Atheism, Religion, and Politics in Rural Ohio
- Megan Hawk
- Jul 25
- 6 min read
by Megan Hawk, DNP
7/25/2025
Growing up
My first introduction to religion involved bits and pieces of Bible verses heard without context and a small, antique plate with the Ten Commandments written on it in my house. I remember examining the Ten Commandments, as I did all my mom's antiques and thinking, "Well that stuff makes sense. Do people really need to be told to not kill each other though?"
I simply did not live in a religious home.
I was the child whose parents didn’t take her to church (I didn't mind).
I turned into the bad egg whose parents divorced.
It was in the midst of their divorce that I became aware of the concept of religion and the fact that I did not have one.
Kids at school asked questions
"Don't you believe in god?"
What are they even talking about?
Later on, friends whose parents who I assume wanted to save me would urge me to go to church with them.
I went to many friends’ churches and church camps over the years.
They weren't all bad; in fact, most were fine if you set aside the fact that I never asked to be converted to Christianity in the first place.
But the ones that left negative impressions really left lasting ones.
One preacher spent the entire sermon explaining ways the congregation could get into Hell; I remember chuckling to myself, I was probably around 12 and could already tell this person was trying to scare the congregation into complying with religious doctrine.
A different church had a ritual where church goers, including myself, were urged to “go up and get saved!”. I walked to the front of the room to not give offense. As I glanced to my side, I saw a woman standing up with her eyes closed, groaning, surrounded by men who appeared to be praying. Eventually, she started speaking in ways that I couldn't understand while people prayed around her. She fell to the ground and writhed about, continuing to speak in tongues while the men around her prayed aggressively.
Now I'm not sure what the average non-religious person would feel in that situation, but I'll tell you what I felt.
Fear.
This behavior was irrational and frightening.
It's not just that I didn't understand. I didn't want to understand.
My distaste for religion deepened further.
Religion and worship are simply not concepts I want in my life, muddying my thoughts and decisions or telling me that I alone am not enough.
Now I’m almost 40.
I've had an outsider's perspective on the religious beliefs, habits, and actions of others my whole life.
I've seen religion and politics intersect in nearly every facet of American life.
I've seen the deepening of blind faith, blind following.
The abandonment of facts and outcomes
For the comfort of avoiding cognitive dissonance
But these choices harm.
The concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion are interwoven into the fabric of functioning societies in most other developed countries in the world.
As a political tactic, caricatures of "others" were presented to god-fearing, rural Americans, sewing seeds of fear of the unknown. The idea of being assaulted by a trans person in a public restroom is an oddly specific, almost fantasy-like situation dreamt up by modern American republican politicians.
Does it actually happen?
Less than 1% of perpetrators of violent crime identify as trans.
Furthermore, statistically, transgender people are over four times more likely to be VICTIMS of violent crime, including sexual assault (Flores et al., 2021).
Can we come back from this?
We must accept that many well-intentioned people voted basic human rights away from their friends, family and neighbors in the name of creating a Christian nation - using religion as a tool of oppression in legislative decisions. These concepts are contradictory to both the founding of the Nation and to many peoples' interpretations of Christianity.
Some may not come back from that personally, but societally, we have a responsibility to govern based on fact, not faith.
The scales need tipped back.
Society has turned its back on the difficult conversations for so long that many of us normalize the abnormal and don't even realize it. Firearm legislation is considered reasonable, safe, and expected in other, more common-sense developed countries, and as a result, fewer of their children die from firearm related deaths. Here in the U.S., the mention of firearm legislation alone sends some god-fearing Christians into a boiling rage; Facebook commenters rush to find justification for child death to protect the reputation of guns.
So, I propose:
The religious majority has poor critical thinking skills.
Okay, So that felt inflammatory because it is. But stay with me. Let's take a brief detour into data.
Most people don't know the behind-the-scenes work that goes into data analysis and statistics of performance improvement and that's fine.
It is important to know that companies, agencies, etc have data that can be used for analysis, outcomes measurement, and future planning. Agencies like FEMA. The weather service. NOAA. SNAP. Childhood vaccination schedules. Gun violence statistics registries. HIV/AIDS and other health-related registries, suicide registries, sex offense registries. The list goes on and on.
The data are used to track outcomes, to see what works, what doesn't, to identify disparities, and to make changes based on outcomes. It's how we know how poorly we rank in firearm deaths compared to other countries. This is a fact.
The U.S. ranks at the 93rd percentile of all countries and territories for overall firearm mortality. we don't want this percentile to be high everyone. Gun-related deaths are, in the literature, "a fixture in American life". According to data from gunpolicy.org from 2019, there were 12.09 deaths per 100,000 people in the United States, compared to 0.90 per 100,000 people showing the significant contrast between the two countries (United States Study Centre, 2022). Australia enacted several pieces of legislation in 1996 after a single mass shooting.
So I propose: Maybe the religious majority giving too much to god.
Mass shooting? Don’t legislate. Just pray.
Preventable child deaths?
Pray.
Deaths from natural disasters?
Pray.
Thinking and praying are not reasonable responses to situations that can be effectively evaluated, analyzed, and solved.
I believe in everyone’s right to practice their religion.
I believe in freedom OF religion just like I believe in freedom FROM religion.
I suggest that:
Current America is over-praying
and under-thinking
Challenging conversations shouldn't only be reserved for a one-sided monologue to a figure of worship. Many of the difficult topics that are "given to god" are the most pressing issues of our time, calling for self-awareness and thoughtful discussion.
Prayer has its place, and I have encountered church organizations that are supportive, rather than suppressive, of others, which shines a small light of hope on a future of science and progress + religious freedom, because both can, and should, exist at once.
A takeaway: I challenge anyone reading this to try acknowledging your automatic thoughts.
Automatic thoughts are neither good nor bad.
Do not label them as such; they are neutral.
They are simply thoughts.
Start by recognizing when one pops up.
It might be about something totally benign.
Or it might be about immigrants.
Whatever it is, just notice it. Sit with it.
You aren’t wrong or bad for having the thought, but it’s important to know the thought is there.
Have you ever heard of automatic thoughts?
Yes
No
Don't know
Until next time,
Megan
Reference
Flores, A. R., Meyer, I. H., Langton, L., & Herman, J. L. (2021). Gender identity disparities in criminal victimization: National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017-2018. American journal of public health, 111(4), 726–729. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.306099
United States Study Centre. 2022. By the numbers | Stark contrast in Australian, US gun deaths. https://www.ussc.edu.au/by-the-numbers-stark-contrast-in-australian-us-gun-deaths
Megan Hawk is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner and doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She is passionate about teaching and sharing her experiences on a variety of topics, including the more uncomfortable ones.
Comments