Opponents Of Park Levy Use False Premise

logo for Hancock Park District

Election day is March 15th and there will be a levy replacement request from the Hancock Park District. The millage will be the same as the levy that is expiring but the park district wants to benefit from increased property values since the original levy was passed eight years ago. You might wonder who could be opposed to a tax levy for parks. There are people against the levy and they are using a false premise to justify their opposition.

There have been a couple of letters-to-the-editor in my local paper here in Findlay that give an example of an argument that is false from the get go.

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Of Course Creating A Church Would Create A Schism Between Atheists

An atheist 'church'

In November, I wrote a post concerning the growing popularity of the Sunday Assembly events for atheists and complaints about the media labeling these events, that happen on Sundays, as a church. To go along with the church motif now a disagreement about the direction of the Assemblies have lead to the press labeling it a schism. It just goes back to my concern about Sunday Assemblies creating confusion and diluting our positive secular message by wrapping it up in warmed over religious packaging.

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Atheists Don’t Be Upset When You Act Like A Church And The Religious Call You A Church

artist concept of an atheist 'church'

The Associated Press had a wire story on November 10th about the rising popularity of an atheist gathering called the Sunday Assembly. The AP report referred to it as a “mega-church”. A collective panic in the atheist movement screeched about how it wasn’t a church and how dare anyone call it that. However, If you look like a church, act like a church, and meet on a Sunday then don’t get upset when the religious majority think you are a church. This is a prime example of why using warmed over religious terms or activities and in the case of the Sunday Assembly, avoiding talking about atheism can cause confusion and hurt the atheist movement in the long term.

From the AP report:

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Why Humanists Should Form Communities Not Churches

created image of Humanism logo

Last week, I complained about why I have issues when Humanists use religious words for non-religious activities – like forming ‘congregation’ or meeting in a ‘church’. I spent time ranting about it but I didn’t really expand on why ‘community’ is a better label and why using warmed over religious terms is not productive for Humanists. I wrote an essay over at my iHumanism blog where I talk about that aspect of the issue.

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I Don’t Need A Congregation – I’m Looking For A Community

clipart of a family in church

Once again my pet peeve scab has been plucked. A Humanist leader is profiled on the CNN website talking about forming warmed over religious services he calls ‘congregations’. This is my pet peeve because I don’t care for using religious terms with new definitions. It is being abstruse in the least and at most dishonest. A church or congregation without god is not something I need and I wish we would get media coverage that shows how Humanism is totally different than theism.

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