Although Joe Biden was far from my first choice of the Democratic candidates running for president in 2020, I was glad he won the election. Four more years of the alternative would have been rough. Like every inauguration of a newly elected president I have watched, Biden's inauguration was hard to watch because of the manner in which it promoted religiosity. This was not surprising, but it was disappointing. At a time when the country desperately needs at least a symbolic embrace of unity, using this event to promote faith seemed pointlessly divisive. This is the sort of thing many atheists living in the United States have acclimated to, but that does not mean we should stop working to change it. This sort of thing has been normalized for far too long, and I think we need to make it clear that it is unacceptable. Those of us who do not believe in gods are part of this country too, and we deserve better than frequent messages to the contrary.
On the bright side, I was encouraged to see how many atheists and atheist organizations did speak out against what they saw at Biden's inauguration. Here are just a few examples of what I mean:
- What Message Did Biden’s Religious Inauguration Speech Send to Atheists?
- Biden Inauguration Discriminated Against Atheists
- Please Mr. Biden, less religion, more true unity
- A President’s Language Should Be As Inclusive As Possible
- The Inauguration’s Beautiful Call for Unity Was Undermined by the Invocation of Religion