I am sick to the teeth of the term “faith”, and its corollary “people of faith”. It’s always bothered me, but as I was taking a shower (where I do much of my deep thinking about stuff that annoys me, perhaps because I feel I’m symbolically washing the ick off), I realized why. It’s not just that it’s one of those transparent attempts at rebranding, though that’s part of it. It’s that by rebranding an institution—-religion—-as a trait, a value really, you imply that people who do not subscribe to that institution don’t have that value. The problem is that “faithful” has a couple of meanings. When “faith” is used as a substitute for the old-fashioned word “religion”, it means that the person is “faithful”, in that she has faith in god. The problem is the word also means steadfast, loyal, true, etc., and I have no doubt that one reason to use “faith” instead of “religion” is to borrow the connotations. It also implies that people who aren’t religious don’t have all these qualities of steadfastness, loyalty, honesty, etc. If these sorts of connotations weren’t being brought to bear, then there would be no reason to switch the terms from “religion” to “faith”.
But Amanda, I imagine you’ll say, you insult religious people all the time by calling religion a superstition and making jokes about the Sky Fairy. This is true. But in my defense, I far prefer the straightforward insult over passive aggressive shit like the word “faith”, and my critiques rely on the specific problems I have with religion. I don’t need to imply that you cheat on exams and on your wife to suggest that your religious beliefs are wrong. This, I think, is an important distinction.
I mention this, because Obama’s following the snappy faith trend with his Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and to the dismay of religious liberals, the council fit every stereotype we crabby feminist atheists could have come up with.
With his Council appointments now complete, Obama has given far more seats on his Council to religious leaders who are anti-choice than to ones who are openly pro-choice, even though the majority of Americans favor legal abortion. There are only two pro-choicers, and they’re both Jewish. Reproductive health advocates suggested several pro-choice Christians to the White House as worthy additions to the council. By not giving them seats, though, the administration shows that it is too afraid to challenge anti-choice evangelicals by putting their pro-choice brothers and sisters at the same table.
And of course, they’re mostly men. What’s sad to me is that this surprises anyone, because one of the major draws to religion is that it’s a remarkable cover story for plain old lady-hating. Oh, I know, religious readers. I’m not ignoring you. There are many other things religion provides. In a show of good faith (because contrary to what the name of government initiatives imply, we atheists have it), I made a list of the four major things that motivate people to set aside an appreciation for the indifferent universe to follow a religion.