Her’s your cite, John (from http://www.airspeed.com/%7Eshydavid/aa011.htm, but you can find it elsewhere, too):
When George Bush was campaigning for the presidency, as incumbent vice president, one of his stops was in Chicago, Illinois,
on August 27, 1987. At O’Hare Airport he held a formal outdoor news conference. There Robert I. Sherman, a reporter for
the American Atheist news journal, fully accredited by the state of Illinois and by invitation a participating member of the press
corps covering the national candidates had the following exchange with then Vice President Bush.
Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?
Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in god is important to me.
Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?
Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This
is one nation under God.
Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and
church?
Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists.
On October 29, 1988, Mr. Sherman had a confrontation with Ed Murnane, cochairman of the Bush-Quayle '88 Illinois
campaign. This concerned a law- suit Mr. Sherman had filed to stop the Community Consolidated School District 21 (Chicago,
Illinois, suburb) from forcing his first-grade atheist son to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States “one nation under
God” (Bush’s phrase). The following conversation took place.
Sherman: American Atheists filed the Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit yesterday. Does the Bush campaign have an
official response to this filing?
Murnane: It's bullshit.
Sherman: What is bullshit?
Murnane: Everything that American Atheists does, Rob, is bullshit.
Sherman: Thank you for telling me what the official position of the Bush campaign is on this issue.
Murnane: You're welcome
This suit, now in federal district court for over three years, is not considered to be bullshit by the federal judge before whom it is
pending. During the time it has been in the federal court, Robert Sherman’s son, now age nine, has been physically and
psychologically brutalized in his school for refusing to pledge to a “nation under God.”
After Bush’s election but before his taking office, American Atheists wrote to Bush asking that he consider being sworn into
office on the Constitution instead of the Bible and also asking him to retract his August 1987 statement. Bush had his White
House buddy, C. Boyden Gray, counsel to the president, reply on White House stationery on February 21, 1989, stating that
substantively Bush stood by his original statement.
"As you are aware[sic], the President is a religious man who neither supports atheism nor believes that atheism
should be unnecessarily encouraged or supported by the government."
American Atheists had not asked Bush to either “unnecessarily” or even “necessarily” encourage or support them. All they
wanted was an apology for the insult. Many atheists wrote to Bush over the issue and Nelson Lund, the associate counsel to
the president, found it necessary to reply on April 7, 1989, directly to the American Atheist General Headquarters, Inc. This
letter from the White House said that Mr. Gray was adhering to his statements in the February 21, 1989, letter. On May 4,
1989, Jon Murray, the president of American Atheists, again wrote to President Bush demanding a clarification of and an
apology for his statement that atheists “should not be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots.” Bush
ignored the letter, as did Gray and Lund. Mr. Murray also asked for an appointment so that a group of representatives of
American Atheists could meet with Bush.
Mr. Joseph W. Hagin 11 responded on May 25, 1989, again on White House stationery. He stated that the president
“appreciated your taking the time to write and your willingness to share your thoughts” but that “due to heavy commitments on
his official calendar” the president could not meet with representatives of American Atheists. On January 9, 1990, George
Bush, in signing a proclamation for the Martin Luther King holiday, had the gall to remark that “bigots” must be brought to
justice. Again, American Atheists threw his words back in his face, asking what his designation of atheists as being unworthy of
citizenship was. On February 5, 1990, Mr. Nelson Lund replied again on White House stationery— stating
"We believe that our position has been adequately explained in previous correspondence."
Indeed it has and that position is that George Bush is a bigot.
slythe, Gaudere and jab: We’ve all been down this road with ol’ Johnny before on the old AOL board. He doesn’t believe Jews should be allowed to practice their religion (or not practice it) as they see fit; he believes they should practice it how HE sees fit. Ask him about kosher foods and ritual cleansing by Orthodox Jewish women. He’ll go positively apopleptic.
“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather
