It has occurred to me that the voice of atheism in the Shoals goes farther than that restricted geographical area.
In several online atheist sites, I see familiar voices from the Shoals in disproportionate amounts to the Shoals' number of atheists. Jessica Ahlquist's FB site comes to mind, but the phenom is not limited to that site.
Where better? When better? The fundamentalist milieu stretches from Virginia to Texas, Indiana to panhandle Florida. The very nexus of fundamentalism surely must be around the Shoals, and the necessary and appropriate response there as well.
We now see a northeast Mississippi atheist community becoming quite vocal. God bless 'em, so to speak. Once again, where better?
I'm entirely proud of the small, vocal, effective atheist community in the Shoals. These few, brave souls are fighting the lions in the den. Winning, more often that should be expected. I could name names, but I won't. Let them introduce themselves.
The outrageous excesses of fundamentalism around the Shoals has finally met some resistance. It's more than overdue. Yes, the Shoals is hardly Oxford, England or Berkeley, California, and it has no obligation or desire to be so. It is its own place, with its own values, and with some wonderful people who, in the very epicenter of fundamentalist insanity, have stood up and declared that humanity can do better than what is taken for granted there.
These few, effective people are giving lie to the presupposition that Alabamians, especially more suburban Alabamians, are uniformly retarded in matters of philosophy, science, reason, and the basic understanding of reality.
I encourage my fellow Shoals atheists to SHOUT to the world not only their resistance to superstition, but from where they shout it. It will do the South, Alabama, the Shoals, and human progress in general a world of good.
Best to you all.
DF
