"Tattoos and Positive Atheism"

Browsing through my Facebook wall the other day I came across a meme that read, “Stop Tattoo Discrimination in the Philippines.”

Because I myself have several tattoos, some in fact are quite visible and clear statements on my lack of belief in a deity, I wondered is there actually any growing concern for inked people to start an advocacy lobbying for fair treatment? Personally, all I’ve ever gotten from having tattoos is people staring at them and the occasional inquiry of “what does that symbol mean?” (Then again, these are comments outside of my parents, hehehe).

I’ve never gotten into an argument about my tattoos, never been refused service or entrance to an establishment because of it, or even unfairly judged for showing them off (none that I'm consciously aware of anyway).

While I am of the opinion that it doesn't have enough merit to be viewed as an actual advocacy campaign, I of course am not dismissing the probability that discrimination can and does happen in some form or another.

Now what does that have to do with atheism you may ask?

By this blog’s count, I am now an atheist for three years (yay!). And ever since I officially and publicly came out to co-workers, close friends, some family members and other non-believers, it has become less of a concern identifying myself as one. In fact, now that more people know about it, the less I care. Ok, don’t get me wrong, I am still very passionate about the topic, but I think of myself as an atheist as frequently as I think of myself as being Asian.

It’s probably one of the reasons why I haven’t been able to write about atheism in a while. This blog is meant to be a documentation of my journey into disbelief and so far apart from the entries I have written prior to this, not much has come up. Little has changed in my daily life without a Christian god in the last three years.

One of the reasons I wanted my atheism to be out in the open is to break the stereotype of what atheists are commonly misconstrued as. It is of course easier said than done. But there lies the responsibility.

I am not without any experiences of having to defend my stand, but I am only militant about it when I have to. I choose the people I discuss atheism with, because I’m aware not everybody is comfortable with the topic. I am conscious and cautious that I might be the only atheist some people know and that my actions might be viewed as representative of the entire non believing community. I practice the tolerance I would want extended to myself, because I no longer want religion imposed on me either. And lastly I try to promote the fact that atheism is only a part of who I am, and I try to do so as positively as humanly possible.

And so far the approach has been rather successful, I have very devout Catholic friends who see beyond my atheism and still choose to see me as a co-worker and/or a friend. I have a theist wife who has “evolved” to accept that part of me seeing it has not impacted the foundation of our relationship. And ironically atheist friends see me more as a social network buddy, a fellow freethinker, a musician, a blogger, an environmentalist, or a loving husband and father.

I have a big tattoo of a skull with nerdy reading glasses on my upper right arm. It’s my reminder of my mortality and that learning new things only ceases when you are dead. Most people will just see it as bad ass skull tattoo, nothing more. It’s one of the reasons why I chose to have it in a place where it won’t be as visible.

Being a manager in the last three companies I’ve worked in, I usually wear long sleeves. I’ve had long time co-workers tell me they never knew I had tattoos when they see me during casual Fridays and they spot some of my more visible tats. I only wear my favorite wife beaters when on the beach, when it’s extremely hot outside or when I attend tattoo conventions and rock concerts.

So my take is if you have tattoos and you are being misjudged for it, chances are it’s one of three things: you are being insensitive to the situation and the people around you, or you are just probably hanging out with the wrong crowd, or it’s a matter of location location location.

The same can be said for atheism and being an atheist. While its not as visible as tattoos, not everybody will get it, but you have to do your part to not perpetuate the stereotype.