despite the different labels and the disputes about brights, most unbelievers get along just fine. Rationalists and freethinkers don’t generally get into fistfights (at least not with each other), humanists don’t have a lot of shouting matches with agnostics, and it’s perfectly possible for one person to be an atheist, a humanist, a freethinker, and an objectivist -- all at the same time.

            But arguments do happen. If you think that unbelievers disagree with religious people -- and they do -- you should see what they say about each other. For instance:

            “Agnosticism is a cop-out.”[2]                   “Agnostics are ethically superior to

            “Agnostics are pussies.”[3]                  atheists.”[4]

            “Agnostics are saying that they                  “The triumphalism that too often seems to

don't know and not only that, nobody              be part and parcel of atheism entails a poverty

knows or can know. So they are being            of spirit that is detrimental to our humanity.”[5]

just as arrogant as they say that                                “The atheists of the world want to take

fundamentalists and atheists are.”[6]              control of all the philosophical stances outside

                                                                        theism . . . as though they have the divine right to

do so.”[7]

            Extremists in each camp even declare that the other isn’t real. “There is no such thing as an agnostic,” according to atheist Judith Hayes, who blogs as The Happy Heretic. “To say, ‘I am an agnostic’ is to say, ‘I don’t know whether I believe in God or not.’ Which is nonsense.” [8] Meanwhile, according to young agnostic Zach Maxwell, “There is no such thing as atheism.” He explains, “If you are saying there is no such thing as [God] then [God] exists for you in the realm of things not to believe in. . . . so therefore, you are acknowledging [God’s] existence . . . even in the realm of your mind.”[9]

            Others try to split the difference between atheist and agnostic by calling themselves atheistic agnostics or agnostic atheists. Declarations and counter-declarations like these have been flying across pages, computer screens and dorm rooms for years.

            A newer argument pits “positive atheism” (also called “strong atheism” or “hard atheism”) against “negative atheism” (alias “weak atheism,” “soft atheism,” or “default atheism”). There are a lot of ways to define the groups. For instance: Negative atheists say that there’s no proof that any god exists; positive atheists say that there is proof that no god exists. Or: Negative atheists tolerate religion and believers; positive atheists, according to journalist Gary Wolf, “condemn not just belief in God but respect for belief in God.” In their view, Wolf says, “Religion is not only wrong; it’s evil.”[10] And so on.

            Which side is right?

            Neither. Or both. Arguing about the right brand of unbelief is like arguing about New York pizza vs. Chicago pizza, whether Michael Jordan could beat up Babe Ruth, or if George Clooney is cooler than Humphrey Bogart. Both sides can pile up mounds of evidence and spin webs of perfect logic, but there’s no case-closed proof that one side is clearly right and the other obviously wrong. The arguments will go on, though, because people on each side believe in their convictions passionately and because a good, hard, fair debate can be a lot of fun.

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[1] Stephen Colbert, “Bart Ehrman,” The Colbert Report (June 20, 2006), http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/70912/june-20-2006/bart-ehrman

[2] Jenblacksheep, “Atheist vs. Religious vs. Agnostic,” Hubpages forums, August 2010, http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/50430

[3] Suburbanite, “Agnostics are pussies,” Argue with Everyone forum, March 8, 2008, http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/religion-philosophy/15791-agnostics-pussies.html

[4] Psyadam, “Why Agnosticism Is Superior to Atheism,” Raving Atheists forum, August 25, 2010, http://ravingatheists.com/forum/showthread.php?p=616950

[5] Mark Vernon, “How to Be Agnostic,” The Philosophers’ Magazine website, October 29, 2009, http://www.philosophypress.co.uk/?p=785

[6] John Draper, “Militant Agnostics,” Cobourg Atheist website, November 24, 2010, http://www.cobourgatheist.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=898:militant-agnostics&catid=77&Itemid=175

[7] Frank Apisa, “Agnostic vs. Atheist,” Able 2 Know forum, June 15, 2006, http://able2know.org/topic/77088-5

[8] Judith Hayes, “There Is No Such Thing as an Agnostic,” The Happy Heretic website (June 2001), http://www.thehappyheretic.com/06-01.htm

[9] “There Is No Such Thing as Atheism,” Zach Maxwell Music website (August 7, 2009), http://www.zachmaxwellmusic.com/zach-maxwell/there-is-no-such-thing-as-atheism/

[10] Gary Wolf, “The Church of the Non-Believers,” Wired (November 2006), http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism_pr.html

Varieties of unbelief

So Many Different Flavors

            If you’ve got a version of unbelief, you can probably find a name for it.

