Jamie_L

This case is about rights. Rights are meaningless if the majority can cast them aside whenever they feel like it. If one right is easily dismissed, then they can all be dismissed.

I don't hear Conservatives jumping to the defense of the majority when a local government wants to regulate firearms. No, then it's "our Constitutional rights" this and "the Second Amendment" that.

Well, in firearms cases, they have a point. Rights are rights. Love 'em or lose 'em.

Jamie

MOJO-JOJO

Hey Bill, what else would you expect from a Church of Christ-er?? They got their bible verses down pat and their womens' mouths muzzled, but they're almost as ignorant about the real world as the Mormon Elders in Salt Lake.

Spazmatic

Now, MOJO, be nice. Not all Christians are dumb, just like not all atheists are intelligent. I've met perfectly reasonable, intelligent Christians. Don't start a flame war! ;-)

Now, it's my turn to tear about this ignorant one's argument, which insults me very much as it professes pure, undiluted lies.

No, sir, I believe that is what Jehovah's Witnesses do by disfellowshipping anyone who tries to find out information about other religions. You, sir, have never been the one voice in a class who refused to take the Pledge because you found it objectionable. You haven't been shunned because your religion was different. And you haven't wondered what was wrong with yourself because you disagreed with the teacher on what seemed such a fundamental issue. I have. And let me ask you this... The world seems convinced peer pressure can make kids do drugs. If it's that powerful, do you think peer pressure can break a child's independent religious thought? It takes quite a strength to survive that. Put your child in a class with 25 atheists for a year with an atheist teacher doing a little indoctrination ceremony every morning, and see how s/he does.

Kind of. He's afraid of what will happen when she tries to stand up for herself. It hurts, especially for younger ones. My little brother came back from school preaching all about God and Jesus, just because my parents (Buddhist) don't believe in indoctrination, and nor do I (deist/atheist). Imagine my surprise... Even now, he can't imagine what the world is like without, purely because of pressure to conform. This is not that a religion is stronger or weaker, that's what causes wins/losses in an ideological debate. For schoolchildren, it's about peer pressure.

Religion is alive and well, moron. The United States of America is the most religious NATION in the world (nation as in not the Vatican) with the highest rate of Church attendance. It also has one of the highest percentages of free thinkers. Both are because of separation (in European nations the Church is often supported by taxes or tithes so no one attends). We don't fight religion, we just want to be able to live our lives without being indoctrinated every 10 feet.

It is. 28% in Oregon, 27% in Washington, drops off everywhere else.

I have yet to see someone rule that preachers can't stand on the sidewalk and preach. I have yet to hear that people cannot hand out pamphlets on the street (though I wish such a law existed, they are annoying). In fact, as it stands, I encounter religion on campus all the time. People go out of their way to attempt to convert me. Even worse, we can't even be fighting for the public sphere, considering that I get knocks on my door (my PRIVATE sphere) and calls about Bible study and free copies of Watchtower. Like hell we're fighting for isolation. We're fighting for fairplay, equal rights, and less bullshit.

There is no "battle" between theism and atheism. There never was. Atheists aren't an organized political machine (unlike our friends the Moral Majority). We just want to live our lives in peace, free from government sponsored indoctrination and from bigotry. Too much to ask? For some reason, many many Christians wish to see this as a war. This ain't no crusade, my friends. You aren't retaking Jerusalem. We don't wish for the abolition of religion. We don't wish to kill all religious people. We just want some peace!

hezekiah jones

Welcome to the boards, Spaz.

Tempting as it may be, there's no need to call the "Reverend" a "moron."

Much of the time "Reverend" itself serves the same purpose.

Mageth

The doctor's behavior demonstrates that belief in God is not threatened by atheism, rather Atheism is threatened by belief in God. Atheism portrays itself as the minority religious viewpoint in the United States, dependent upon the Courts to protect and isolate it from any public contact with religion.

As an atheist, I'm beginning to feel threatened by those who believe in god. And judging by the threatening phone calls the plaintiff in the case has received, he may have to depend upon the police to protect him from public contact with religion.

David Mathews

David: Remember, the godless communists lost. That's why the cold war is over and freedom of religion now exist in Russia and the other Soviet states.

Sincerely,

David Mathews

David Mathews

Hello Godless Davem

David: If a student does not want to say the Pledge of Allegiance for any reason, the state cannot compel the student to say the Pledge. Therefore, the lawsuit was frivolous from the outset.

Sincerely,

David Mathews

David Mathews

Hello Spazmatic,

David: Don't you suppose that Dr. Newdow's daughter ought to know that she lives in a religious nation filled with people who believe in God, and that her father's viewpoint is not the only opinion that people have of God's nonexistence?

Sincerely,

David Mathews

David Mathews

Hello Magdeth,

David: Those people who are threatening the doctor are idiots. I don't persecute atheists. I believe in religious freedom. I also believe in diversity.

Sincerely,

David Mathews

hezekiah jones

Non sequitur. The plaintiff was challenging, inter alia a 1954 Act of Congress, and he prevailed.