First Amendment Quiz for Atheists

Self | 6/26/2002 | Self

[twntaipan]

Here is a quiz for all atheists:

Which part of the first amendment is most likely to be forgotten by atheists as they seek to purge US society from the scourge of religion?

a. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

b. or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

c. or abridging the freedom of speech,

d. or of the press;

e. or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,

f. and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

If you guessed "B" you are a winner!

Fundamentalist atheists want to use the power of the state to ensure that there are no references to religion in the culture, be it the Pledge of Allegiance or the money we use. Their goal is the eradication of religious expression everywhere.

[DoughtyOne]

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[yendu bwam]

ANd they are hurting themselves. They are causing people to stand up for their rights (especially B, that is!).

[twntaipan]

Which has absolutely what bearing on this issue?

[ChadGore]

In public, we CELEBRATE GOD in many many ways .

If that disscusts you, look away.

[KC Burke]

Many believing conservatives know that an ethical athiest is not the problem. The problem lies with leftist Secular Humanists that would wrest all our heritage from our culture and use Arbitrary Power to wage political war against Jewish and Christian communities by subverting the Constitution. There are many atheists who would fight them with us and I welcome them by my side as Countrymen in a struggle for our nation.

[knuthom]

Talk about intolerance! It's not just that the radical atheists do not want to believe in God. They don't want anyone else to either. The daughter of the man who filed the suit was not required to say the pledge. But he didn't want her to have to listen to it. Think about all the things you would rather not have your child listen to.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

You should change your quiz from atheist to anti-theist, since atheism implies only a non-belief in God. Most of the self-proclaimed atheists that seek publicity have an intense opposition to religion that is not shared by the majority of atheists.

[wireplay]

What about CONSERVATIVE secular humanists such as myself? There are many of us as well. I do not agree with any part of the decision today, I don't proselytize (as many Christians do), and my moral bearings are absolutely solid.

The term 'secular humanist' has been used by the christian bigots to demonize a legitimate belief system. I am hoping that you do not advocate this based upon your message.

[Myrddin]

The 9th Circuit legislated from the bench "to prevent the free exercise thereof". A violation of the "separation of powers". One could argue from a "purist" perspective that Congress did in fact pass a law establishing religion when it inserted "under God" into the pledge in 1954. Passage of that act was itself a direct violation of the 1st amendment. The atheist was arguing for a return to the prior text of the pledge that included no reference to God.

The Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to say the pledge, but they didn't feel the need to deprive others of the option to do it. The court's decision went well beyond what the atheist requested. They trashed the entire pledge as unconstitutional. That is consistent with their leftist, anti-American record.

[coloradan]

What is the difference between an atheist (your version) and an agnostic?

[wireplay]

Amen. I wish more people would just break down the term atheist and see that it is means, literally, 'non theist'.

[aruanan]

BUMP to remind atheist bigots of the beam in their own eyes.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

I would classify an agnostic as someone who has no opinion on whether God exits.

[Myrddin]

Think about all the things you would rather not have your child listen to.

Gay and lesbian indoctrination and recruiting curricula that are forced into public school classrooms comes to mind immediately. Leftist, revisionist history lessons. Anti-gun lies promulgated to instill fear of firearms and a willingness to surrender to government control.

[KC Burke]

The term 'secular humanist' has been used by the christian bigots to demonize a legitimate belief system. I am hoping that you do not advocate this based upon your message.

Well, it will have to be left up to those that know me to assess if I am a bigot, I'll leave that for later. As to "demonizing a legitimate belief system", I don't demonize it, I condemn it as part of the legacy of the world leftist movement from Rousseau through John Dewey.

Now the term "humanist" has meanings for such conservative luminaries as Babbit and Tate, and New Humanist is linked with much tied into the religous thought of Elliot, but Secular Humanist is fully linked to the Humanist Manifesto of Dewey and it is not of the conservative tradition in any form.

Even to meet the traditional conservative first principle of R. Kirk, one doesn't need to be a Jew, Christian or member of a religous community but merely to have a beleif in "An Enduring Moral Order". Secular Humanism as devised by Dewey fails that test according to all I have read.

As Solzhenitsyn says:

The mistake must be at the root, at the very basis of human thinking in the past centuries. I refer to the prevailing Western view of the world which was first born during the Renaissance and found its political expression starting in the period of the Enlightenment. It became the basis for government and social science and could be defined as rationalistic humanism or humanist autonomy: the proclaimed and enforced autonomy of man from any higher force above him.

[Sandy]

They trashed the entire pledge as unconstitutional.

No, they didn't trash the entire pledge as unconstitutional. They held that the 1954 Act which added the words "under God" and the school district's policy of daily recitation of the revised pledge are unconstitutional.

[jlogajan]

It's not just that the radical atheists do not want to believe in God. They don't want anyone else to either.

I'm not sure what your complaint is against evangelical atheists. Surely they have the same rights to want people to disbelieve in god as theists want people to believe in god.

However, neither the atheist or the theist should have special standing in the eyes of the secular state. There shouldn't be a pledge of allegiance to atheism OR theism in any state mandated venue.

And get thee kids to private schools where they can pledge to the great pumpkin if they wish. As a Libertarian I certainly support tax credits for private education.

[Myrddin]

Until the "revised" pledge is modified, there can be no daily recitation within the District #9 boundaries. This must be overturned by the SCOTUS or Congress will have to cave. I'm betting on the former.