            Freethinker sounds quaint, and it should. It’s one of the oldest names for unbeliever, dating to 1692.[1] “ ‘Free thought’ means coming to your own conclusion about religion and without the influences of religious dogma or doctrine,” according to Blair Scott, Alabama director of the national unbelievers group American Atheists. “It’s kind of an umbrella term for atheists, agnostics, skeptics, secularists, brights, and any other label.”[2]

            Rationalists trust in logic and reason. While the word isn’t as old as freethinker, the rationalist viewpoint goes back at least as far as Socrates, Plato, and other ancient Greeks. Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov, an outspoken atheist, said that he’d rather call himself a rationalist because “‘Atheist,’ meaning ‘no God,’ is negative and defeatist. It says what you don’t believe and puts you in an eternal position of defense. ‘Rationalism,’ on the other hand, states what you DO believe: that is, that which can be understood in the light of reason.”[3]

            Humanists focus on people rather than on God. Instead of taking guidance from a spirit in the sky, they emphasize humanity’s own “ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.” [4] So says the American Humanist Association, and they should know -- but theirs isn’t the only definition. Some people apply humanism to any attitude that values people and cares about their problems, which means that it’s possible to be a religious humanist. In fact, there’s a tradition of Christian humanism that dates back to the Renaissance. That’s why some modern, non-religious humanists call themselves secular humanists, a term that’s suffered attacks from some Christian conservatives. “Most of today’s evils can be traced to secular humanism, which has already taken over our government, the United Nations, education, television, and most of the other power centers,” say evangelical ministers Tim LaHaye and David Noebel in their book Mind Siege. “Secular humanism is driven by a flaming hatred for Jesus Christ that seeks to eradicate the Christian worldview.”[5] (LaHaye and Noebel are wrong, by the way.)

            On and on the names go. Objectivists are rationalists who follow the philosophy of one particular rationalist, Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand. Materialists believe that the only reality is the world of physical matter and that supernatural forces play no part. Naturalists are a lot like materialists but focus on any laws, processes and phenomena that science can explain.

            The newest label -- one that’s sparked some sharp arguments -- is probably brights. Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert, a husband-and-wife team of atheist educators and activists, came up with the name as a cheerful-sounding alternative to godless and other harsh-sounding names. But calling unbelievers “brights” hints that believers are dull and stupid, which is insulting; and many atheists believe that it’s unkind, unfair, rude or stupid for a minority group like atheists to insult believers. “The ‘bright’ kids aren’t always the ones with the most friends,” says atheist author Chris Mooney, “and nobody -- nobody -- likes a smart ass.”[6]

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[1] Uncredited, “Freethinking,” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition (Merriam-Webster, 2001), http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/freethinking

[2] Michael Martin, “Atheism on the Rise in U.S.,” Tell Me More, National Public Radio (August 14, 2009)

[3] Isaac Asimov and Janet Jeppson Asimov, It’s Been a Good Life, Prometheus Books (2002)

[4] Uncredited, “About Humanism,” American Humanist Association website (undated), http://www.americanhumanist.org/Who_We_Are/About_Humanism

[5] Tim LaHaye and David Noebel, Mind Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium (Word Publishing, 2000)

[6] Chris Mooney, “Not Too ‘Bright,’” Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website (October 15, 2003), http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/not_too_bright/

Agnostics

The Ones Who Don’t Know

            After atheists, the next most well-known segment of unbelievers and other godless folks is the agnostics. “An agnostic is a doubter,” said Clarence Darrow, possibly the most famous trial lawyer of the past hundred years -- and an agnostic. “The word is generally applied to those who doubt the verity of accepted religious creeds.”[1]

            Agnostic literally means without knowing, and it’s the viewpoint for people who aren’t completely certain what’s out there in the great cosmic void. Agnostics range from people who have no opinion at all to people who are pretty sure of their views but don’t want to shut other possibilities out. “I like being agnostic,” says a teenager who calls herself CassieCasey. “I think it gives me the freedom to be a little bit more open-minded about other religions.”[2]

            The agnostic viewpoint is sometimes more complicated than atheism. “While I have the belief that it’s possible the Bible is true (although a lot of it would have to be symbolism), it is more likely that there is no God or at least that the God that there is is not interested in this earth,” says a teenage agnostic who uses the screen name Saltandvinegarchips. But, she adds, “I still consider the possibility of a God.”[3]

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[1] Clarence Darrow, “Why I Am an Agnostic,” from Short Works of Clarence Darrow (BiblioBazaar, 2008), http://books.google.com

[2] CassieCasey, untitled essay, Teenage Writers website, December 17, 2006, http://teenagewriters.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-7197.html

[3] Saltandvinegarchips, “I’m a Teenage Agnostic. Ask Me Anything,” Experience Project website (March 14, 2010), http://www.experienceproject.com/uw.php?e=880974

Who are they?

