Atheist sign joins nativity scene

lol nice one advertisehere

unfortunately with so much religion intermixing with politics, it does seem like the state capitol is the church lawn. :/

The State Capital is not a church lawn. Church and state must be separate.

Some people say no to that:
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/17429/

He's from CNN.

I'm better than what? Reporting on news? You saw my reply where I said I think "hardening hearts" and whatnot goes overboard, right?

The point of this post was to join the many others dealing with Atheists viewpoints around the holidays, something that is pretty new to us but I think is here to stay!

What generalizations were made? I honestly don't know, so if there were any enlighten me. But the sign should accompany any nativity scene on public property. It is a Christian symbol that even has the baby Jesus in it. If Christianity is going to be displayed on public property, this sign has every right to be along side it.

“Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

It’s the second part of that sentence that constitutes a negative generalization.

Personally I wouldn’t fault a person for having or lacking a religious belief but if you are of the opinion that its ok to typecast an individual based on such a criteria then I would consider you might be prejudice and or ignorant. Whether it comes from a religious, political or social group, group demonization is just plain wrong. You cannot simplify the world in black and white terms (at least when you are dealing with human behavior).

Saying that religion hardens hearts and enslaves minds is no more true then saying rock music is satanic and black people are savages. It’s all prejudice hate speech, plain and simple.

“If Christianity is going to be displayed on public property, this sign has every right to be along side it.”

Right..and that’s why I said; Negative generalizations based on religious beliefs should not be celebrated for the assertions they make, but only for the realization that we live in a country were they can be made.

Free speech is great. I love free speech. All that being said free speech, and all of our inalienable rights, are the products of individualism. Individualism recognizes that all men are created equal, and it also recognizes that men should be judged by their OWN character and not by group association.

Understood. This is a misguided attempt though. I prefer mutual respect. As a rule my friends and family try to restrain themselves from having religious conversations in my presence. In return I restrain from voicing my opinions in their's. It's simply a matter of respect. Good post, in that it does provoke discussion of the issue.

I had an atheist girl in college attack me from behind once when she learned I was a Christian. I mean physically. She threw me to the ground befor I even knew what was going on and screamed curse words into my face. It took two guys to pull her off of me, and my lip was burst open.
That wasn't my only nasty encounter with athiests, just the most violent one. So forgive me if I have a prior prejudice of atheists.

Well as an atheist I say that you being attacked for being a Christian is beyond fucked up. Atheism should never be about attacking people, especially not physically. I think all groups though, whether religious or not, have the fringe lunatic sect that can't handle others not agreeing with them.

I get attacked for being a Christian. Even had my Christmas lights stolen from my yard by Atheists.

I know that not all Atheists are like that, thank you for not being the mean Atheist and being tolerant of us Theists.

If the sign just said "Happy Winter Solace" or whatever, there would be no problem, but it uses hate speech to attack other religions and ruins religious peoples' holidays like Scrooge or The Grinch would.

I myself do not have a problem with Atheists unless they start attacking religion or religious people and then I cite civil rights acts about discriminating against people based on their religion. Some even try to abuse science to disprove God or religions, and it is not even science when they do that, it is junk science. In the Darwin thread most people Atheists and Theists don't understand religion and/or science.

how do u know it was atheists that stole your christmas lights? come on, did they leave you a note identifying their beliefs?

Wow Im sorry to hear that youve been attacked by Atheists (dont know if I believe the Christmas lights thing...probably just vandals since most atheists have lights themselves). honestly this is the first Ive ever heard of such thing (not saying that it doesnt happen, just that ive never heard of it).

I grew up in a town where extreme violence was often exhibited not only towards atheists, but anyone that wasnt protestant born again Christian. A kid I knew was stabbed about 20 times because he was Wiccan. True that was an extreme case, but beatings were not uncommon for non Protestant Christians. Even back when I was Catholic, I was persecuted and harassed for my belief. People on both sides persecute...everyone needs to just quit trying to push their beliefs on others. Spirituality or lack of it is a personal thing and IMO it should be kept that way.

Now this is not to say I am against the atheist sign next to the nativity....but thats just because I feel that government buildings should never have religious symbols on them so if they are going to allow a nativity then they must allow all other beliefs to present their symbols in the same place.

