1st Amendment

July 28, 2013April 18, 2020

The Worse Atheist On Display? The One Who Doesn’t Do Their Homework

This past week a quasi government committee here in Ohio voted to accept the design for a Holocaust memorial that included a large Star of David. A memorial to honor the victims of that horrific event seems appropriate but including a religious symbol as a large focus of the installation seems crossing the line between church and state. However it seems some atheists jumped the gun and likened concern over the religious symbol to being a Holocaust denier. Those atheists should do their homework before being ‘outraged’.

The Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish religion, has a place in the history of the Holocaust because it was used by the Nazis to “mark” Jews before they were shipped off to the death camps during World War II. However the Holocaust didn’t only affect Jewish people.

May 14, 2013April 18, 2020

Hell Freezes Over: Speaker Boehner Admits More Amendments Than Just The 2nd

Speaker John Boehner learning a law affects his friends

Just like when the Republicans were upset that the sequester they voted for would actually affect them and so they voted to fix that specific part, when it came out that the Department of Justice used the Patriot Act to secretly obtain phone records of the Associated Press, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) admitted that there is at least one more amendment to the Constitution besides the 2nd. What he complained about is what supporters of civil rights complained about before and after passage of the Patriot Act. Now that it is being used to investigate a friend of the Republican Party, the GOP is upset.

May 2, 2013April 18, 2020

Today Is The National Day of Reason

graphic with words National Day of Reason

National Day of Reason: May 2nd 2013

Thursday May 2nd is the National Day of Reason in the United States. The day is a secular celebration for humanists, atheists, and other secularists and freethinkers in response to the National Day of Prayer, that is unfortunately a legal holiday in the United States. Our government shouldn’t be giving official sanction to a particular religious belief. It should spend its time trying to solve issues of concern to all Americans.

February 26, 2013April 18, 2020

IHEU Statement To The United Nations Highlights Dangers To Religious Dissenters In The World

image of a Holy Bible with a warning sticker

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) gave a report to the United Nations detailing that Atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other non-religious people are discriminated against around the world, where expression of their views is often criminalized and subject in some countries to capital punishment. The report was in response to efforts by Islamic countries to obtain a world ban on “defamation of religion” which mirrors efforts by religious conservatives in the United States attempting to cover their bigotry under the guise of “religious freedom”.

January 26, 2013April 18, 2020

In Defending Rights There Are No Trivial Issues

image of VP Biden taking the oath of office

Vice President Biden taking the oath of office 01/20/2013

The other day I read that a Republican legislator, in Arizona, introduced a bill that would require high school students to take a loyalty oath before being allowed to graduate. The oath includes the usual invoking of God clap trap we see in the Pledge of Allegiance. The requirement is stupid, doesn’t help educate kids, and could be used to discriminate against people who either don’t believe in such pledges or don’t believe in the God part like Atheists. What bothered me more was the reaction from an Atheist who thought the possibility for discrimination was trivial and nothing to get worked up about. In defending our rights nothing should be trivial.

Here is the text of the proposed high school graduation loyalty oath: