Atheist groups are furious at the chancellor of Troy University, Alabama, who recently sent out a video message to all his faculty and students on New Year’s, warning them that the American democracy would crumble if people did not stop turning to atheism. Jack Hawkins sent out the 90-second-long video message as a reminder of what he believes are blessings of the American democracy and the country’s vulnerability to secularization.
The narrator of the video, Clayton Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School, refers to an anonymous Marxist economist from China who came to Harvard and learned how important religion is for the proper functioning of a democracy. The video talks of a theme that is familiar to many Americans who consider themselves religious right – that the decline in church-going is directly linked with the rise in lawlessness and moral decay that could lead to the country’s eventual fall, as it did for Rome many years ago.
“What will happen to our democracy? Where are the institutions that are going to teach the next generation of Americans that they too need to voluntarily obey the laws?” asked Christensen in the video. “Because if you take away religion, you can’t hire enough police.”
Hawkins’ decision to send the message to all staff and students at Troy University, which is a public university that was founded in 1887, infuriated atheist groups, who went on to challenge the claim that only God-fearing people can lead lawful and moral lives.
American Atheists (AA), a leading group of atheist activists in the United States, went on to demand an apology from Hawkins, after a student of the university brought the incident to their attention.
“We demand an apology from you for using the public university email system and your publicly funded position to disparage atheists and minority religious groups as well as perpetuating the discrimination and anti-patriotic sentiment against atheists in the United States,” wrote David Silverman, the group’s president.
AA’s letter challenged most of the video’s content by citing the work of Phil Zuckerman, a leading secularist at Pitzer College, Los Angeles, who has analyzed exactly why non-religious countries like Denmark and Sweden have relatively lower crime rates. Representing 11 percent of Alabamans who identify as atheists, AA reiterated how 32 percent Americans below the age of 30 years have no religious affiliation and thus it was unwise of Hawkins to send out the non-secular video message without discretion.
“In fact, in the United States, in states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most-religious states, the murder rate is higher than average,” the letter continued.
Hawkins is yet to respond to AA’s letter of complaint.
Photo Credits: Encyclopedia of Alabama
