Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Julie Carter on January 12, 2012 at 9:44pm

Appalling. But it makes me think that they're introducing it knowing full well that it's against the constitution and would be stricken down even if it were to pass. They're just wanting to shove their "superiority" in everyone's faces. They're taking after Rick Perry, who thinks he can snow you into thinking he's a good, genuine, caring person by shoving his religious beliefs in your face. Argh! This made me kinda mad!

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on January 12, 2012 at 10:06pm

I think you're right.  They're posturing for re-election, but this is such a sleazy way to do it.

 Pretending that reciting a prayer in school will make children more moral than they would be otherwise is a fallacy.  Somebody should make it very clear to them that the percentage of convicted felons who were raised within some religion, and are still believers, is higher than the percentage of believers in the general population.

Religion backfires, and as Anne Gaylor has said, "Nothing Fails Like Prayer."

I'm angry, too.  I want to kick some of these crazy, loud-mouthed fundamentalists in their fundaments!

Permalink Reply by Chris Dodds on January 12, 2012 at 9:57pm

I wish I could help stop it, it's atrocious.  And Tennessee is trying to alter an anti-bullying bill to allow bullying of homosexuals on religious grounds.  There's a reason they're called CONservatives.

Permalink Reply by Julie Carter on January 12, 2012 at 10:43pm

Evidently the Family Action Council is the group behind this, and I saw this and my jaw just dropped: Added conservative activist David Fowler, a former Republican state senator who is now Family Action Council president: "The purpose is to stop bullying, not create special classes of people who are more important than others."

Does that guy even KNOW what he is saying? They want to have these Xians (or whatever religion, but let's get real, it's Xians) be more important than others. How can he seriously say that and not realize how utterly ridiculous it is??? It just makes me want to punch someone in the face.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on January 13, 2012 at 1:08am

I no longer trust any organization that has the word "Family" in its title.  It's definitely a code now for "conservative xians only."

(Although there is a non-profit in my town called Family Services, and they do a lot of good for many people, and their fees are based on one's ability to pay. They've been here since I was a kid; I went there for counselling as a teen when I couldn't deal with the shame/embarassment of having an alcoholic father.  Religion was never mentioned. They just convinced me over time that it was not my fault...I thought it was.  Or might be. It's not "faith-based"...never has been. I'm rather proud of them.)

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on January 13, 2012 at 1:19am

PS: I had a thought late last night (I do that sometimes. I was re-reading Dan Barker's Godless); I think humans have invented gods, and goddesses, that concern themselves with all our actions and even thoughts, to make them feel important.  Not just the priests, but all the believers.  "God/Zeus/Hera/Artemis/Isis cares about me!  I'm special."  They can't handle the thought that we are just another mammal with a slightly bigger brain and more nimble fingers than all the rest of the animals on this tiny mudball floating in space.

And if we're not careful, we're going to ruin it for everyone.  Except the cockroaches. They'll survive till the sun goes nova.

 

Permalink Reply by Julie Carter on January 13, 2012 at 9:10am

(I'm stuck in bed right now following surgery, so I was just going to purchase the Kindle version of Godless and start reading. And I love the feature where Amazon tells me I already purchased this item on March 13, 2011! Saved me $8.99!)

And absolutely agree about people's need for being important.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 12, 2012 at 10:21pm

From what I watch in the debates and hear on the news the representatives all seem ignorant of the constitution and really simple facts - things you would expect them to know. Perry made all kinds of gaffes - I can't see how he is even Governor.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on January 12, 2012 at 11:08pm

I don't understand how most of these ignorami managed to get themselves elected in the first place.  But then I remember the 2000 presidential election when some suburbanites (one generation away from the backwoods) said they were going to vote for "W" because they thought the self-righteous SOB was the "kinda guy we could sit down and have a beer with." 

Jeezuss Cluny Frog!  I don't want my representatives to be "regular guys" (or gals, since we do have Barbara Boxer [yayyyy!] and Dweeby Feinstein in the Senate), I want them to be a whole lot smarter than I am!  I'm no dummy, but I know I'm not able to deal with law-making, and head a staff of wild-eyed, ambitious assistants.  And make nice on the bottom-feeding lobbyists without making any commitments, or enemies.

But this is just TOO stupid. 

Go to the FFRF web site; they have a couple of online brochures, and one of them deals directly with religion in public schools.  There is a list of court cases from the past 60+ years that were all decided in favor of the plaintiffs.  Add them all up and you get "NO prayers, buybull reading, or other sectarian activities on school grounds during school hours.  Under any circumstances."

http://www.ffrf.org/publications/brochures/schoolprayer/

I personally think that Comparative Religions should be taught (by an atheist, or at least a skeptic) starting in 6th or 7th grade, and we should get rid of the myth that all the colonists who came here from Europe did so for religious "freedom."  That's all I hear from the Religious Wrong.  Most of them came here to make their fortunes.  The religious immigrants certainly didn't practice religious freedom; in Massachusetts it was "our way, or the highway (after being pilloried). Ask Roger Williams.  And ask all the native peoples who were exterminated in the name of the lard.

Time to quit for a while; the ORNJ cat is trying to type for me.... Paw-donnez moi!

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on January 13, 2012 at 12:26am

I love the FFRF website! I go to it frequently! I got my Freethought Today in the mail a few days ago. I'll follow that link - thanks. I agree that comparative religions being taught is a good idea.

Permalink Reply by sk8eycat on January 13, 2012 at 1:53am

Which issue was it?  The one with Steven Pinker's speech in the middle?  I received that one 2 weeks ago.  Or is it a new issue?

The US Snail is sta-range!  But I love having something printed on real paper that I can hold in my hands.  Trying to read everything on a monitor would blind me after a while.

Permalink Reply by Rob van Senten on January 13, 2012 at 7:42am

Actually, the "pilgrims" came to America not to avoid religious persecution, they left their countries because they were not allowed to persecute at home.

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