Glendale Community College in Arizona recently staged The Laramie Project, a play about Matthew Shepard, in honor of the tenth anniversary of his murder.
Guess who was there to protest?
Westboro Baptist Church, of course.
But more than 100 people from several organizations (including the Secular Freethought Society from Arizona State University and a local atheist Meetup group) were there waiting.
The people from the church ended up just driving by and shouting that we were all going to hell, but that was the end of what they did. Normally they are in full force protesting the play and any related events that have anything to do with gay rights. These people from this church are bad people, spreading hate.
Everybody there who was in these photos was speaking for love, and human rights, and to end the discrimination against gay people.
Thanksgiving must be a terrible time for atheists. They have no God to thank.
They do not have the privilege of gathering with family and friends to express gratitude by saying: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” An atheist on his deathbed faces serious uncertainties. Gazing upward, he pleads: “Oh God, if there is a God, please save my soul — if I have one.”
Apparently, we can’t be thankful for anything or anyone if God is not at the top of our list.
(Also: I’d love to know any atheist who has actually said those last words… or anything like it.)
You don’t need to thank God for anything. There are plenty of other people — living, breathing, existing people — that are truly deserving of that honor.
I was notified by email from Atheists United in Los Angeles of the following incident:
On November 20, 2008, the city of Rancho Cucamonga pressured General Outdoor Advertising to remove a controversial billboard with the message “Imagine No Religion” on it because some of its citizens were offended by it.
The billboard, paid for by Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national non-profit advocacy group for atheists and agnostics, included only the words “Imagine No Religion” and the contact information of the organization. The billboard was to stay up throughout the holiday season, but was abruptly taken down when Rancho Cucamonga city administrators demanded that the billboard company do so.
“This is a serious overstep by the city over the boundaries of the First Amendment,” stated Stuart Bechman, President, Atheists United. “It’s hard to imagine a more innocuous statement of non-belief. But even this was too much for political leaders who are clearly in the pockets of some religious leaders to suppress any expression of views that diverge from the orthodox line.”
“City leaders have demonstrated their clear bias towards protecting and providing special privileges to their favored religious beliefs, in clear violation of the California and United States Constitutions. I would like to think that few Christians are so insecure in their faith as to support this action.”
Atheists United and other civil-rights organizations expect an apology to all freethinkers from the city and an admission of error on their part; and if they refuse, for the California Attorney General’s office to open an investigation on the illegal actions taken by the city.
As in other incidents of governmental oppression of atheism, the argument arises that if the city administrators had censored any other group such as a church, synagogue or mosque wanting to express their views on religion and to advertise their presence, the local government would be facing multiple lawsuits and a storm of outrage from across the country. Once again, in their ignorance and bigotry, local officials think it’s okay to squelch the civil rights of atheists.
It is time that we educate them. They’ll keep doing it as long as we let them get away with it.
I don’t think that AU and FFRF should ask for an apology, they should sue immediately and not settle. At the very least, the Rancho Cucamonga City Administrators should pay for restoring the sign, pay for the days that it was down, pay for the AU and FFRF’s legal fees and then issue an apology.
I’m an atheist living in Lynchburg, Virginia: Home to the Falwells, Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church. Last year, I went (as a huge, huge, huge favor) with my mother to the church’s Christmas Show. Towards the end they started their pitch about how the proceeds from ticket sales goes towards the Liberty Godparent Home. It was the first time I’d heard of the program, and it was hard to understand what exactly it was about through all of the marketing/Christ speak. Eventually I heard the words “women struggling with an unplanned pregnancy and a difficult choice” and a pit formed in my stomach and I tuned out everything else (being a staunch pro-choice advocate). I wanted to leave immediately, but I’m chicken and love my mother. I was just grateful we’d managed to get free tickets.
I assumed that the Godparent home was a place for unwed soon-to-be mothers struggling with a “difficult choice” to come and be indoctrinated and kept from having an abortion.
Fast forward to this year, and my girlfriend (an agnostic atheist with a pro-choice stance who went with me last year to the Christmas show) mentioned that she didn’t want to go again this year, even though it went to “a good cause.”
You can imagine my horror, hearing that coming from her… but it turns out she’s just a better listener than I am.
In reality, it turns out the Godparent Home is actually a place for women to go and receive full support while they decide whether to keep the child OR give it up for ADOPTION. THAT was the choice they were referring to, not an abortion stance.
Now, to my dilemma: Although I support a woman’s right to choose, I also feel that more should be done to support single women with an unplanned pregnancy who cannot afford a child. But I also don’t want them pressured to marry the father (something I fear the Godparent Home may do, but I don’t know, the Web site isn’t very complete.) On the other hand, I like to think locally and try to aim charitable contributions to my immediate area.
Lastly, and on the biggest hand of all, I find the actions and belief systems of the Falwells to be reprehensible and hate the idea of contributing to an organization on the wrong side of nearly everything I stand for. Based on the actions of the church (TRBC) I don’t feel as though I can trust them to use any money I might donate as I would wish.
But I don’t know of any secular organizations locally that provide support for unexpected pregnancies with the option of adoption.
