A monument for American atheists was recently unveiled in Florida.
There were a few demonstrators, but nothing like the abortion picket lines of old. I think the monument is ugly, but am nonetheless glad it’s there.
Thank God!
One of the good things about being an atheist, for me, has been that it’s clear that other people don’t speak for me. That’s why I don’t care for this kind of thing. Whoever put up this monument doesn’t speak for me either.
Instead of having competing religious/atheist monuments on public land, how about no monuments at all?
Thumbs down.
Roddy
Ah, organized atheists: making a religion out of nonreligion and feeding the trolls at the same time. A simple slab inscribed with “Matthew 6:all of it” would have been more useful. More still if installed by locals rather than someone with no interest (apart from trolling) from several states away. What a bunch of dicks–all involved.
Big A; little a. You can be an Atheist, but you’re likely to be an Asshole about it.
Little a for me, thanks.
I like it. It says that public Christian monuments aren’t just trivial, they’re annoying.
Leaving the conversation entirely up to the religious people suggests the message that all of society agrees with them.
I’m disappointed at the newspaper. How hard would it have been to either include the text on the monument, or a clear photograph of the text so we could read it? Just in the interest of fairness.
*
Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.* - H. L. Mencken
My thoughts too. Or even a good photo of the monument?
At first, I rolled my eyes, thinking that atheism needs no monuments. But given that it’s in a “free speech” park beside a bunch of monuments to different religions, maybe it’s appropriate. I’d need to see the text, though.
Part of me says “It’s not ‘another religion’ so it shouldn’t be there with other religious monuments.” But if it’s really a “free speech” zone, there could be monuments for any idea.
I think we should erect one for the predicate calculus.
Here’s another version with photo with the monument’s text:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/29/atheists-unveil-monument-in-florida-and-promise-to-build-50-more/
According to that article, they first tried to have the religious monument removed, but it is in a “free-speech zone”. (Funny, didn’t realize that was a zoning issue, but whatever.)
So they put up their own monument. Their point was to show that the government does not endorse Christianity over other beliefs (or non-beliefs, as the case may be).
The AA said that they’d also support anyone who wished to put up other religious monuments.
I don’t really care either way, but it’s only a big deal because the Christians made it one. They could have just said “oh yeah, free speech zone, there ya go”, but they didn’t. They had to throw a little hissy fit because they’re like spoiled toddlers who tantrum any time they don’t get everything their own way.
In general, I kinda roll my eyes at the idea of atheist monuments. BUT this is a different situation, IMO.
The Ten Commandments monument was allowed to remain because it was in a designated Free Speech Zone. I give a bit of side eye to that ¬_¬ because it sure is awfully convenient that the FSZ just so happens to be in front of the county courthouse. Makes it really easy for passersby to think the courthouse/government supports Christianity/the Ten Commandments.
And the AA was explicitly told they could erect their own monument because it’s a FSZ. People are just butthurt because it’s (one of) the first time(s) an explicitly non-Christian* organization/group has done so.
But most importantly, the AA president said he would support other, non-Christian, religions putting their own monuments up, too.
- Anti-Christian could technically be more appropriate, but that has connotations that the monument explicitly denigrates Christianity instead of being a monument celebrating a position that is at-odds with Christianity.
How about the Laws of Thermodynamics? Or make a monument out of an oversize Newton’s cradle? Be nice to have something empirically provable in that little garden.
I like those ideas. There could be an overall legend of “Rejecting Superstitious Thinking” and then a list of achievements in that line, including those mentioned.
But yes: as cringe-inducing as the bench they installed may happen to be, it does at least call the bluff of the “free-speech zone” dodge used to excuse having the 10 Commandments slab set prominently in front of the courthouse.
As far as I can see, it shows the O’Hair quote, but not the Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin quotes.
I guess the local authorities had a “come to Jesus” moment.
There’s not really a “Free Speech Zone” filled with monuments to different religions. All there was was a great big Ten Commandments monument put up by a Christian group on the lawn of the county courthouse lawn. Since that monument was put up last year, no one could even claim it had “historical value” like those monuments that were put up back in the 50s. Faced with a lawsuit, the county decided all of a sudden that the courhouse lawn is a “Free Speech Zone” and, gosh, them atheists can put up a monument too! I’m not sure this country needs free speech “zones”, seeing as how we have “free speech”–there are millions of acres of private land in America (land right next to public roads and easily visible to anyone who drives by) where people can put up graven stone images of anything they want–but there you go.
That’s the beauty of it! It’s “free speech”, so there is no seeing the text to see if it’s appropriate. Given that it’s in a public place you probably couldn’t put up something legally obscene. But otherwise, hey, everyone, come on down to Bradford County, Florida!
I kinda like the monument itself. Not as tacky as I was picturing.
Anyone want to take over/under bets on how many weeks till it vandalized?
Good point.
If the Atheist organization people were smart, they’ll have commissioned a dozen copies to be made and stored, for quick replacements.
Certainly that would puzzle the vandals.
So now I need a Free Speech Zone to exercise any perceived right to Free Speech? I’m a Christian, but I don’t adhere to much of anything offered about by organized religion. I agree with statements that make sense, not statements that follow anyone’s doctrine.
I think this is all about hooey…but I’m glad the Athiests were able to piss some people off.
Actually, there was a proposal to build a monument to Sir Isaac Newton in the 19th century. More than one, in fact. Although there have been monuments to him that were built, none were as spectacular as these, which seem to suggest a nod to the Physics he discovered:
Newton wasn’t an athest, though.
As for a Newton’s Cradle 9which hasn’t much to do with Newton), unless you design something incredibly tough and restricted in its motion (which sorta goes against the minimizing of fricion necessary to keep it working) or put it where it’s supervised, I predict that it wil be rendered immobile in very short order.