To tell you the truth, it’s getting harder to deal with the horrible things said about us, though.  This is especially true as the attacks against us have been growing steadily in the past few years.  It’s frankly infuriating, but I will do my best to continue to monitor religious bigotry, especially against the nonreligious, and present it to you.  There is a bright side: the bigots are more vocal against us because we are being more vocal.  That is bound to happen.  Many nonreligious are no longer scared to speak out, nor are we scared to simply acknowledge that we exist.  In that sense, we are continuing to gain ground.

To those of you who have written to me during this absence, I have not ignored you.  Expect responses soon.

Now on to the promised links:

Christian Bus Ads Fire Back (KCCI.com)

Christian ministry “Covenant of Love” is has their own pro-Christian ads on buses on Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority buses this month.  It is reportedly in response to the recent atheist ads that have been on buses throughout the country.  From what I have seen, the article title seems misleading.  The ads don’t appear confrontational in any way; I would hardly say that they “fire back.”  They simply express their own positive view of Christianity, and that’s a great thing.  This is what we need, dialogue, which we have been essentially excluded from for too long.  We get our say and the religious get theirs.  Religious ads have existed since long before the atheist ads, though.  One could argue the religious already more than had their chance, and in fact dominated the discussion.  This is more confirmation that we are making headway.  We are a threat.  Despite the long history of unopposed religiosity, they feel that they need to respond to us.

Atheist group takes message to Lakeland via billboard (Tampa Bay Online – TBO.com)

Talking about ads, another atheist group has put up a billboard, this time by the Atheists of Florida.  As with the rest, there is nothing offensive unless one chooses to be offended.  It’s a message to other like-minded people that they are not alone, just as with other billboards that have gone up: “Don’t Believe in God?  You are not alone.”

Of course, the website’s comments display the same bigotry and irrational thought we have come to expect from bigots whenever atheists dare even display that we exist.  For example:

Posted by ( zgolf1 ) on 11/02/2009 at 01:53 pm.

I think that the people behind this billboard should stand on a street corner in Polk county and spread their word directly to the people. I am fairly certain that before the day was out that their beliefs would change once that were loaded onto bayflight.

Threatening members of the Atheists of Florida with physical violence because they state that atheists exist?  That’s not very Christian.

I almost forgot about Blog Against Theocracy!  This is the last day of it, so at least I noticed before it was too late.  From my earlier post announcing my participation:

“Blog Against Theocracy” is an event happening on blogs of those who understand the importance of defending our constitutionally required separation of church and state.  From April 10-12, look out for posts all over the blogosphere, including here on SDR, concerning varied issues relating to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  This is not an atheist blogswarm, per se, but is open all who support Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation.”

The Establishment Clause: It Applies to the Nonreligious Too!

There is a bigoted and invalid criticism some religious bigots levy against the nonreligious.  It isn’t a criticism of the lack of religion or belief in a god, which is, true or false, a completely valid intellectual argument to make in good faith.  No idea is beyond criticism.   This specific claim is different; it is not in good faith.  Some claim that the nonreligious are not protected under the United States Constitution’s freedom of religion as religious citizens are!  This is so unbelievably disgusting I must repeat it: they claim that atheists and others with no religion do not have one of the most basic rights that our country was founded upon.

Those who make such an argument aren’t basing it on anything legally and constitutionally factual.  They are expressing their absolute hate – not of atheism, but of atheists – by making a claim that they wish were true.  This is the definition of bigotry, disliking people simply for holding a view, not anyone’s actual actions.  Criticizing destructive actions if they are based on a specific viewpoint, and then pointing out the actions were due to the views the actors hold is acceptable.  Hating a whole group of people who have done nothing other than to hold specific views is the clearest expression of bigotry.  Attempting to remove civil rights protections from that group, or claim they never had them in the first place, is a another level of disgusting.

These bigots want it to be true so that they can persecute the nonreligious, or at the least so that we cannot complain when our civil rights are violated – we wouldn’t have them anymore.  Why otherwise would they make such a ridiculous, untrue claim?  They already believe the nonreligious are evil and therefore morally deserve anything we get.  If the nonreligious have no constitutional right to their views of religion, it breaks down the legal barrier to seeing them as American citizens like anyone else.  If we lack a constitutional right granted to others, we are lesser citizens.  Religious bigots love the thought of that.  If we are lesser people, as they believe, then why should we have the same rights as the religious?  Does this sound familiar?  It’s the same justification used when blacks had less rights than whites.