What should I do? I’m feeling charitable with the state of the economy the way it is, but I feel nauseous supporting an organization that is so closely tied to something that I hate.
You’ve already seen the Sarah Palin video where chickens are slaughtered in the background:
Everywhere I’ve seen, websites and TV stations offer disclaimers: It’s not for the weak of heart. Don’t watch this if you haven’t eaten lunch yet. Etc.
I don’t get it.
Maybe this is just my own ignorant, vegetarian self writing… but non-vegetarians know damn well where their meat come from. Why would any of them be disturbed by this video? Are you surprised?!
To my knowledge, I haven’t met any… racism is completely contrary to any sort of rational thought. I guess I’d be surprised to meet an atheist racist. Or an atheist homophobe. Or an atheist sexist.
But we’re a big group. Those types have to be within our community, right…?
And my attention span lasts only a sentence or three.
So here’s the question:
What was the best paragraph (or two) about religion/atheism you read this year?
Self-promotion is allowed. If you wrote it, that’s fine. But please limit yourself to *the* best thing you wrote. In other words, not every blog post was a winner
The Christian OneNewsNow site says we are winning a war I didn’t even know we were waging! The article by Chad Groening references the Secular Coalition for America’s policy recommendations for the new President:
The Secular Coalition for America recently held a news conference urging president-elect Barack Obama to, among other things, enact new rules against proselytizing and develop a new directive for all chaplains and commanders to eliminate public prayers from any mandatory attendance events for military troops.
Gordon James Klingenschmitt is a former naval chaplain who says, unfortunately, the Secular Coalition for America will eventually get its way. “There is a day coming in the end times when the military will be forced to be atheistic because, in order for the eventual man who is the man of sin — the Anti-Christ — as it is describe in the Bible, for him to come to power and to stamp out Christianity around the globe, he’s going to need a good strong atheist military,” he contends. “That is the first step toward Armageddon, and I’m concerned about that. And I pray that President (elect) Obama is not foolish enough to lead us down that road.”
Right. Got it.
Remind me never to join the Navy.
Of course, we know atheists aren’t trying to stop Christians from practicing their faith in the military. We just want them to stop forcing their faith upon atheists in the service and denying them promotions as a result of their non-belief. No harassment. No proselytizing. Keep your faith to yourself. Don’t have public prayers when attendance is mandatory. Simple rules.
…
While we’re on that OneNewsNow site, I was amused by this other story.
First, because of the headline:
‘Gay’ activists engage in ‘hate crimes’ against Christians
Why is “gay” in quotation marks?!
You might also wonder why “hate crimes” is in quotation marks. That’s because there’s no actual crime being committed. The “crime” is that many people — gay and straight, I should add — are peacefully protesting outside churches that supported the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.
The other reason I’m amused: The opening phrase is “Homosexual militants” — a bit ironic considering openly gay people are not allowed to serve in the military…
Dr. McLeroy believes that Earth’s appearance is a recent geologic event — thousands of years old, not 4.5 billion. “I believe a lot of incredible things,” he said, “The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe.”
But Dr. McLeroy says his rejection of evolution — “I just don’t think it’s true or it’s ever happened” — is not based on religious grounds. Courts have clearly ruled that teachings of faith are not allowed in a science classroom, but when he considers the case for evolution, Dr. McLeroy said, “it’s just not there.”
“My personal religious beliefs are going to make no difference in how well our students are going to learn science,” he said.
Except it makes a huge difference.
Barney came to visit because the Board was listening to testimony over “new proposed standards that would encourage middle school students to discuss alternative explanations for evolution.”
“All this hysteria has no basis in fact,” said board member Terri Leo. (Leo was amongst four board members who support introducing a Bible curriculum into public schools that has already been ruled unconstitutional.)
This “hysteria” is based in fact, and the fact is, we’ve seen the Religious Right do this before. These tactics aren’t new, and it’s great to see many Texans have caught on. The Discovery Institute and other Religious Right forces may think they’ve found a constitutional loophole to sneak creationist concepts into the classroom, but it won’t work.
Americans United has promised that a lawsuit will be filed as soon as public schools use the “weaknesses” provision to introduce religion.
Wendee Holtcamp was one of the pro-science advocates who spoke out against the Creationists. Her testimonial is incredible. Here she is giving her speech until she gets interrupted:
Despite what the creationist members of the Board say — Ms Lowe, Ms Leo, Ms Cargill, Ms Dunbar, Mr Mercer, Dr McLeroy and others — everybody in the nation knows that this is absolutely a religious battle, that your dislike of evolution and naturalism and any changes to the TEKs that are supported by the Discovery Institute are religiously motivated. Kitzmiller vs Dover clearly showed that ID and these issues are religious in nature. For you to sit there and tell everyone it is not smacks of arrogance and deliberate willful deception. In other words, lying. I know who the Father of Lies…
At which point Chairman McLeroy interrupts me to say, flustered, “We don’t say that word here. You can’t say that word.”
I look at him, confused.
“Lies. You can’t say lies.”
“I can’t say the words lies?” I ask, incredulous…
Wendee adds that a number of a pastors spoke out in favor of evolution, too. Hopefully, more will follow.
