Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Illinois State Rep. Thinks It's Dangerous For Kids To Know Atheism Exists
One of our favorite guys, Rob Sherman, testified before the Illinois House State Government Administration Committee on Wednesday related to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed $1 million grant intended for Pilgrim Baptist Church, and was blindsided by wackjob theocrat Rep. Monique Davis who seems to think that atheists don't have any right to exist, and that we are "dangerous to children".
[link] Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -- it’s tragic -- when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.
I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?
I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous--
Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?
Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!
Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court---
Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.
You can listen to the whole sordid thing here.
(Tip of the ballcap to Twitter and Hemant!)
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What not to teach
Monique of the trembling lip sez:
"They want to fight prayer in school." Not to mention:
"Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute."
So, in order for little Johnnie in the fifth grade, taking a tough math test and desirous of divine intervention, to actually be heeded by the spook, he should be allowed to disturb the rest of the class? After all, the implied demand is that prayer be a choreographed and social ritual. In other words an admission that little Johnnie's prayers will not be heeded unless everybody else stops what they are doing and joins in. I thought that spook was spookier than that. Spooky enough to hear silent prayers, to read the desires of the heart. Why, even to answer a prayer before it is prayed. Whence then the need for a special time? Additionally, there is no need for the students to have a moment of silence since a great deal of their class time throughout the day will require their full attention, hence their silence. They'll get plenty of practice.
Further, the implied demand suggests strongly that it is not the relationship between Johnnie and the spook that is important. What is important is the perception by Joe and Jane Xtian that Monique and her superstitious clique are doing their damnedest to look like they stand for a religious pose that will save the country. Transparent and unconstitutional. Also abhorrent on a strictly human level; civilized human, that is. Important distinction.
But the there are many to whom the warmth of short applause and nodding is more to be desired than the fitness of children who will all too soon be adults. Shudder.
Of course its dangerous!
Thinking is incredibly dangerous - if everyone did it, instead of just a few, the world would be unrecognizable!
I think it's dangerous to let kids know that Christianity exists
What religion has started more wars, caused more bloodshed, bombed more neighborhoods, gassed more Jews, flattened more cities, and ruined the lives of more people than any other? Maybe if we didn't teach kids about Christianity, they'd grow up to be more reasonable, rational, thoughtful, science-minded, socially adept, internationally cultured, and loving. Maybe if they didn't have Christianity teaching these kids to hate everyone who was different, maybe guns wouldn't be the huge issue they are now. I think it's dangerous to let kids know about Christianity. What do you think?
As for her land-of-Lincoln shit... and her raving in general... I think that's proof enough that she's just a raving lunatic. I looked at her bio. With that many credentials, you think she'd be able to act like a rational, intelligent human being. Of course, you take an intelligent human being and add religion... and look what you get. "Instant nutcase: Just add Jesus!" Even more scary is that she even claims to be a Democrat. I mean, yeah, most Democrats are technically Christian, but a much lower portion of them are raving Jesus freaks who openly want to suppress other beliefs. If people like her are infiltrating the ranks of the slightly-less-Christianity-obsessed party, then I think I should worry more.
Wow--Theocracy AND "gun-control" hysteria together??
WOW. Just, wow. Theocracy and a hint of hysterical "gun control" mentality together--there's something you don't see everyday.
Like, duh, isn't it already illegal in most states for anyone under age 21 to buy a handgun or handgun ammo? What more does she want? Of course, in Illinois, adult citizens have ZERO right to concealed carry, unlike the majority of states in the union. So teachers can't even protect students via CCW either. But that's getting off-topic...
"Dangerous for them to know your philosophy even exists!"
...As if most 10 year olds aren't smart enough to come up with questions that can make most preachers blush or want to change the subject! Let's airbrush Thomas Paine out of the history books, then, right? Need to censor Lincoln's less charitable comments about religion, too.
Sheesh, what a pin-headed, censorious, theocratic moron.
"Truman Show" treatment for all our kids, cradle to grave if possible, in her view. Worse than Candide's Dr. Pangloss.
With your indulgence, back to my tangent to finish:
I know from past postings that most of the UTI bloggers here are generally pro-RKBA, pro 2A rights...just wonder how you react to the pro-theist and other reactionary sentiments that sometimes bubble over in gun rights forums where posters drift off topic/off message and assume their audience shares 100% ALL of their views besides RKBA.
Much of the time, I just let it pass, but sometimes, every now and then, I feel compelled to disabuse such persons of their illusions and "out" myself as an atheist and a Leftist who is also pro-gun rights (some probably look at me as if they'd just seen a unicorn or watched a dog speak English). Don't know if it does any good or not, but it usually makes me feel better.
I read "The God Delusion" in audiobook format, and I remember the part where Dawkins's wife is reading some excerpts from their hate-mail. I remember one of the god-botherers threatening Dawkins in his letter stating at one point "...My Rifle is loaded"; I actually growled back at my car's speakers "so's mine, assh*le..."
That'd be me.
Well, I won't speak for anyone else, but that'd be me. In fact, the project I mentioned in my last blog entry which would be keeping me busy for a few days is ballistics testing.
Like you, I'm an atheist who also tends to identify as a liberal/libertarian. And I have been hounded off of some forums by those who insist that it is impossible to be pro-RKBA and either liberal or atheist. How these people understand at least the last such relationship is completely beyond me. But they are out there.
I think it largely is a function of a "joining" mindset, complete with an incredibly simplistic view of the world and the people in it. They've been told, and likely grew up believing, that only other right-wing, "God & Country" 'Merkans like themselves like guns or think that people should have the right to self protection.
It's to be expected, I suppose. But what really drives me nuts is when I run into other atheists or liberal/libertarians who also buy into the same bullshit, and therefore insist that I *must* be some kind of right-wing kook, because I am pro-RKBA and vocal about it.
When I started posting over on dKos, maybe 15% of the people there could wrap their head around the idea, and realize that I am their ally politically. Thanks to the efforts of a lot of other like-minded gunnies, that percentage has risen to somewhere around half these days, maybe more, who are willing to accept the notion of an "individual right" interpretation of the 2nd A. This I attribute not so much to our efforts as to the fact that in watching the behaviour of BushCo these last years, people are starting to understand why the amendment was there in the first place.
And even on forums not aligned with the GOP I find that I have had a fair-minded reception, so long as you can get people to realize that it is OK to have allies who may not share all of one's political positions. I hardly mind a little rough & tumble discussion, and have at times been challenged in terms of my actual experience with firearms ('well, never in the military, but my dad taught me how to shoot his police service revolver when I was 5, I had my own guns by age 8, and have never been without several since...and that was over 40 years ago. That good enough for ya?') Sure, you get the folks who just won't believe you, but for the most part once you get it across that you do indeed share their interest and knowledge on one subject, maybe they should reconsider their biases on some of your other attributes.
Whoa, this has run long. Guess I needed a little writing time after a long day of testing. But it looks like the project is going great, and we should be able to finish it up by Sunday late in the day, with just a little good luck.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Land of Lincoln
Hmm... Does she mean this Lincoln or some other Lincoln I don't know about?
"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
- Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865).