I'm kinda with you and I'm not....where I don't see why they need to take the time to attack religion it is public property with a nativity scene which, right off the bat, violates church and state separation so they have every right to exercise their freedoms. Funny thing is I'm an atheist and I've never actually wished anyone a happy solstice. To me I think it sounds ridiculous. I like this time of the year because of lights and gifts and family and hopefully snow. Shit, I still call it Christmas even though I don't believe in the whole Jesus story.

i like snow too! but i have never seen a white Christmas, like all the songs talk about, maybe this year will be different

The Atheists who are comfortable with their belief don't insist on public displays, because, well, why bother?

It is these Evangelizing Atheists that really confuse me...

Personally, I think those loudest about their beliefs are the least comfortable with them. There can be a lot of guilt associated with abandoning the religion that your family brought you up with.

Becoming over defensive of that belief is a likely side-effect of such feelings.

My religion involves me singing, hanging out with my neighbors who want to be better people, and supporting the largest local charity in the area.

I understand that there are some really terrible religions out there that truly do more harm than good.

But shouldn't a group who claims a love for rationality above all else know better than to make such sweeping statements?

Is my mind honestly going to be better off sitting at home in my underwear watching cartoons?

Bingo, hit the nail on the head.

Some Atheists get pleasure out of causing religious people misery. This story is proof of that.

Not all Atheists are like that, thank goodness.

When you understand that religion is responsible for all war and you choose not to be part of any religion, life in itself becomes miserable. Religion is constant torment. I would never intend to make someone feel that way just as you do not intend to make me feel that way. But, it happens.

Oh come on get over your self pity for being a Christian. If your faith is all you people claim it to be, a little challenge should be welcomed not seen as an attack. Oh and remember that paranoia will destroy ya, so don't think atheists are out to get you. They are just trying to get people to think. I hope you realize you would not be Christian had you been born in certain regions like India or Indonesia. You are Christian most likely because of where you were born not because it is the "right" religion.

Did u say you were upset? yesss! ....jk

Whether it's Christianity or Atheism, belief in Christ, or belief in nothing, it doesn't matter because it divides instead of unites people.

why are you christians so damn vain? you just assume that anything atheists or (like me) agnostics ever want to do is offend you...did you ever take into consideration that maybe having to look at your beliefs offends us? for me particularly it doesnt but it does to a lot of us...every time we try to have just a simple piece of paper up you people get all pissy even though you have an entire set up not to mention what you seem to believe all over every piece of money we use...GET...OVER...YOURSELVES!

In college I decided to goto a meeting of the Secular Humanists, to see what they were about.

While I was there, all they talked about were how some events in the bible could have happened without supernatural means (e.g. a high wind parting the red sea).

In short, they had seemed to chosen to define themselves as "anti-christian". The complete opposite of the thing they think is wrong.

That is the trap I believe the parent post was talking about.

I respect that some people don't think Christianity is the right philosophy for them, and there are a lot of great alternatives to choose from. But please actually choose one!

In short, if you don't like hamburgers, go eat a chicken sandwich or a salad. Standing around complaining about hamburgers is not considered "eating".

@laserdog: The whole point of atheism is that you don't eat anything.

all i hear is "wah, they tried to hurt me and they won!"

i think it's pretty sad that you so easily allow yourself to be upset by others' free expression. remember, you have the choice of what you let get to you.

you've got a whole holiday with decorations, parades, presents and trees dedicated to your religion, and someone put up a placard expressing their feelings. uh, get over it.

@gellpak Well, in my mind of my analogy, not eating would be nihilism.

Atheism is only the rejection of the supernatural.

There are plenty of philosophies that don't involve a higher being to choose from.

But I also empathize with Atheists. There are a lot of terrible Christians out there, the kind who insist the bible is real word for word.

I personally think the sane Christians should do a better job denouncing the fundies, so I get why a lot of Atheists take up that fight.

I just worry that a lot of Atheists are just acting contrarian to the fundies and thinking that qualifies as a useful life philosophy.

There is more to life then not holding provably crazy beliefs.

"listening to what people have to say has nothing to do with religion its just good morals and common sense."

*Applauds*

I know this is old, but thank you, Charmed. I wish more people had your view.