Chapter 1
 

Atheists, Agnostics, and Others

The term that best describes me now is "secular humanist."

Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts[1]

            What’s an atheist?

            An atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in God.

            Okay, there’s a lot more to it than that. For one thing, atheist is a pretty narrow term. It doesn’t include the whole spread of people who don’t worship a god. Agnostics, freethinkers, humanists, rationalists, objectivists -- there are lots of names.

Who’s Who?

            Start with the most dangerous name. That name is atheist.

            An atheist doesn’t believe that God exists. Thus God didn’t create the universe, write the Bible, impregnate a virgin 2,000 years ago, or care what you did on your date last Saturday night.

            Some people who believe in that kind of god can find atheism and atheists a threat. And they threaten right back.

            • In a 2007 poll of more than a thousand Americans, more than half of them wouldn’t elect an atheist president even if he were qualified for the job.[2] A 2010 poll added that more than half of all Americans would be uncomfortable with an atheist on the Supreme Court.[3] So if you’re an atheist planning a career in government, don’t expect to hit the top jobs (unless public opinion changes by the time you get your chance.)

            • In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI blamed godlessness for the Holocaust. “Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society,” he announced on a visit to England. “As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man.”[4]

            • The Boy Scouts refuse to let atheists be scouts or, especially, scoutmasters.[5] In a number of Islamic countries, atheists face discrimination up to and including arrest by police.[6] A 2,000-person poll by the University of Minnesota has found atheists to be “America’s most distrusted minority,” less trustworthy than Muslims, immigrants, and gays. “Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.”[7]

            So yes, atheism can be dangerous -- to atheists as well as to theists. (Theist, by the way, means believer in God.)

            A lot of people find atheism dangerous because of certain myths about atheism. Like these:

Myths About Atheists

            Atheists hate God. From the atheist viewpoint, hating God is like hating a figment of the imagination, because atheists don’t believe that God exists. Anyone who hates God is admitting that God does exist, and anyone who admits that God exists isn’t an atheist.

            Atheism is a religion. No, atheism is the absence of religion. An atheist is just someone who isn’t a theist. The next chapter of this book will go into this subject in more detail.        Atheists hate religion. Some do, some don’t. Atheists who’ve lived under particularly strict religious rules often resent religion, but millions of other atheists take a “live and let live” approach.

            Atheists have no moral code. Every atheist develops moral guidelines that tell him what’s right and wrong, just as every religious person does. The difference is that believers trust the teachings of their faith’s holy men and holy books, while an atheist follows rules only if he thinks they’re sensible, rational, and in line with his conscience (or if he’ll get into trouble if he breaks them).

            Atheist life is meaningless. Atheists value life as much as believers do. Later chapters of this book go into more detail about the meaning that atheists find in their lives.

            Atheists are arrogant and intolerant. Some atheists do feel that everyone should think the way they do. Other atheists are warm, humble, friendly and interested in a variety of viewpoints. Atheists are like anyone else: some are so scummy that you want to wash up after shaking hands with them, but a lot of them are very nice.

            There are no atheists in foxholes. In other words, put anyone in enough danger, and he’ll ask God for help. Another version of this myth is: Deep down, no one is really, truly an atheist. But how can anyone know for sure? A person who says that there are no atheists in foxholes is claiming to know the deepest, most private thoughts of billions of people he’s never met. Anyone with that much telepathic power should put on a mask, cape, and colorful tights, and hire himself out as a super-hero.

