Arian Foster Comes Out Atheist

The odds of a black man, who was raised Muslim, spent some of his late teens/early twenties in Tennessee, and most of his adult life in Houston, Texas, being an Atheist are mind numbingly low.

Throw in the fact that he is a professional football player, and I would have to imagine the odds dwindle even more.

But that is the case.

Arian Foster, all-pro running back for the Houston Texans has "confessed" to being an Atheist. Though he won't use the term Atheist, preferring to "remain open" to the possibility. Though I think this might be due to confusion on his part about the term "Atheist." Every Atheist on earth would be willing to admit their folly in the face of evidence. Even if most of us would still refuse to kowtow.

So what? Big deal. Right?

Sort of.

Here's why this is a big deal:

1. He's a celebrity. Lots of people know who he is, and lots of people talk about him. While and whereas someone like Sam Harris may indelibly be more worthy of listening to on the subject of Atheism, there aren't many Harris jerseys walking around Houston to spark the conversation. Imagine if Richard Dawkins had the media appeal that Kim Kardashian does. In the Houston area, Foster has that type of celebrity.

2. To adults, sports stars are important during the longevity of a game. For some, a bit longer. But to children? These men are, themselves, gods. Foster, as I mentioned earlier, is not simply an NFL player, he's a stud. He has graced the cover of hundreds of magazines, been highlighted by many Sports Center Top Tens, and been hailed by many parents as a good role model already due to the fact that he has often supported community activities and talks a lot of science from time to time. He's already been endorsed. And now he's come out as Atheist. How will religi-nut parents explain to little Timmy why he can no longer wear his Arian Foster jersey? It's going to force the conversation.

3. I hate to keep harping on this, but Arian has been an extremely successful NFL running back. He's scored a lot of touchdowns. And accredited zero of them to god. So now, every time some rookie wide receiver scores a game winning touchdown, and he says it was god's will, well, what about all those games that Arian Foster won? Who gets the credit there?

4. To come full circle: He's black. If the Atheist community is a minority, the minority Atheist community is even more exclusive. And while there are precious few strong white Atheist voices, I defy you to name five black Atheists. For a good amount of peoople, if they never see it, they never think of it. If an impoverished black teen searching for answers were to stumble across the internet atheist community, or happen over the Hitchens youtube-rabbit-hole, he still may not be able to completely connect because Hitch, Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, etc, are all white. It seems small, insignificant, even. But studies show that appearance is extremely important, in the ability of young people especially, to identify with people.

5. The NFL has now been home to a black, homosexual man from Missouri, and a black, Atheist from Texas. Your move, White House.

ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University. 

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