Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Depressingly Familiar Bigotry
Ayesha N. Khan, legal director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the AU have filed a lawsuit against the town of Greece, NY for it's unconstitutional practice of offering explicitly sectarian Christian prayers as an official part of their town meetings.
[link] Khan said that of 44 Greece meeting prayers reviewed by her group, only one was offered by a non-Christian. And, she said, the review showed that the vast majority of prayers delivered before meetings since 2004 were explicitly sectarian.
The U.S. Supreme Court has determined that governmental bodies may open their sessions with prayer, but only if the prayer is nonsectarian and does not reference a particular deity or the language and symbols specific to one religion.
The Americans United lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Greece residents Linda Stephens and Susan Galloway, seeks to have the court declare that Greece's current practice violates the Constitution and issue an injunction prohibiting sectarian prayer before the board meetings.
The citizen's reactions are what concern me the most:
[link] Please understand that the real issue is getting publicity for people and their anti-Christian agenda. I attend Faith Temple Church in Brighton and this is no different from when they didn't want the new expanded Christian based church expanding in THEIR town. I appreciate that the Jewish and atheiest can come together for something! The funny thing is they're both nonbelievers in Christ. I get that, but when people around you are believers and they are in power please respect YOUR place. When I come to Brighton I understand MY place as a Christian male. You need to realize in Greece we don't accept atheism or Judaism as the guiding faith in our town. We have predominately Christian places of worship throughout the town. Respect it or leave it. I am sick of this crap, we aren't Holland or Londonistan or any other place where Christians are made to feel dirty for their religion, this is America! We were founded by a country of white protestant Christian males, and as such are guided by that. I didn't complain all the time I had to spend in SS class learning about the holocaust ad nauseam. I respect what happened and hope it never happens again, BUT I don't call the ACLU and complain my children have to learn it and I am offended or whatever. Find these women and find out what they're real problem is and lets solve it, but it isn't prayer.
In other words, "Sit down, shut up, and get to the back of the bus while your betters run this town, you filthy, second-class, non-Christian scum." And what's the deal with the scary "find these women and find out what their real problem is" threatening comment? Find them and what? Beat them until they acknowledge that Christians are more human then they are? Find them and terrorize their families? What a despicable thing to say.
This is a depressingly familiar refrain from bigoted Christians in our country who have no clue what the Constitution actually says, and who would seem to be arguing for a Christian theocracy in a "might makes right" or "majority rules" sense.
What they don't understand is the fact that our First Amendment concept of the separation of church and state protects them too. Tyranny of the majority should be a real and valid concern for all Americans, not just the minorities - because one day you too could become a minority.
Kudos to the AU for fighting this very important fight to save our civil liberties from the absolute morons who want to strip them away.
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An open letter to the internet
Dear Internet (yes, all of it),
When I constantly rebut the argument that America is a Christian nation just because it was founded by mostly Christians (you can read that either way) by saying that argument makes as much sense as declaring that America is a white nation or a male nation because all of it's founders were white and male (more than were Christian, even), I was joking about that. You weren't supposed to take me seriously. That's not a good argument. I expect you to do better next time.
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
Hah, figures.
I'm from Rochester, and my boyfriend is from Greece (we've since moved). We were unaware of the town board's practices, but not surprised. Upstate NY is very conservative, unlike the Big Apple. Unfortunately, it's not just religious bigotry in the general Rochester area, racism is fairly rampant as well, though subtle and almost always aimed at the Indian/Asian populace which has moved to the suburbs in recent years. Ugh, unfortunately, the forum comments are about on par for the area. Funny though, the Rochester Diocese announced it is closing 6 (about half) of the private Catholic schools in the area - so despite all their screaming, they don't put their money where their bigotry is.
And the D&C is one of the worst newspapers in history, as a side note. It really shouldn't be called news anymore. It's pretty much regurgitated BS from whatever source/company/whatever sends it to them.
makes me sad
I'm suddenly sad because these fools live only a couple hours drive from here. One thing (of many) I've never understood about all of these issues is why they make the prayer as an official part of the session. I'd still be annoyed if I was at the meeting and they started praying but if it was before the official start of the session then it would probably be legal. Thats the thing these people don't seem to get, its not that we want to take their religion away, admittedly I'd love to see people choose reason but I want them to choose it not to force them. They seem to think we want to ban all prayer when all we are asking is that they obey the law of our land.
They mentioned knowing my place, as an American Citizen my place is to defend the constitution from all attacks foreign and domestic. I know my place and its beside our founding fathers, despite what they claim they are standing in opposition to the ideals this country was founded on, and they'll probably never know it.
Community Forums
Having been involved with a recent city referendum/proposition, I've come to understand how often one nutjob can make what seems like a lot of noise. You can easily spend your life finding these idiots and arguing till you turn blue. The reality is that there are generally just a handful of people who read those forums anyway.
It's the people who have a larger audience that I concern myself with. In our local political fight there was a columnist in a local paper that was simply parroting our opponents BS without actually researching the facts himself. That was a much more important issue to try to counter because he actually had a significant readership.
It's not the nutjobs that are the problem.
I'm with you, Brain: the nutjobs with little audience aren't worth bothering with. Columnists with larger audiences are more problematic, of course, but what truly depresses me is that so many Christians, though not in agreement with the nutjobs, consider it no big deal, and what are we silly Atheists getting upset about.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
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