20071030   

An Angry Atheist

Michael considered fate at 13:51   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment

As is often the case, other people can and do produce better arguments for my personal positions than I do. Case in point, a lesbian atheist explains why we (atheists) might be a bit angry and why that is a good thing:

I'm angry that atheist soldiers -- in the U.S. armed forces -- have had prayer ceremonies pressured on them and atheist meetings broken up by Christian superior officers, in direct violation of the First Amendment. I'm angry that evangelical Christian groups are being given exclusive access to proselytize on military bases -- again in the U.S. armed forces, again in direct violation of the First Amendment. I'm angry that atheist soldiers who are complaining about this are being harassed and are even getting death threats from Christian soldiers and superior officers..

.. I'm angry that the 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush, said of atheists, in my lifetime, "No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God."

.. I'm angry that it took until 1961 for atheists to be guaranteed the right to serve on juries, testify in court, or hold public office in every state in the country.

And that is just the start of it. Luckily, she is a smart cookie and level-headed to boot, so a lot of the typical responses from religious folk are either addressed ahead of time in her post or politely debated in her followup.

Not surprisingly, her site was blocked by the company firewall as Pornography... Yeah, of the mind.