Posted on 05/21/2013 5:08:31 PM PDT by Former Fetus
An atheist, Buckner believes that no religious literature should be provided in government-owned lodging, and he presented that concern to management at the Amicalola Falls State Park.
Officials told Buckner they would remove the Bibles from all state park resorts while the state attorney general looked into the matter. Not long afterward, however, the AG issued a ruling saying the state was on firm legal ground because it hadn’t paid for the books. On Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal ordered the Bibles returned.
Deal argued that if the state didn’t pay for them, it can’t be seen as endorsing them. He also noted that any religious group can donate literature. But his action sparked a string of comments on social media and captured the attention of local news television stations. It also prompted some to question why this hasn’t been more of an issue in the US before.
Buckner is pondering his next move. One idea he is considering is to test the state’s offer to accept literature from other religions in state-owned lodging. He also said he would be willing to participate if an organization with similar beliefs decides to launch a lawsuit over the issue.
‘When you go into a state park cabin and the only piece of religious literature there is a Protestant Bible, that suggests the government’s endorsed that particular perspective’
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Lets keep you out of the state of GA as well. :-)
“What the subject of this article is engaging in is what I have seen properly called “evangelical atheism”, which is to say that he is trying to prevent as many people as he can from believing in God, or, possibly, even get some believers to stop. There is no logical reason for that, unless he has a fear of that religion. Otherwise, why would he care that people are Christians? “
So by your logic what is the logical reason for engaging in “evangelical Christianty”?
Why are you on FR ? Do you have any conservative views ?
I don’t see much conservatism in your posts, just wisecracks from an opinionated blowhard.
First of all I did not offer a dichotomy false or otherwise. You have just offered a generalization of the opinion of all atheists, while I was offering an interpretation of the opinion of one particularly litigious atheist in the article.
Second, the idea of the government to "allow all religions equally" presumes a government above all religions answering to a system of ethics which is above religion...or more to the point: above OTHER religions...and conforming to secular religion. In other words, you are saying atheists want government to keep each of the lesser religions (the ones that have god or gods or something super natural in them) on a leash and keep them out of public areas. I don't think all atheists are as dogmatically committed to subjugating other religions beneath secularism as you make them out to be.
What our constitution says is that Congress should not make laws about religion, not that Congress allows religions equally.
“I don’t see much conservatism in your posts, just wisecracks from an opinionated blowhard.”
LOL. Well, I can’t deny that.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea and would have no problem with it at all. I’d also be curious as to the usage stats of each text. “
No one i GA gives rats azz what you think is a good idea. Tell it to the Governor who has ordered them put back in the rooms and by the way he doesn’t give a rats azz what you think either. :-)
BTW, the Gita is something that would interest me. When I went to a B&B a few years ago, they offered me a Nicholas Stark novel that didn't interest me at all.
II really loathe TV's, but I find they don't bother me when I don't turn them on. Same goes, mutatis mutandis, for Other People's Sacred Writ. Bottom line: act like a grown-up. If you don't want it, leave it be.
Perhaps you didn’t insult their religion.
That’s the correct reading of the Establishment Clause, whattajoke. Original intent was to prohibit a national State Church. Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion meant make no law.
We’ve got one now, though.
It’s atheist.
“Oneof my favorite travel stories of all time took place in northern Georgia - and I still correspond with the parties involved.”
Whats the goats name? :-)
I was simply saying what the argument is. I couldn’t care less what books are in my hotel room in whatever drawer I never open. Be it the bible or the Gita or Dianetics.
Buckner clearly needs a beat down.
You were the one that introduced the concept of government ranking religions and allowing them. I rejected the notion that the government has been empowered to allow religion--which would imply that the government has the power to disallow religion in some cases. I will grant that you proposed a system of ranking that was equal--quite egalitarian of you--but I am not offering an alternative system of government ranking religion--I am insisting (along with First Amendment to back me) that there be NO system of ranking religion by government. I am asserting that the government is out of its jurisdiction to ban a book from a public area because the book is religious.
I was given a new, very nicely bound, hardcover Bhagavad Ghita with beautiful color plates throughout by a woman at a rest stop here in NC years ago. I still have it and have read it. It doesn’t offend me in the least. They appear to have some aspects of truth. I don’t accept it as divinely inspired, though.
I’ve got a Mormon Bible and The Pearl Of Great Price, too. Read it, kept it. Still have it. Helped convert the missionary who gave it to me. The additions and alterations made to the Bible by Joseph Smith are wrong, they’re fairly evidently fanciful and I reject it. Very clearly not divinely inspired. Mormons themselves do not offend me. Fine people for the most part, civic minded, moral. Just misled.
BS. Atheists fear Christianity so much so, that every single time they are in charge anywhere, they've murdered millions of us. See Ho Chi Minh, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot, Jean-Marie Collot d’Herbois, Kim il-Sung, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Erich Honecker, Tafari Benti, Jacques Nicolas.. just for starters.
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