Mike's Bogota Blog: dmonstrations

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Atheists on the March

Monkey people. Have you evolved yet?

In a country which is saturated by Catholic symbols and traditions, if not always practices, I was surprised this afternoon to encounter a protest march by atheists. (They were celebrating the anniversary of Darwin's Origin of the Species.)

I encountered them, ironically, in the Plaza las Nieves, which is named for the Church of Our Lady of the Snows, which stands across the street. A wise person once said that promoting atheism could help nobody, since, if the atheists are wrong, you're going to Hell, and even if they're right, there's no reward besides satisfaction.

'Proudly evolutionist.'

But promoting atheism can do society a favor if it supports evidence- and science-based policies, such as ones recognizing the reality of global warming, the value of research such as stem cell treatments and equal civil rights. Sure, evolution is a fact. But if someone wants to believe that we were all created by a giant frog and live on the back of a turtle, it's all the same to me - as long as it doesn't affect public policy or get taught in the schools.

'We're just one more species and must protect the planet.
Thanks Darwin!'

Reflecting on the atheists' march, I was struck by the pradox that the United States - the source of so much science and technology - is also probably the developed nation where the influence of religion is the strongest, in areas like education, gay rights and abortion policy.

Colombia has been an officially secular nation since its 1991 Constitution. But Catholic culture is everywhere.

Sometimes, perhaps, secularism gets taken too far, such as when a court recently banned the quoting of The Bible in court decisions. The Christian Bible, like pretty much all religious books, contains lots of good advice - as well as lots of ugly stuff. Even so, the Bible quotes do reveal a kind of bias. After all, Colombian courts are much less likely to quote the Koran or the Book of Mormon.