[sub](Wasn’t sure where to put this, but since it involves religion, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state, I figured GD was a safe bet in case an argument breaks out…)[/sub]
First, there was the Festivus pole erected alongside a nativity scene and Menorah in Deerfield Beach last Christmas. But that was a temporary dealio constructed with beer cans in laid-back, non-fundy South Florida. Now, atheists are classing it up and stepping up their game a notch by successfully gaining approval for this permanent granite monument in front of a Starke, Florida (fundyville, prison town, home of Florida’s deathrow and execution chamber) courthouse, across from a recently installed Ten Commandments monument.
The new monument, planned for installation next month, and brought to you through the efforts of the Florida members of American Atheists and funded by the Stiefel Freethought Foundation, will feature:
While I normally would consider it a waste of money, considering this:
It seems like a reasonable enough thing to do. Although it would have been fun if some Islamic group had wanted to put up some quotes from the Koran to watch the locals try to rationalize why Biblical quotes are OK but the Koran isn’t.
Whatever… If you look at the pictures in the slideshow, it says “American Atheists” in the biggest, most prominently-placed letters, so I assure you that it will be considered an “atheist monument” by effectively 100% of the town it’s located in.
Any bets as to it actually getting installed before someone tries to get an injunction against it? Will they ultimately prefer to negotiate the removal of the Ten Commandments to avoid having this put up? And if/when installed, how long will it last before it’s defaced?
I (an atheist) really don’t get all that hot and bothered by things like the ten commandments showing up in places like court houses of high schools (and I’m willing to bet most of the students don’t even notice them). But that monument they want to put up is really ugly. Also, I wish the quote would start out with “An American Atheist believes…” and not just “An Atheist believes…”. It doesn’t seem right for their little group to decide what every single atheist in the world believes. And now that I write that, I want to say that we’ve had this discussion about them before. With people saying things like “So, if I’m pro-war, I’m not an Atheist anymore?” Either way, I don’t think it’s fair for them to hijack the term.
My main objection is that it’s ugly as shit. I’d expect atheists to have better taste than that. Plus: Atheism describes what a person does NOT believe, but has nothing to do with what he DOES believe.
If you read the actual linked article in the first post people would see
So they HAD to put quotes and ideas on the installation. It is quite ugly but the alternative is to let the appearance direct state sponsorship of silly old Abrahamic laws.
Yes, a handful of the commandments are fine…but more than half of them have nothing to do with our laws.
For the most part almost all of “american atheists” actions are about preventing that perception that what ever religion has the most power locally directly controls the states actions.
They work hard to make sure government enforcing the separation of church and state.
e.g. #2
Thank god (oops broke #3) that one is not codified in US law.
But that’s fine…here is the group that put up the 10 commandments down there breaking #2
Doesn’t matter much, since it’s going to be illegally destroyed by fundamentalist vandals within a month of its installation anyway. Hope AA didn’t spend a bunch of money on it.
