The Gaytheist Agenda

The FFRF bus ads are coming to San Francisco, as I mentioned earlier. Enter the “atheists are intolerant yadda yadda” complaints. That’s expected. But why is it that so many people who object to atheism and/or atheists obviously don’t understand the concepts?

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This rankles me as much as a crazy email about the Eid stamp. To be an atheist is to be, by definition, closed to the idea of god. That thinking is not free, it’s limited. It’s the opposite of open-mindedness. It doesn’t matter how much evidence you have. What matters is that your mind is made up–closed, not open. The one quality you share with theists is certainty (and what a devil is certainty).
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To be an atheist is to be, by definition, closed to the idea of god. I get so tired of non-atheists, who obviously know nothing about atheism, attempting to define us all. I know there are other atheists who feel the same as I’ve heard their weary and frustrated complaints about this problem. That thinking is not free, it’s limited. It appears McMahon is also mistaken about the definition of “freethinker”.

So here is a basic primer:

There are, according to Dawkins, seven levels of theistic probability. Atheists occupy two levels of that scale; levels six and seven. Most atheists are weak atheists who simply don’t believe in gods. It’s a smaller subset of atheists, the strong atheists, who actively deny the existence of gods.

I’m a weak atheist, level six on the Dawkins scale. I don’t’ believe in gods (any gods, not just “God”). I used to be a devout Christian but I came to realize that the Bible was full of inconsistencies and contradictions, and that there simply wasn’t evidence for the god I’d been taught to believe in. If empirical evidence of one or more gods were to be presented to me I’d analyze it and make a determination. I’m open to the possibility that gods exist; I simply don’t believe because thus far I’ve found no convincing evidence to date (this isn’t an invitation to proselytize, thank you). So how do I, and the millions of others like me, fit into McMahon’s worldview of atheists as closed-minded and limited in thinking?

Likewise, attacking other peoples’ faith is not the same as tolerance:
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Some of these messages are witty, some mocking, some taken out of context, but all, as presented, are intolerant. I’ve spent a lot of time in San Francisco, and I’m sure that many San Franciscans will agree with these signs. That’s not the same as being tolerant of them. Other San Franciscans will not agree with them but will tolerate them because honestly, this campaign isn’t going to shock anyone in San Francisco. That’s a form of tolerance, but it’s not the high form.

Why are we always expected to treat peoples’ faith with kid gloves? Religious groups constantly put up signs others would find offensive and intolerant, yet I don’t see dozens of newspaper articles and LTTEs each time a church billboard goes up. Advertisers can insinuate we smell bad, are too fat, dress poorly and have no friends. Political signs can hint that we’re going to harm children or destroy the nation if we don’t vote a certain way. How is it that atheists are “intolerant” or “attacking” the faith of others because they merely express the fact that they don’t believe in gods?

Religious believers routinely express their beliefs in public. They tell others, “Your god is false”, “Gays are perverts”, “Atheists are fools”, “You’re a sinner”, “You’re going to burn in hell”, “You should follow my god because….”. Why do they think they should be protected from others expressing their opinions? We must not allow religion and “faith” to be shielded from discussion and even criticism. To do so would be imprudent and potentially dangerous.

 

 
We’ll make a trip to the city just to see them! From the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

If you’re looking for “a sign,” you won’t find one from above on more than 75 buses in San Francisco over the next month.

Plenty of irreverent and thought-provoking messages, compliments of the national Freedom From Religion Foundation, are being unrolled this week.

The Madison, Wis.-based association, representing nearly 14,000 nonbelievers nationwide and more than 2,000 in California, is unveiling 75 “king” exterior signs with the messages: “Imagine No Religion” and Mark Twain’s “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” Both messages are printed against a colorful stained-glass backdrop.

Additionally, 200 interior bus signs are going up, featuring six provocative quotations by five famous skeptics of history, plus a quote from a the very contemporary Richard Dawkins, author of the blockbuster bestseller, The God Delusion.

Dawkins’ smiling face is juxtaposed by one of his famous lines from The God Delusion: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.”

A four-line poem by Emily Dickinson is turned into an interior bus card featuring her image:

“Faith” is a fine invention
When gentlemen can see–
But microscopes are prudent
In an emergency!”

Agnostic “attorney for the damned” Clarence Darrow is depicted and quoted saying: “I don‘t believe in God, because I don’t believe in Mother Goose.”

