# Atheists unveil Florida monument
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 3, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549 "2013-07-03T15:11:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/1 "2013-07-03T15:11:39Z")
A monument for American atheists was recently unveiled in Florida.
[American Atheists Monument](http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/jun/29/atheists-unveil-florida-monument-near-ten-commandm/)
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.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/2 "2013-07-03T15:34:21Z")
Thank God!
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/3 "2013-07-03T16:46:36Z")
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
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/4 "2013-07-03T16:49:42Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/5 "2013-07-03T16:53:59Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#):
>
> Whoever put up this monument doesn’t speak for me either.
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> Ah, organized atheists: making a religion out of nonreligion and feeding the trolls at the same time.
Big A; little a. You can be an Atheist, but you’re likely to be an Asshole about it.
Little a for me, thanks.
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/6 "2013-07-03T17:29:33Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/7 "2013-07-03T17:35:00Z")
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
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### Author:  [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/8 "2013-07-03T18:43:35Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/9 "2013-07-03T18:52:38Z")
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/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/29/atheists-unveil-monument-in-florida-and-promise-to-build-50-more/)
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### Author:  [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/10 "2013-07-03T19:05:57Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/11 "2013-07-03T19:16:42Z")
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.
> [@](#):
>
> While Silverman said he believes religion is wrong and teachings in the Bible are violent, \*\*he said he welcomes non-Christian religions to follow the atheists’ example and put in their own monuments in free-speech zones.
>
> “I will back them because it will be their right,” he said.\*\* “This is one of the tricks that Christians have used, because they go up and call it a free-speech zone and then they’re unopposed. They get their government legitimization because nobody else calls their bluff and puts something in.”
- 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.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/12 "2013-07-03T19:44:43Z")
> [@Learjeff](#):
>
> I think we should erect one for the predicate calculus.
How about the [Laws of Thermodynamics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics)? Or make a monument out of [an oversize Newton’s cradle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_cradle)? Be nice to have something empirically provable in that little garden.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/13 "2013-07-03T21:00:56Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> How about the [Laws of Thermodynamics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics)? Or make a monument out of [an oversize Newton’s cradle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_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.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/14 "2013-07-03T21:18:57Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#):
>
> 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/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/29/atheists-unveil-monument-in-florida-and-promise-to-build-50-more/)
As far as I can see, it shows the O’Hair quote, but not the Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin quotes.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/15 "2013-07-03T21:56:39Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#):
>
> And the AA was explicitly told they could erect their own monument because it’s a FSZ.
I guess the local authorities had a “come to Jesus” moment.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/16 "2013-07-03T23:02:22Z")
> [@Learjeff](#):
>
> But given that it’s in a “free speech” park beside a bunch of monuments to different religions, maybe it’s appropriate.
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_](http://www.news4jax.com/news/Group-protests-10-Commandments-marker-in-Starke/-/475880/13491216/-/qqj9cq/-/index.html), no one could even claim it had “historical value” like [those monuments that were put up back in the 50s.](http://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies/article/Ten-Commandments-went-from-film-to-stone-1674007.php) 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.
> [@](#):
>
> I’d need to see the text, though.
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!
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/17 "2013-07-04T00:12:18Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/18 "2013-07-04T00:59:41Z")
> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@the\_O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_O)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/19 "2013-07-04T01:18:18Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-unveil-florida-monument/662549/20 "2013-07-04T14:30:46Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> How about the [Laws of Thermodynamics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics)? Or make a monument out of [an oversize Newton’s cradle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_cradle)? Be nice to have something empirically provable in that little garden.
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:
> **[Proposed Isaac Newton Monument - Yahoo Search Results](https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Proposed%2BIsaac%2BNewton%2BMonument&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-900)**
> **[The monument to Sir Isaac Newton that never came to be. #whoa](https://popperfont.net/2013/03/12/the-monument-to-sir-isaac-newton-that-never-came-to-be-whoa/)**
>
> This would have been something else, if it came to pass. “In an anonymous letter to the London Times in 1825, Thomas Steele of Magdalen College, Cambridge, proposed enshrining Isaac Newton’s …
> **[Proposed Isaac Newton Monument - Yahoo Search Results](https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Proposed%2BIsaac%2BNewton%2BMonument&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-900)**
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.
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