Huffington Magazine Issue 74 | Page 35

JANET VAN HAM/HBO©2013

Voices
Dawkins look with admiration
at the work of Pope Francis and
Barack Obama, and respect their
intelligence and ethics and decree
that they are actually atheists.
In both cases, Oprah and
Dawkins/Maher are being simultaneously arrogant and complimentary. Arrogant, in that they
assume that anyone who has a
similar world view as they do is
secretly “one of them”; and complimentary, in that they are saying
I admire you enough to claim you
for my own belief system.
What we can learn from these
two vivid examples is that we all
have the right to decide how to
identify ourselves in terms of religion or lack thereof. It is not for
others to affix their identity upon
us, or strip ours from us.
More positively, these exchanges reveal a truth that is uncomfortable for those who are most
invested in the atheist vs. religion
fight — no matter what religious
or areligious identity we proclaim,
many of our world views will
overlap in the areas of wonder,
ethics, intelligence and aesthetics
in surprising and wonderful ways.
Instead of denying these similarities that exist between people
of different faith traditions and

PAUL BRANDEIS
RAUSHENBUSH

HUFFINGTON
11.10.13

No matter what religious
or areligious identity we
proclaim, many of our world
views will overlap in the areas
of wonder, ethics, intelligence
and aesthetics in surprising
and wonderful ways.”
those who have no faith tradition,
let’s celebrate what we share, even
as we respect those variances that
make us different. Ultimately, let’s
all work together on the most important project — to make this
world a more just, peaceful and beautiful place.
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush
is the senior religion editor of
The Huffington Post.

Bill Maher
believes
Pope Francis
is “secretly
an atheist”
despite being
the leader of
the Catholic
Church.