Montesquieu and his followers among the anti-Federalists warned against the development of factions in the society the Federalists were cooking up for their new nation. By "factions" they didn't mean political parties but interest groups, people with a gripe and/or a cause. No matter which side you come down on in this back-and-forth, you have to admit certain groups in our society come to mind at the mention of "factions."
For me, it's corporate lobbyists and, I admit, other high-profile groups which become airborne with self-importance. For you it may be a union group or gays. So chances are one person's "faction" is someone else's support group. A bunch of those anti-Federalists were (one could declare) an East Coast "elitist" faction.
For fear of blowback, I won't tell you which philosophical, social, racial, gender and other groups set my teeth on edge except to say that, though I'm pretty much a secular humanist, the prospect of atheists bloviating and getting fractious does not please.
They are connecting on the Internet, holding meet-ups in bars, advertising on billboards and buses, volunteering at food pantries and picking up roadside trash, earning atheist groups recognition on adopt-a-highway signs.
They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.
“It’s not about carrying banners or protesting,” said Herb Silverman, a math professor at the College of Charleston who founded the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, which has about 150 members on the coast of the Carolinas. “The most important thing is coming out of the closet.”
"Coming out" is good, though it's gotten to be a tiresome cliche. Still, it's a very healthy sign that atheists are growing in number, judging from the response to a single billboard in Charleston. Yes, it's true! The New York Times report cited above comes out of -- where?! -- Charleston, South Carolina!
The problem was not that the group, the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry, had attracted an outpouring of hostility. It was the opposite. An overflow audience of more than 100 had showed up for their most recent public symposium, and the board members discussed whether it was time to find a larger place.
And now parents were coming out of the woodwork asking for family-oriented programs where they could meet like-minded nonbelievers.
It's nothing but good news that atheists are taking a stand. Let's stand with them. But not shouting and self-inflating. Just being among some really thoughtful people who are standing up for a secular society would feel really good for a change.