Actress Butterfly McQueen, famous for her typecast role as “Prissy” in the movie, “Gone with the Wind,” is quoted saying: “As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion.” McQueen was a nearly lifelong atheist and a Lifetime Member of the Foundation.

Actress Katharine Hepburn is memorialized: “I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe that there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people” (Ladies Home Journal, Oct. 1991).

The Foundation launched a national billboard campaign in late 2007, which has now visited more than 20 states and 30 cities (including San Francisco last December). Billboard messages include the Lennonesque “Imagine No Religion,” “Beware of Dogma,” “Keep Religion OUT of Government,” and “Praise Darwin: Evolve Beyond Belief.”

“We’re delighted to take our important message that we can be free of superstition to the public in San Francisco. We think advertising on public transportation is ‘patriotic,’ and supports passengers who are choosing public transportation,” noted Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

“These bus signs are a ‘sign of the times,’ ” says Dan Barker, Foundation co-president. “Those of us who are nonreligious– freethinkers, atheists, and agnostics–are a growing force in America.” San Francisco has been identified in surveys as one of the cities with the fewest believers and the fewest churchgoers.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is a national association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) that has been working since 1978 to keep church and state separate.

Jack Waldvogel is treasurer for the Petoskey Board of Education and owner of Waldvogel Insurance Agency. He decided he was tired of this PC crap whereby the school recognizes that while children are away from school for a week or so at the end of December they might celebrate a variety of holidays, if they celebrate any at all. He wanted the school to officially recognize his holiday and to heck with everyone else! So he sent an e-mail in which he threw a tantrum and made threats in order to get his way. (Waldvogel claims the e-mail was meant to be tongue in cheek but read that last sentence–emphasis mine–he meant it.)

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Frankly, I’m personally offended by this, and feel incredible regret for whomever comes up with this stuff. I think political correctness is just so much crap, and we have gone way overboard. We are, in spite of what the Obamessiah proclaims, STILL a Christian nation, founded on Judeo Christian principles. God is included in every State Constitution, and His name is embedded on every Federal Building in Washington, DC.

Two choices here for our school district….either agree to change the “December vacation” back to “Christmas Break”, in ALL future publications (including the school calendar) voluntarily, or I will make a motion to change it at the NEXT Board meeting, and raise such a stink, and bring out every redneck Christian Conservative north of Clare, to compel the District to do so. The press will love this one….. TV, Radio, and the print media. We may go Statewide with this one. I’m not in the least interested what our school lawyers might think of this, they can celebrate or fail to celebrate however they wish.

Our children need to know that we are a Christian nation and taking all reference to a higher being out of our educational vocabulary is wrong. Let the Ramadamians and the Kwanzanians bring their celebrations to school too….to share with our Christian children, but don’t cut God out of the school completely. Madalyn Murray O’Hare, the heretic, has been dead for years.

Commit this one to memory; Neutrality to religion is not hostility to religion. By not mentioning religion or religious holidays by name schools are not “cutting God out of school”, they are merely refraining from pushing religion on the children. (I’m sure Jack Waldvogel and others of his ilk wouldn’t like it if Winter Break were suddenly re-named Kwanzaa Break or Yule Break.) By not endorsing a particular religion schools are fulfilling their Constitutional obligations. They are in no way forbidding religion. Students are always free to believe and worship as they choose.

Don’t assume this is a joke…… I’m being as serious as I possibly can here.

Jack Waldvogel

The school board kowtowed to his outrageous demands and changed the name of their “Winter Break” to “Christmas break”. Apparently all you need to do to get whatever you want there is tantrum and threaten to bring your screaming redneck friends.

Thankfully the Freedom From Religion Foundation stepped in to put an end to this patently illegal situation. The school board since decided it would not change the name of the Winter Break.

After the Freedom of Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint Aug. 25 on behalf of a school district patron and the Foundation’s Michigan members, the Petoskey Board of Education reversed its decision to use the term “Christmas break” on the school calendar.