            By the way, there are indeed atheists in foxholes. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, an organization of nonbelievers in uniform, has a membership of about 200 members, including high-ranking officers. At least eight MAAF members have won the Bronze Star medal[8] for “meritorious achievement or service . . . in connection with military operations against an armed enemy.”[9] And the United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs honors deceased military atheists by allowing them or their families to choose a symbol of atheism (a stylized drawing of an atom with the letter “A” at the nucleus) for their headstones in military cemeteries.[10] 

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[1] David Templeton, “My Lunch with Sparky,” Sonoma County Independent, December 30, 1999-January 5, 2000, http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/12.30.99/schulz2-9952.html

[2] Susan Page, “2008 Race Has the Face of a Changing America,” USA Today, March 12, 2007, http://www.usatoday.com/cleanprint/?1285562960036; Jeffrey M. Jones, “Some Americans Reluctant to Vote for Morman, 72-Year-Old Presidential Candidates,” Gallup News Service, February 20, 2007, http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-Americans-Reluctant-Vote-Mormon-72YearOld-Presidential-Candidates.aspx

[3] Uncredited, Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll, April 20-21, 2010, http://www.pollingreport.com/court.htm

[4] Pope Benedict XVI, “Pope’s Holyroodhouse Speech Transcript,” September 16, 2010, http://richarddawkins.net/articles/518808-pope-s-holyroodhouse-speech-transcript

[5] Uncredited, “Duty to God,” Boy Scouts of America National Council Legal Issues Website and Blawg, 2006, http://www.bsalegal.org/duty-to-god-cases-224.asp

[6] Uncredited, “Discrimination Against Atheists,” Wikipedia website, September 25, 2010, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists#Islamic_countries; Uncredited, “Laws and Other Rules Against Atheists and Agnostics,” FreeThoughtPedia website, May 25, 2010, http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Laws_and_other_rules_against_atheists_and_agnostics

[7] Nina Shepherd, “Atheists Identified as America’s Most Distrusted Minority, According to New U of M Study,” University of Minnesota website, March 28, 2006, http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2006/UR_RELEASE_MIG_2816.html

[8] Uncredited, “Atheists in Foxholes, in Cockpits, and on Ships,” Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers website, undated, http://www.maaf.info/expaif.html

[9] “Bronze Star Medal,” The Institute of Heraldry, Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, undated, http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/bronze_star.aspx

[10] Uncredited, “Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers,” United States Department of Veterans Affairs website, April 30, 2010, http://www.cem.va.gov/hm/hmemb.asp

Introduction

Introduction
 

What If . . .

Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson, president[1]

            What if you’re in church or Sunday school, and the teachings that you’re hearing don’t make sense?

            What if you’ve never been religious, but other teenagers in your school and neighborhood belong to one faith or another, and you feel like you’re alone?

            What if you resent people trying to make you believe what they believe, or you’re not sure if any religion has the answers that you need, or you’re just tired of hearing about God and the Bible?

            You’re not alone. Millions of Americans, and at least half a billion people worldwide, have strong doubts about religion or have no religion at all. A lot of them are teenagers. (One Yahoo! Group for teenage atheists has about a thousand members -- more than the biggest groups for Lindsay Lohan, Nickelback, or Paris Hilton.)

            This book won’t try to convert you to any particular opinion about God. You’ve probably had plenty of people preach at you already. Besides, I don’t have all the answers. I’ve got my own personal beliefs; but for all I know, some obscure sect out in who knows where has the Ultimate Truth about Life, Death, God, and the Universe, and the rest of us are doomed to spend eternity in a vat of boiling whale snot.

If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.

Woody Allen, filmmaker[2]

            But if you don’t have much faith -- and even people with very deep beliefs go through times of doubt -- there are a few things you might want to know.

            If you’re wondering if there’s something wrong with you: there probably isn’t. Atheists and doubters are everywhere, living perfectly normal and moral lives. They’re just not as visible as the faithful. After all, un-religious folks are in the minority, and they generally don’t have their own churches or TV shows.

            If you’re wondering if something’s wrong with religion: it depends. The world has a lot of religions, and their teachings range from loving everyone to killing all non-believers. Some people can go crazy from obsessing too much about their faith. Others hold strong religious convictions that lead them to be generous and understanding, even to atheists.

            Like religions, non-belief has good and bad sides. There’s the joy of freedom from ancient rules and the pain of disapproval from people who want you to obey the rules. There’s confusion in deciding exactly what to believe (after all, there’s no atheist Bible to give you the answers) and warm pleasure in finding others who think the way you do.

            This book will help you find the happy parts of non-belief and handle the hard times that can come with it.

---

[1] Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (August 10, 1787), Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello website, http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jeffersons-religious-beliefs#_note-1

[2] Woody Allen, “Selections from the Allen Notebooks,” Without Feathers (Random House, 1975), http://www.amazon.com/Without-Feathers-Woody-Allen/dp/0345336976