The First and Fourteenth Amendments

When debunking this claim, the scope of the First Amendment must first be established. The Establishment Clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  This clause has been clearly and repeatedly interpreted by the Supreme Court and constitutional scholars as barring government from establishing or discriminating against religious views.  One can argue that this discusses Congress, not other parts of government or state governments.  The prevailing interpretation is that no part of federal government can discriminate on religious grounds, and as per the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states cannot either:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The fact that the Establishment Clause is meant to keep religion out of government completely (and government out of religion) is reinforced by the fact that the First Amendment’s writer, Thomas Jefferson, described in his own words that it creates “a wall of separation between church and state.”  The Establishment Clause, therefore, must protect all of us, whether religious or nonreligious. As per the Equal Protection Clause, all of the Constitutional rights apply to all citizens of the United States.  The First Amendment does not specify that one must be religious to have religious rights.  There is no freedom to have religious belief if there is no freedom not to have religious belief (in recent popular parlance, “freedom of religion and freedom from religion”).  Otherwise, government would be promoting religion over non-religion, which would surely be no wall of separation.

Hypocrisy

Let’s take those of the nonreligious who are atheist, for instance.  Atheism isn’t a religion and isn’t a religious belief, it’s the very lack of belief.  This doesn’t make atheists any less protected.  Atheism is not a religious belief, but it is certainly an idea about religion.  Freedom of religion has never been defined as protecting only “beliefs.”  One doesn’t need to be religious to have opinions about religion, and it is these opinions that freedom of religion protects.  Nowhere does it say that the nonreligious are exempt from such protection, no matter how badly the bigots would like to believe the contrary.  As an aside, this shows the hypocrisy of and how disingenuous many anti-atheist bigots are: they call atheism a religion that requires faith when it suits them, but then admit it isn’t a religion in order to claim we aren’t protected by the First Amendment.

In Praise of The Establishment Clause: For Us All

Separation of church and state is a great thing for all citizens, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, any other religion, or no religion.  All Americans should use this time to reflect and be thankful for the founding fathers’ gift to us, one important enough to be the first addition to the Bill of Rights along with freedom of speech.  We should be happy to live in a country where the religious can worship as they choose and the nonreligious can choose not to.  Freedom of religion that only protects the religious is not freedom at all.  Luckily, the bigots’ wet dream isn’t reality.

“Blog Against Theocracy” is an event happening on blogs of those who understand the importance of defending our constitutionally required separation of church and state.  From April 10-12, look out for posts all over the blogosphere, including here on SDR, concerning varied issues relating to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  This is not an atheist blogswarm, per se, but is open all who support Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation.”

February 18, 2009

Dear Supporter,

Congratulations! Yesterday, President Obama signed into law an economic stimulus package that DID NOT include funding for the Compassion Capital Fund.

Because you took a few minutes out of your day and wrote to your Senators, you helped to stop $100 million from being funneled to religious organizations that otherwise would have been permitted to engage in discriminatory hiring practices.

The Secular Coalition for America is proud of you and the U.S. Senators who worked on the conference report for making sure that faith-based funding was not included in the stimulus package.

We have had several great victories so far this year: an attempt to use taxpayer dollars for divinity schools and other religious buildings on college campuses was rejected, as was an attempt to re-instate the Global Gag Rule that President Obama had overturned a week earlier.

Please continue to support the work that we do by taking action and by supporting us financially.

Congratulations again!

The Secular Coalition for America

EVENT NOTICE

WHO:   Mary Bellamy, Assistant Director for Programs, and Woody Kaplan, Advisory Board Chair, Secular Coalition for America
WHAT:  Ethical Culture Society of Rockland County
WHEN:   Sun., Feb. 8, 10:45 a.m.
WHERE:  Peace Through Play Nursery School, 8 Amber Ridge Road, Chestnut Ridge, New York

Mary and Woody hope to meet you in Chestnut Ridge where they will be speaking to the Ethical Culture Society of Rockland County at 10:45 am on Sunday, February 8, concerning “More Than A Presidential Shout-out:  How the nation’s first lobbying organization for nontheists is working to remove the theocratic yoke from our federal government.”

Are you a good writer with an interest in helping bring attention to discrimination against the nonreligious?  Can you post at least one short to medium length (of course longer is always welcome too) analysis of recent related news or events a week?  Send me an email at sdreport [at] bunda.org including a sample article about a relevant topic or news article.  If you seem right for Secular Discrimination Report, it might end up as your first post.

In short, updates will resume soon.  There is, unfortunately, a lot to talk about.