So real life interferred and I did not have the time I had wanted to write for Blog Against Theocracy. In a way it doesn't even matter, because the response to this blogswarm has be so strong; just beyond my expectations. There have been so many impassioned, insightful, smart posts in support of our first freedom by both believers and non-believers I don't see how I could add anything to the conversation. But that's the most important thing to take away from this whole experience I think and why I so enthusiastically signed on to help out with Blog Against Theocracy when Blue Gal first ran the idea by me.

It's the conversation. For far too long believers and nonbelievers have been sniping at each other. Meanwhile the people that are really our common enemy, the people that would impose their own beliefs on all of us, the people that have made systematic attempts to undermine separation of church and state in this country, have been left unchecked. Yes, there are some believers that are trying to demonize and denigrate atheists, and we have a long way to go in countering common perceptions of nonbelievers in our society. And yes, there are some atheists who do go out of their way to do much the same to believers by characterizing them as delusional or irrational, who succumb to a sort of utopian fallacy in their belief that religion is the cause of all the world's problems.

Both of these are problems but they pale in comparison to Christian Dominionism, snake-oil peddling televangelists buying influence in Washington, Senators who use their faith as an political weapon, and those who would seek to corrupt our public science, health, and technology programs because their faith is so weak that they feel threatened by the answers these programs might provide. And that's why we needed Blog Against Theocracy. To both raise awareness on the importance of separation of church and state, to bring home the message that everybody loses when that wall is breached, and to finally get both atheists and theists talking to each other.

We've started this conversation and now we can't stop. What's at stake is too important. Sure, there's going to be a lot of people, whether they're atheists or theists, that are either too stubborn, too angry, or just too bigoted to work with. So what? Chances are they wouldn't be doing anything anyway. But if we can talk, if we can just listen to each other and stop beating each other up then we can do something. We can reverse the incursion of religion into government, and we can make this a better country to live in. If only for the simple reason that together we vastly outnumber the theocrats.

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