On Aug. 18 during a closed session, the school board voted unanimously to change the wording of the school calendar from “Winter holiday break” to “Christmas break.” That was eight days after the board treasurer, Jack Waldvogel, sent an inflammatory e-mail to district staff and board members. Either make the change voluntarily, Waldvogel said, “or I will make a motion to change it at the NEXT Board meeting, and raise such a stink, and bring out every redneck Christian Conservative north of Clare, to compel the District to do so.”
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The statement continued: “The ability or right to change the wording is not at issue. It is well-settled that schools have the right to refer to the break as Christmas. Christmas is a federal holiday and the vacation period can be named as such, as has been traditionally accepted. However, it is also well-established that government actions (including public school boards) must have a secular purpose for their actions (based on a finding in the federal court case Lemon v. Kurtzman). The change to ‘Christmas break’ cannot be initiated or driven based on a religious agenda. This board does not wish to expend the district’s limited resources on legal issues which in all likelihood would not be successful.”
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Jack Waldvogel has every right to believe and worship as he chooses. What he doesn’t have the right to do is force his beliefs on every school child in the Petoskey school system. It’s a pity he can’t understand the difference.

 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sued to prevent unconstitutional engravings from being placed in the new Capitol Visitor Center in Wasington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to stop the engraving of “In God We Trust” and the “one nation under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in the new Capitol Visitor Center.
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The House and Senate passed resolutions this month approving the inscription of the mottos in prominent areas of Capitol Visitor Center, which serves as the entrance and security screening for tourists.
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Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said historical references to God should not be censored for political correctness.

“The Founders based the Constitution and our laws on religious faith and principles that clear the way for individual freedom,” he said in a statement. “Our true motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ expresses this fact, and we cannot allow a whitewash of America’s religious heritage.”

The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion
Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11
Ratified by U.S. Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by President John Adams on June 10, 1797.

However, Gaylor said the mottos are inaccurate since “In God We Trust” and the insertion of “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance were adopted in the 1950s as anti-communist measures.

“They wanted this up there because they think God is the foundation of our government,” Gaylor said. “Boy, are they misinformed.”
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Of course the RRRWers are all having the vapors. They’re trying to take God out of our nation! Frankly if God is as all powerful as reported it would take more than a few lawsuits by a tiny minority to oust him. Why should such a deity need piddly engravings, monuments and idols in his honor anyway?

Then there’s Antonio Fins who says “put the mottos there and STFU because the First Amendment only guarantees us our right to religion, not your right to be free of our religion”. Typical Christianist values there. We’re the majority so the rest of you can suck it! Of course Fins and his ilk are also the type who break out in a cold sweat at the thought that their precious religion may not always be the majority, because those engravings might one day say “In Allah We Trust” or something else. It’s not a wonder they’re so vicious about staying in power and keeping all their propaganda monuments in place.

Lest anybody get the notion that the Big Mean Atheists are trying to strip God completely out of the public eye, think again. The Capitol is drowning in religious imagery. There’s no need to add to this two phrases that give to visitors the express implication that the US officially endorses a particular religion.

If you disagree, just change the phrases to In Allah We Trust, One Nation Under Thor, In FSM We Trust, One Nation Under Satan, etc. Then perhaps you’ll see that it’s not so innocuous as it may seem.

 

Most people are familiar with Sally Kern’s anti-gay rants and her fervent desire to imprison us and force “ex-gay” torture upon us. Fewer know about Birmingham mayor Larry Langford and his claim that all Amurka needs to turn itself around is some Bibles and sackcloths, for if we were to all do more prayin’ and Bible readin’ everything would right itself. Langford even ordered several thousand Bibles and sackcloths for his city to prove how effective prayer and the Word of God were. Of course Mr. Righteous himself was arrested by the FBI not long after for money laundering and bribery. I guess he just didn’t do enough praying and Bible reading. But then again it seems so many of the Bible reading and praying types are also the criminal types, so perhaps the answer isn’t, as they so fervently insist, religion. But I digress.

While Larry Langford is pretty much out of the spotlight, Sally Kern keeps thrusting herself back in, partly because the folks in Oklahoma keep voting for her. What’s she up to now? Grab a bowl of popcorn and read on.

[W]hat caused the economic problems that caused the stimulus package that aroused Gov. Sanford? Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has finally answered that question: our sins. Kern has drafted a resolution that puts the current economic crisis squarely on the backs of libertines and godless people who have produced a moral crisis. This includes Obama’s refusal to “uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in recognition of our National Day of Prayer.”
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Sanford had an affair because of the stimulus package? That’s a new one, and certainly more creative than blaming Gay Marriage. Sin caused the economic crisis? Let’s see all of the megachurch clergy, RRRW politicians like Kern and others who scream about “sin” give up their money, their mansions and all of their other possessions for the good of the economy. Let them tend to the sick, the poor and the needy and preach directly to them instead of doing so from afar. That’s what Jesus recommended, after all. Or is it only from their gold-saddled high horses that they feel comfortable dictating the lives of others?

