shrug
We are not in the business of “giving hope”. We are in the business of *actually *solving problems, treating illnesses and finding correct answers. If hope is given or found along the way, fine and dandy, but it’s really surplus to requirements.
OTOH magical gesticulations, reciting hocus-pocus and inflicting tired sacharrine pablums on the bereaved and the afflicted under the pretext that “it will do nothing, but at least it will give you hope !” is worse than simply worthless: it’s quite insulting. Not to mention infantilizing.
I have no problems with Faith, or a belief in something higher than us. None at all.
But the voice that says we are nothing without God, that we cannot change things without God, that everything that happens is Gods Will and we have no part in it but to surrender and pray that He will fix things…
That is the voice of terror crying out in the darkness.
The voice of the child who sees Hope in the idea that s/he won’t have to grow up and accept responsibility for anything.
Whatever the intent of the Founders may have been is immaterial, in that the Supreme Court in the earl 1800s determined that the Bill of Rights was intended to bar actions in contravention of human rights by the Federal government, as distinguished from the states and their creatures the local governments.
The Fourteenth Amendment, on the other hand, forbade the states from abridging the rights of citizens of the United States, which rights have seriatim been found in the Bill of Rights among other places as relevant court cases came up.
Which means that neither the Federal government, the states, the counties, the cities, the towns, the villages, the school districts, nor any other governmental entity may enact a law, rule, regulation, ordinance, or edict respecting an establishment of religion. Notice that the wording is not “establishment of a religion,” which would simply bar anybody from making the Catholic or Presbyterian Church or the Baptist Convention or the First Presidency of the Latter Day Saints as the established church of the relevant jurisdiction. This phrasing is broader, and speaks of “an establishment of religion” – which jurisprudence has consistently held means mandating any religious act, spending public moneys for specifically religious purposes, or permitting any official or employee of any government to require or coerce anyone into a religious act while in their official capacity.
No, but I will agree to a selya.
(All kidding aside, that was really awesome. At the next Atheists’ Agenda meeting, we should adopt it as our creed right after “fuck with the Christians.”)
As I made the transition from Christian to spiritually leaning agnostic I realized that whatever was or wasn’t true about a spiritual reality, what did not make sense was a God that wanted our worship, praise and obedience. If there is a spiritual reality we don’t comprehend we are already fully part of it, and engaged in the process. Regardless of labels , it’s up to us to choose our priorities and how our time and energy will be spent , and take full responsibility for those choices and what they mean to ourselves and others.
All believers , agnostics and atheists are in the same boat, and make those same personal choices.
I’d only be there as an interested observer since I’m not an atheist. I’m not particularly interested in fucking with Christians, {maybe the hot ones} but I do see the need to challenge ignorence and superstition.
Well, unfortunately the Oppress Christians Whererever We Can Find 'Em party plank is quite absolute. Luckily we realized several years ago that just by not believing what they do, and sometimes stopping them from preaching at our children with state funds, was enough to oppress them. We’ve just kinda let sloth take over from that point on, honestly.
This is just an example of an atheist being a (whiny) dick. Nothing more, nothing less.
Now, way back when I was in middle school, there was an “incident” where a couple of students and their parents got in a tizzy because, during a diversity rally, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes read from a verse from the Bible and did some kind of dance routine to a Christian song while another kid sang the Black National Anthem (which mentions God like a gajillion times). It was all over the news for a while. I believe in the end the principle ended up resigning, and at next years rally not only was the FCA not allowed to perform, but when whoever it was sang the Black National Anthem, he didn’t even sing the whole thing in fear of offending someone. It was actually quite humorous, it was.
/randomanecdote
Point being, I sometimes think atheists, in general, go around looking for things to be offended by and do things to actively annoy the majority. Lord knows I wouldn’t care one iota if a school had a banner up asking Zeus, Allah, Shiva or whoever for strength. But that’s probably because I’m not offended by any mention of any god or goddess in any venue.
Oh, rubbish. If atheists are the only ones who look for things to be offended by, why does every commentator on Fox News go into a frothy rage when they hear somebody say “holiday tree”?
There’ll inevitably be some overeager individuals, but I don’t see that as true of atheists in general. It might look that way because there’s more for atheists to object to. Christians can’t get upset by atheist creeds in government buildings because there aren’t any.
I wouldn’t be affected personally by the banner if it was in my school because invoking a heavenly father doesn’t do anything for me. But I’d care about it being there. Separation of church and state exists for a good reason, and ignoring it renders it pointless.
Personally I can take what I want and leave the rest and generally have no problem with religious chatter , but it sounds to me like the diversity rally was pretty close to a Christian fellowship rally.
I think people have to be aware that in a more diverse society people who are not Christian ought to get some consideration.
In the case above, this one girl was not the only one who didn’t like the banner. She just happened to be the one to speak up and follow through.