Atheists on Cover of Chicago Tribune Magazine April 11, 2010

Atheists on Cover of Chicago Tribune Magazine

By Guest Contributor
April 11, 2010

Yesterday, I mentioned that Chicago Tribune article about college atheists, but it was a different level of excitement altogether when I saw it was the cover story in the Tribune magazine.

How cool is that?!

And yay for pull-out quotations:

I saw my mom today after she had read the article. She could sense I was happy. And she wasn’t pleased.

Mom: “I don’t know why you’re smiling. You’re making the whole world godless.”

Me: “I know. That’s why I’m smiling.” [Smile]

Mom: [Glare]

Good times.

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  • Sally

    This is wonderful!

  • Deiloh

    Hey, I know that glare. I get it every time my FFRF paper shows up.

  • Revyloution

    Wow, you guys are brave, strong souls.

    I spent Easter bashing Jesus with my family. I raise my glass again to anyone with the strength to make that break.

  • Tony Heskett

    Outstanding work: congratulations, and thank you very much 🙂

  • Claudia

    And to think how proud of you she’d usually be for you being quoted in a big newspaper. My dad would totally gloat about it to my aunt if I showed up in an article like that.

  • pinksponge

    Great article. I’m confused by Hemant’s mother’s comment, though. I thought Hemant’s family was Jain? Isn’t Jainism itself essentially “godless,” seeing deities as irrelevant and emphasizing self-effort? I would think that Jains of all people would have less issue with atheism than followers of many other religions.

  • pinksponge — Yes, Jainism is technically godless. Every Jain I’ve ever met, though, says they believe in god.

    … your guess is as good as mine.

  • PinoyHeathen

    This is great! Hemant, maybe you don’t realize but you are a great inspiration to young people.

  • Bob

    It scares me that being atheist in America (the land of the free) is such a big deal. You should all just move to Europe. No-one gives a shit about it over here.

  • Chal

    It scares me that being atheist in America (the land of the free) is such a big deal. You should all just move to Europe. No-one gives a shit about it over here.

    Yeah, but then you’d leave a bunch of fundies in control of the biggest army in the world and the one with the most nukes.

  • Chris

    Your an inspiration to us old folks too!

  • muggle

    Too funny: The ad above the post was for Christian singles, so when I opened up the page, I got this: “Christian and Lonely? Atheists on the Cover of Chicago Tribune.” Hilarious.

    Congratulations. When I started reading your Mom saw it, I expected bragging. The mother in me is grimacing at the lack thereof. But you handled it well. I think.

  • flatlander100

    I’ve always thought it curious that people who complain “atheists have driven god out of the schools” or “are driving god out of America” [or any variation thereupon] have not begun to wonder what kind of god they’re worshiping if he is so weak that a few atheists can “drive him out of the schools” or “the country” or whatever. Or has omnipotence come to mean something different than it meant when I was a child attending released-time classes at Holy Ghost Church in Brooklyn?

  • Heidi

    It scares me that being atheist in America (the land of the free) is such a big deal. You should all just move to Europe. No-one gives a shit about it over here.

    Yeah, but then you’d leave a bunch of fundies in control of the biggest army in the world and the one with the most nukes.

    Europe should send us reinforcements. Or the UK could teach us how they got the Puritans to leave. Fundies don’t evolve, so it should work again.

  • Matteo Watkins

    Dropping religion in favor of rational free thinking, as I see it, is man’s last great hurdle, which must be cleared if we are ever to reach our collective human potential. It may not happen for a long time, or ever, but sites like this give me hope, dare I say “faith” in our future, and in my fellow humans. Keep up the calm!

  • Chal

    Europe should send us reinforcements. Or the UK could teach us how they got the Puritans to leave. Fundies don’t evolve, so it should work again

    Hmm, maybe we should tell them a giant space goat is coming to eat the planet and then send them all off on a space ship and tell them that the rest of us will be coming right along soon…

  • Christina

    That was a great article and all of the quotes were intelligent and thoughtful which is rare!

  • Congrats on the mention in that article.

  • Just a shallow observation: There are some pretty hot guy atheists out there.

    Congrats on the mention in the paper; it’s great to see the press finally looking at the atheist movement as something other than a child-eating organization.

  • Isabel Jones

    I’d like to see something like this, here, where I live. Off course I’d hear that comment from my husband.

  • It must be amazing to have a mother who thinks you have super-powers like that.

    You should wear a cape or something.

  • Ben Zalisko

    I know three of the eight!!!

  • haley

    I was one of the students quoted from the NIU meeting and I think the writer was very nice and professional… I only wish she was able to print more of what we discussed.

    I think she really wanted the article to present atheism as nice and compatible with everyones views. Which is good too some extent, but honestly, our particular group is a bit more direct with our criticisms, and i think this article lacked a lot of the bite of our discussions.

    But its good to get a positive piece on atheism in the news.

  • LOL, excellent. I strive to have my mom say that to me one day.