OKLAHOMA CITIZEN’S PROCLAMATION FOR MORALITY
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WHEREAS, “It is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand” (John Adams); and

WHEREAS, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with
human passions unbridled by Religion and Morality” (John Adams); and

WHEREAS, “Our Constitution was made only for a Moral and Religious people” (John Adams); and
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“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion”
Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, Passed unanimously by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams, 1797

“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it”
John Adams

“Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”
John Adams

WHEREAS, “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God (Benjamin Franklin); and

“I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.”
Benjamin Franklin

“If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Indeed, when religious people quarrel about religion, or hungry people quarrel about victuals, it looks as if they had not much of either among them.”
Benjamin Franklin

WHEREAS, “God who gave us life gave us liberty and can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God” (Thomas Jefferson); and
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“Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Thomas Jefferson

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law.”
Thomas Jefferson

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WHEREAS, this nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse, and many other forms of debauchery; and
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Funny. In 2005, when that fine Christian GWB was in office, Oklahoma ranked 13th on the list for violent crimes–that meaning they had the 13th highest rate in the nation per 100,000 people in their state. Meanwhile naughty blue states that promote “sinful” things rank far lower. For example MA was number 40, CT was #41, ME was #47 and VT was #48. Oklahoma also has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation–6.0 divorces per 1,000 people compared to 3.0/1,000 in those debauched New England states. Why again are people from Oklahoma preaching to others about “sin”?

WHEREAS, grieved that the Office of the president of these United States has refused to uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in giving recognition to our National Day of Prayer; and

The National Day of Prayer has only been a “tradition” since 1952, and was implemented at the insistence Billy Graham who, like many of his ilk, lied to achieve his agenda. Since then it’s been co-opted by the RRRW as a means of shoving radical evangelical Christian theology into the government and onto Americans. Obama recognized the Day of Prayer, which is plenty. But as usual Kern and her ilk want more. They want the government to not only recognize but to elevate their religion above all others and to actively promote it.

WHEREAS, deeply disturbed that the Office of the president of these United States disregards the biblical admonitions to live clean and pure lives by proclaiming an entire month to an immoral behavior;

Pride Month has been around for decades and has nothing to do with Obama. Obama recognized Pride month the same way he did the Day of Prayer; with a proclamation. Funny how those proclamations are far too little when they’re for the RRRW, and a sure sign of the apocalypse when they’re for us.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we the undersigned elected officials of the people of Oklahoma, religious leaders and citizens of the State of Oklahoma, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world, solemnly declare that the HOPE of the great State of Oklahoma and of these United States, rests upon the Principles of Religion and Morality as put forth in the HOLY BIBLE; and

BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, believers in the One True God and His only Son, call upon all to join with us in recognizing that “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord,” and humbly implore all who love Truth and Virtue to live above reproach in the sight of God and man with a firm reliance on the leadership and protection of Almighty God; and

BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, humbly call upon Holy God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment, and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we repent of our great sin.
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
First Amendment, US Constitution, Ratified 12/15/1791.

Here’s an idea for Sally Kern. When Oklahoma gets the moat out of it’s own eye it can come and preach to the rest of the country about how all the “sinful” states (with their lower divorce rates, crime rates, teen pregnancy rates, etc.) should be running their lives. But I won’t be holding my breath. Kern and her ilk like to micromanage the lives of others and shove their religion on everyone else by any means necessary. They never manage to actually live according to the twaddle they spend so much time screaming about. Such is the way of the religious hypocrite.

Better yet, if Kern and pals like the idea of living in a theocracy so much they could always move to Iran…

 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking votes for its next bus campaign slogan. There are six slogans (two of which are similar), or you can suggest your own.

*Religion Once Ruled the World. It Was Known as the Dark Ages. (Ruth Hurmence Green)
*The truth shall set you free from religion.
*Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings (Victor Stenger)
*Hang out with atheists. It’s more fun than hanging on a cross. (Just for fun)
*Religion flies planes into buildings Science flies humans to the moon
*9/11 was a faith-based initiative

Cast your vote and see suggestions by others. My contribution: Religion is not under attack. It is the attack.