Senior government and politics and information systems major

The Bible, the Quran, going to religious services and praying. As an atheist, these are all things I could feel a bit awkward talking about, but surprisingly, nothing makes me more uncomfortable than talking about religion with fellow atheists, agnostics or nonbelievers.

Thursday marked the first day of the American Atheists National Convention in Salt Lake City. Though attendees heard from Chris Kluwe, an atheist and ex-NFL player, authors and activists in an ironically religious city, I can’t stop thinking about how ineffective the atheist “culture” is at recruiting new members.

Although the Pew Research Center reported in 2012 that nearly 20 percent of Americans were “unaffiliated” with any religion, only 2.4 percent actually described themselves as atheists.

So who’s to blame for the low atheist turnout? Perhaps it’s the uninviting attitude toward religious people in general. On the American Atheists webpage, a short disclaimer states, “Please note: we are not interested in debating you or being preached at.” I guess atheists want to attract new members, as long as they don’t have to defend their views to do so?

Regardless of whether the growth of the atheist movement is good, atheists have a pretty long uphill battle to win, and they’re likely going to lose unless they undergo a marketing makeover.

While not all atheists are guilty of this, overwhelming whining about the word “God” on the U.S. dollar or in the Pledge of Allegiance undermines legitimate arguments about the inexistence of God.

I love intellectual debate. As students on a college campus, we should be glad we’re exposed to people with various opinions and have access to forums to debate different ideas. Because of this, atheists shouldn’t claim we’re “not interested in debating” religious people. If atheists feel they’re such an excluded minority, then they should find ways to collaborate with people who disagree with them rather than complaining to their Reddit fan base about how annoying religion is.

There could be many reasons why atheism isn’t popular. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, a whopping 43 percent of Americans said they would not vote for an atheist presidential candidate, even if he or she was qualified for the job. As in politics, persuading people to agree with you requires appealing to them, not just outright rejecting their opinions.

I want to be able to call myself an atheist without having to explain myself by saying, “I’m not one of those atheists.”

Atheism, along with many of my other ideologies, has very credible arguments, but atheist leaders have done a terrible job marketing atheism to the public.

I don’t want to put atheists in a circle and assume all of them act ignorantly, but this explains my point — the more atheists have a negative attitude toward those who disagree with them, the more likely they’ll be categorized as part of a “rude” group.

Perhaps the best solution is to create environments in which religious followers, atheists and people of all ideologies can debate — inter-religious summits or workshops may be a step in the right direction.

Atheists seem upset that their ideas aren’t always included in mainstream debates, but perhaps that unfairness stems from their unwelcoming attitude toward intellectually diverse discussion. Regardless, one thing is for sure — atheists are losing the culture war, and they won’t make any inroads unless they change the way they present themselves.

Caroline Carlson is a junior government and politics and information systems major. She can be reached at ccarlsondbk@gmail.com.