David Niose, President of the Secular Coalition for America (and, being a MA resident himself, one of the key supporters of the Secular Coalition for Massachusetts), has written a bang-up piece explaining why Oprah's prominence multiplies the injury of her negative view of atheism:
Oprah, exalted by so many but oblivious to the fact that she is dehumanizing atheists, does more to perpetuate negative attitudes toward nonbelievers than Pat Robertson or James Dobson ever could. The general public takes comments from Robertson and Dobson with a grain of salt – but Oprah, as a media tycoon and a beloved celebrity whose opinions are taken seriously by millions, has just confirmed that atheists are "the other," outsiders who just don't belong in the in-group. (And the evidence is clear that atheists are indeed widely, and wrongly, scorned in America. With commentary such as Oprah's, we can see why.)Read the full piece at Psychology Today. And take a moment to tweet to Oprah or to the staff at her television network, @OWNtv... ask them when we're going to hear Oprah walking-back her comments, or when she's going to invite an atheist or several on-camera, to explore the depth and breadth of the atheist's capacity to feel awe and wonder
