Posts
There's a cute little pie chart showing a teeny sliver of "all religions" and a huge swath for "atheists".
I get ticked off at some atheists myself from time to time. The Freedom From Religion Foundation because they're jerks. It mostly centers around that they've decided to be offended that religion can exist where they can observe it and wish the world to be scourged of anything they've interpreted to be religious in nature. Especially when its something I care about and my atheist ass didn't bring no imaginary buddy to the symbol.
But I am ticked off at them for specific actions and don't blame all atheists for their actions.
But I posted it just to yank a Facebook buddy's chain (and it worked) =D.
He's a magnet for the kind of attention from Christian proselytizers that make me want to donate to FFRF!
He so consistently finds this attention where FuzzyGeff and I don't makes us wonder if it's actually him and not them. There were years before we all moved away from each other when were in the same places at the same time, yet it was only Skeezer who attracted the special attention of religious kooks. He still attracts this special attention. Yeah, it's him.
It's entirely possible that I just didn't notice them and it rolled off my back like a water on a duck; but FuzzyGeff would have noticed if it were happening to him.
And it really didn't, beyond some harassment at the gaming table playing AD&D at The ISU Memorial Union. Public place and all...
Honestly, despite the irritation from asshole atheists, I am far more concerned about devout Islam.
Assholes file lawsuits and demand you pay attention to them.
Fanatically devout Muslims murder people.
Even pushy ass Christians don't rise to that level.
Atheists get to be feisty for the same reasons the littlest kid in a big, not-well-disciplined family does. If they aren't feisty and ready to rumble at all times, they get run over roughshod. And I've been reading Monkey Girl, an account of how the "intelligent design" people were trying to get "evil-loution" out of the schools in one Pennsylvania town, and the ensuing hullaballoo. Trust me, Christians may not (mostly) murder people (at least not here; get lost, Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and the Lord's Resistance Army) but they'll cheerfully turn on neighbors they've known for years and do their best to run them out of their jobs and homes for questioning their faith.
ReplyDeleteLeave the goalposts where they are. We ARE talking about here and not some heathen wasteland, like Eire Norte.
DeleteI've noticed that shit like demanding intelligent design be added to curricula follows the eradication of mention of God in the schools and doesn't just pop into existence whole. Like it's a response to people like FFRF making atheism the state religion. Just in case you're not clear on it, the First Amendment forbids making ANY state religion.
These campaigns at schools always morph into prohibitions on personal expression of religion on the part of students even if they started with "good" intent. Again, exactly opposite of what the 1st Amendment is about.
As I keep saying, if you're looking to be offended, you're going to find offense everywhere you look. Stop looking. Because you're missing how offensive you're being with the whole ban-the-entire-mention-of-God meme while you yourself are miffed they're offended by it.
Actually, the solution for the schools is perfectly simple: Get the government out of the school business! This would be better for everybody; the present system forces everybody into lockstep and Ghod help you if you don't fit their mold. Having different schools competing for pupils would be better for the teachers, better for the pupils, and better for everybody else. Not all children are alike, after all...they're all individuals! (One lone voice: "I'm not!")
DeleteAnd if you have God "in the schools" which one are you going to be pushing? One reason that the Catholics fought so hard to keep their separate schools was because, for a long time, the official government schools specifically pushed Protestantism, to which they objected very strongly. And quite a few Jews also have serious reservations about their children being taught Christianity. I've never heard of things like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes being prohibited, but those are strictly voluntary, not mandatory like school is.
I dislike and resent the churches mainly because they cannot or will not mind their own bloody business! If I want to look at dirty books, watch X-rated movies, watch women dancing naked, they may disagree with me, but I expect them to butt out and leave me alone! I don't interfere with their church services, after all. I also do resent the special leniency with which they're treated by the law. Any secular organization that was found to have actively concealed pedophiles for decades and moved them around without warning people about them would look like Dresden after the fire-bombings. And don't get me started about taxes---I just found out that I'm going to get clipped for a bunch of back taxes that they decided I should have paid, and I am not happy about it. Seeing the churches wiggle out of taxes merely for being churches really irks me.