A local win! The city council of my adopted city–Roswell, GA–has strongly rejected a proposal to begin council meetings with prayer. What’s more, council members report that the feedback of their constituents has been overwhelmingly against having prayer. I could not be more pleased with our city council. Actually, I could be more pleased, since it was a councilwoman (Betty “Getting Back to the Roots of Our Country” Price) who introduced the proposal.
Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
Roswell, GA rejects city council prayer
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Anti-gay Senator is gay
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Yeah, I know that sounds like a LOLCATS caption (it also sounds like one of those news-that’s-not-news items like “World’s Oldest Person Dies”), but apparently it’s true. California State Senator Roy Ashburn is the latest anti-homosexual crusader who is himself a homosexual. What is it with these people? What’s worse than his political bigotry is the explanation he offers for his voting record: that that’s how he thought his constituents would want him to vote. Now, I’m all for democracy, but not just undiluted mob rule. Representative democracy means the people get a voice, but it also means that elected representatives have an obligation to do the right thing based on their own best judgment, not by putting a wet finger to the wind. How sick do you have to be to repeatedly vote against the very thing that defines you?
Podcast #83 – Secular Coalition at the White House
Monday, March 8th, 2010
John C. Snider with Christopher Hitchens, Emory University, February 26, 2010
American Atheists president Ed Buckner reports on the recent meeting between representatives of the Secular Coalition for America with White House officials.
Plus: We meet the Hitch! Allison joins us to talk about “The Only Subject Is Love,” a seminar we attended at Emory University featuring Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens, and filmmaker Deepa Mehta (who is developing a film adaptation of Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children). The event celebrates the opening of Rushdie’s archives at Emory. Surprises included spontaneous recitations of poetry (Hitchens selecting the heartwrenching “Dulce et Decorum est,” Rushdie the humorous “The Walrus and the Carpenter.”) And…we learned that Hitchens’ memoir–Hitch 22–is due out in June!
Would you like your assault rifle with or without scripture?
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Man, just when I thought I’d seen it all, the fundamentalists come through with something new. Trijicon, provider of combat rifle sights to the US military, has been encoding Bible verses in the serial numbers of their product! For example, “JN8:12″ at the end of a serial number refers to John 8:12. May we recommend Exodus 20:13? Or better yet, 2 Corinthians 4:2 (”But [we] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”)?
Podcast #75 – Can Atheists Hold Office in NC?
Monday, December 21st, 2009
Cecil Bothwell has just been elected to the city council of Asheville, North Carolina. He happens to be an atheist. The North Carolina state constitution bars atheists from holding elected office. (For what it’s worth, seven other states still have constitutional provisions that discriminate against non-believers.) Is this a case of continuing institutionalized bigotry, or just an amusingly unenforceable “quirk” left over from the 19th century? (For more on Mr. Bothwell visit cecilbothwell.wordpress.com)
An atheist city councilman, but…
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Cecil Bothwell is a new city councilman in Asheville, NC (a liberal enclave in an otherwise fairly conservative state). Bothwell happens to be an atheist, but the North Carolina state constitution prohibits any officeholder “who shall deny the being of Almighty God.” Of course, anyone with a lick of sense knows that that provision is unconstitutional and would never stand up to a Supreme Court challenge–even Antonin Scalia would probably toss it out. It’s also obvious that no North Carolina legislator would risk his or her political career by daring to suggest amending the state constitution to remove this nasty bit of prejudice.
House Reps declare War on the War on Christmas
Saturday, December 12th, 2009House Republicans have declared war on the War on Christmas. House Resolution 951, sponsored by Henry Brown of–where else–South Carolina seeks to express “the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for use by those who celebrate Christmas.”
Chris Matthews cuts loose on Bishop Thomas Tobin
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Ooh snap! MSNBC’s Chris Matthews really lays into Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin over his banning of Rep. Patrick Kennedy from Communion due to Kennedy’s support for abortion rights. Matthews trowels it on pretty thick but I think he’s on the right side of this one. I enjoyed this one. It’s not every day one of the clergy has his feet held to the fire like this.
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SC License Plates FAIL
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009From the Associated Press
Published: November 10, 2009
A federal judge ruled that the state cannot issue license plates showing the image of a cross in front of a stained glass window along with the phrase “I Believe.” Judge Cameron M. Currie of Federal District Court said in her ruling that the license plates were unconstitutional because they violate the First Amendment ban on establishment of religion. The fight over the plates started shortly after Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer helped push the legislation through in 2008. Groups including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee challenged the law. Judge Currie ordered the state to cover those groups’ legal expenses.
Obama disappoints at NPB
Thursday, February 4th, 2010It’s disappointing that President Obama would attend the National Prayer Breakfast at all. The NPB is organized, you may already know, by “the Family”–a secretive and power-hungry cult that attracts congressmen (as well as international totalitarians and fascists) with their bizarre ideology that justifies any action as long as it’s committed by one of God’s chosen.
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Tags: barack obama, national prayer breakfast, the family
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