"People should be allowed to believe what they want so you should keep your atheism to yourself" Yes. Someone actually tweeted me this :)
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) November 24, 2013
Dear Ricky,
Having seen a series of tweets you wrote last night I wanted to respond. 140 characters is a little restrictive for what I wanted to say so I've blogged it.
I'm glad that you tweet repeatedly about atheism.
Some people seem to forget
that not everyone who follows you lives within a society which allows for
freedom of expression and speech; that there are those who live within far more oppressive and restrictive societies than our own.
Others forget that
whilst they may have identified and embraced their own lack of belief, some are still too nervous of the consequences to voice this due to external factors.
The ties that bind
many to a faith they have been raised within, are invisible but strong. No one
wants to hurt or disappoint the people we love. To step outside the accepted norms of familial expectation
is daunting at times and none more so than by rejecting religion as a staple of
life.
Your tweets on this
subject offer an alternate viewpoint. Anyone who feels you force your views
upon them is misunderstanding the basic premise of social networks. More
significantly they fail to recognise that the status quo of religious doctrine, functions
more comfortably for them, by maintaing a 'message monopoly' on public platforms and potentially finds
itself shaken by being questioned.
On Twitter I follow
and am followed by people of faith, who enjoy being challenged
respectfully. They understand that
the discussion and the exchange of ideas is paramount to all crucial debate and
recognise that questioning of an institution, or the leadership of faith
groups, is not an assault on the people who comprise its membership.
Those who seemingly
become the most enraged by your tweets, are those who speak of offence, which
they say you inflict on them or others they claim to speak for. If any personal belief is weakened by
questions oft repeated, or a simple statement of atheism, then
perhaps they need to work harder on assimilating more detailed answers than “Because we say so”.
My point is that in
speaking about the things that matter to you, you allow others a chance to know
that there is another choice beyond an unquestioning acceptance of doctrine. Also
no individual or group should believe they are above challenge, question or concern.
There will always be
many who attack, who belittle, denigrate and despise you for this, but I’m sure
you know, they are not the people who count. The people who count are the ones
who allow themselves a doubt, which becomes a conviction that a freedom from
oppression, whether that is in terms of sexuality, or reproductive choice,
gender equality, equal marriage or in terms of a quiet request for rationale
in the face of rhetoric; begins with the freedom to speak your own truth.
I feel your tweets
offer this.
Ultimately to me and
to many others, truth is preferable because it’s the easiest thing to remember.
I doubt you would
consider doing anything other than this anyway.
All best, Nik
