Perfect response, thank you for articulating your thoughts. If there were a secular banner placed beside the prayer, there would be a similar outcry, Jessica would still be vilified and called an "evil b****", and atheists would get just as bad a "rap" as they got with this story. Christians, don't even try to act like the double standard doesn't exist. You can tell us to not be bothered by a little prayer poster at a school, or scripture inscribed on a government building, or say to "just deal with" incessant proselytizing by friends and coworkers, but if god forbid the shoe is ever on the other foot, suddenly it's all about evil, militant atheists out to destroy America with subliminal brainwashing.
I think the simpler, easier question to ask in these scenarios is this: If you placed a Christian message with a Satanic or Wiccan message, would people think it should stay? If not, then its a clear decision of picking one religion over another. And if it's a government entity that's doing it, then that's not allowed.
It's pretty clear that these folk think that taking down the banner is "supporting/promoting atheism", when it's not even remotely close to that. These are the people who think atheism is a religion. They think that anything that tells them they can't push their beliefs on you, means that it is promoting your belief instead. This is how they try to cry foul and create a double standard. Suddenly, lack of a belief is a belief in itself. Sorry, but that's not how it works, guys. Take this particular message, which makes claims to the actual existence of God and its purpose in our lives, and hang it in a school. Oh, the outcry wouldn't be 'similar', it would be a class 5 f***in meltdown. THIS is an example of a message OPPOSITE to a school prayer. This is something that does not belong in the public arena. Saying that people should honor the separation of church and state and not promote their particular theologies using a public/government platform is not "gnostic atheist".
Wanting the prayer taken down, and (having) to take it to the supreme court or whatever are two different things. That you would compare it to a satanic prayer is a bit much, I would think, (regardless of the parallel you try to make) as the CONTENT would be vastly different, I suspect. I'd be curious as to the dialog that preceded the escalation, personally, but whatever. I get that it is "against the rules" but I don't see the volatility that others do. I agree, they should have agreed to remove it or alter it to be secular, but I don't agree that it's -this- big of a deal.
No it's not any of that nonsense. It's that the banner has stood there for generations and it insults their sense of entitlement, heritage and community that it would be mandated by an outsider to be taken down. You guys are funny its like logic is some impassible mountain for you to cross. That banner has been there for 50 years and nothing dastardly has happened other than people liked it and maybe the occasionally terrible individual got some inspiration from it. If religion was destructive and that banner emblematic of it, there would have been some of the bull**** nonsense that you internet hand wringers attribute to religion. A jew would have been pantsed in the bathroom or something. Maybe a shoe thrown at a ginger Freshmen in the gym when the evil banner exerted its power in the proximity of an unsuspecting student None of that **** you wrote even close to makes sense. If any of the internet sociology you just typed was even valid: the impetus to push religion, compulsion to regard the ABSENCE OF RELIGION itself a religion etc... would have these local morons agitating for Jesus banners all up and down Rhode Island anywhere religion wasn't displayed. It's none of that. Simply, they had a banner there for 50 years. They were made to take it down. This pissed off the locals. Why? Because they had a banner there for 50 years and they had to take it down. Worse the banner in question contained a script of inspirational drivel. Worst of all the entire community got pwned by some loser kid and and some ******* judge. Not. Rocket. Science.
atheism is a belief. It is a belief that there was no creator or deity. And I have never met christians muslims jews buddhists that try to push their beliefs harder than atheists, or feel more superior than other because of their beliefs.
No, it isn't. That's like saying bald is a hair color or "off" is a tv channel. Atheism is not the belief in the absence of something. It is the absence of belief. There is a fundamental difference. A lot of people try to conflate the two, even Websters is guilty of it. If you insist on defining atheism as that, at least put "gnostic" in front of it. That at least makes it somewhat less wrong.
Everyone has different experiences. For me Christians seem to push their beliefs the hardest and automatically assume that if you are not a person of god then you do not have a solid moral foundation. Of course that is my experience.
No I think you are talking about Agnosticism. Atheism means you personally believe there are no such things as a creator or deity. Not talking about you specifically but about the terms.
Even though this is still wrong, it's a helpful chart to use when discussing this to keep ideas separated. A = lacking or without. Theist = theory. No part of "atheism" means or implies that one has any belief or theory about the absence of anything. In fact, it states the exact opposite. Simply put, there is no word in our language for someone who believes that there is no god or gods. We just have a commonly misapplied word, atheist/atheism, that has filled that void.
Theism is the belief in a deity. Anyways I disagree with you and I think most would as well. Atheism is usually used when one believes there is not such existence of a deity. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy - "Either the lack of belief that there exists a god, or the belief that there exists none"
agnostic Pronunciation: /agˈnɒstɪk/ noun a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/agnostic theism belief in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe: there are many different forms of theism Derivatives: theist http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/theism gnostic Pronunciation: /ˈnɒstɪk/ adjective relating to knowledge, especially esoteric mystical knowledge. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gnostic
This is so untrue that it's ridiculous. Not a single Christian would complain if there were a banner put up that said, "We should each day desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically, to be kind and helpful." That is the secular equivalent. Sure, if you had an anti-Christian banner up, people would be upset, but don't pretend that that's the same as promoting morality from a secular standpoint.
