Author Topic: Tennessee atheists win right to distribute literature after schools give Bibles  (Read 88834 times)

Straw Man

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Haha, his classic MO.

Step 2 - post on a bunch of old threads to move this one down the list

chadstallion

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says the mentally ill, bald headed dwarf who literally begs me (and others) to reply to his posts and then cries about it


you should see what SC begs me to do !!!
w

Soul Crusher

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you should see what he begs me to do !!!

LOL 

Straw does not even lift.   He just stalks those of us who do

Straw Man

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LOL 

Straw does not even lift.   He just stalks those of us who do

spare us your gay fantasies

Quickerblade

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spare us your gay fantasies

I actually love the Straw Man. welcome back!

Straw Man

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I actually love the Straw Man. welcome back!

Thanks though I never left

Quickerblade

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Thanks though I never left

I haven't been stalking you straw man.

Straw Man

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I didn't think you were

Soul Crusher

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Thanks though I never left

We know . . . . . . .. . ..




 ;)

Straw Man

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We know . . . . . . .. . ..




 ;)

nor did I start a self indulgent thread like an adolescent school girl about leaving after hitting 100k in posts and then never leaving.

Archer77

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nor did I start a self indulgent thread like an adolescent school girl about leaving after hitting 100k in posts and then never leaving.

I believe he never technically reached 100k.   Ron or mods reset his post count.
A

Dos Equis

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Those irrational atheists are in trouble on this one. 


Ground Zero Cross: Court presses atheist group to explain why artifact is 'offensive'

A federal appeals court said this week that an atheist group trying to keep the so-called Ground Zero Cross out of the National September 11 Memorial Museum must better explain how displaying the artifact is “offensive” and violates members’ constitutional rights.

The 17-foot-tall, steel beam “cross” was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York that fell during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The cross became a sort of shrine or place of comfort for first responders who often prayed there and left messages or flowers. It was moved away from the debris a few weeks later and became a tourist attraction through several years of reconstruction.

American Atheists filed the suit in 2011, which was thrown out last year by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.

The appeals court ruling Thursday cites an amicus brief filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in church-state law and protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.

“We’re thrilled that the court picked up on this issue,” said group lawyer Eric Baxter, whose brief argued that American Atheists had no right to bring a lawsuit in the first place. “Courts should not allow people to sue just because they claim to get ‘dyspepsia’ over a historical artifact displayed in a museum.”

The museum officially opened on May 21.

The judge has now given the plaintiffs until July 14 to file supplemental legal briefs before deciding whether the case will proceed. Among the questions that must be answered in the new filings is how the offensiveness of the cross, which the plaintiffs view as a Christian symbol for all 9-11 victims, becomes a “constitutional injury.”

The other question is -- if the plaintiffs indeed feel displaying the cross “marginalizes them as American citizens” -- then how is that a “particular and concrete injury" compared to just “the abstract stigmatization of atheists generally.”

The judge has also asked the plaintiffs to substantiate their claim the museum and Sept. 11 memorial are getting taxpayer dollars.

“Taking personal offense is not an injury that warrants invoking the power of the courts to shut down everything you disagree with,” Baxter also said. “The Constitution is not a personal tool for censoring everyone’s beliefs but your own.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/06/21/ground-zero-cross/

Agnostic007

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Those irrational atheists are in trouble on this one. 


Ground Zero Cross: Court presses atheist group to explain why artifact is 'offensive'

A federal appeals court said this week that an atheist group trying to keep the so-called Ground Zero Cross out of the National September 11 Memorial Museum must better explain how displaying the artifact is “offensive” and violates members’ constitutional rights.

The 17-foot-tall, steel beam “cross” was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York that fell during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The cross became a sort of shrine or place of comfort for first responders who often prayed there and left messages or flowers. It was moved away from the debris a few weeks later and became a tourist attraction through several years of reconstruction.

American Atheists filed the suit in 2011, which was thrown out last year by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.

The appeals court ruling Thursday cites an amicus brief filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in church-state law and protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.

“We’re thrilled that the court picked up on this issue,” said group lawyer Eric Baxter, whose brief argued that American Atheists had no right to bring a lawsuit in the first place. “Courts should not allow people to sue just because they claim to get ‘dyspepsia’ over a historical artifact displayed in a museum.”

The museum officially opened on May 21.

The judge has now given the plaintiffs until July 14 to file supplemental legal briefs before deciding whether the case will proceed. Among the questions that must be answered in the new filings is how the offensiveness of the cross, which the plaintiffs view as a Christian symbol for all 9-11 victims, becomes a “constitutional injury.”

The other question is -- if the plaintiffs indeed feel displaying the cross “marginalizes them as American citizens” -- then how is that a “particular and concrete injury" compared to just “the abstract stigmatization of atheists generally.”

The judge has also asked the plaintiffs to substantiate their claim the museum and Sept. 11 memorial are getting taxpayer dollars.

“Taking personal offense is not an injury that warrants invoking the power of the courts to shut down everything you disagree with,” Baxter also said. “The Constitution is not a personal tool for censoring everyone’s beliefs but your own.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/06/21/ground-zero-cross/

Yet pulling a steel beam "Cross" from the wreckage where thousands of people died and using it as a symbol of "comfort" is not irrational? hello?? Mcfly??  There would have been much more comfort had this imaginary god intervened before the crash ... 

dario73

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Yet pulling a steel beam "Cross" from the wreckage where thousands of people died and using it as a symbol of "comfort" is not irrational? hello?? Mcfly??  There would have been much more comfort had this imaginary god intervened before the crash ... 

If he doesn't exist, why does it bother you that others believe in Him? Why do you care? How does it affect you?

The main basis for all these lawsuits seeking to remove religious symbols is that it's a public property paid by taxpayers. If it isn't, then the atheists have no case. That is why the judge asked them to substantiate their claim the museum and Sept. 11 memorial are getting taxpayer dollars.

LurkerNoMore

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If he does exist, why did he let his followers die at the hands of fanatics of another deity?  Allah is more powerful than YHWH?

Dos Equis

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Yet pulling a steel beam "Cross" from the wreckage where thousands of people died and using it as a symbol of "comfort" is not irrational? hello?? Mcfly??  There would have been much more comfort had this imaginary god intervened before the crash ... 

Not at all.  It's a symbol of people's faith.  Something people actually believe in.  Something that has been a symbol throughout our country's history. 

What's irrational is to claim that something that symbolizes nothing (if you're an atheist) is somehow emotionally harmful.  It's also silly.  Glad the judge is calling them on this. 

Dos Equis

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Atheist group tells Georgia high school football team to punt the prayers
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published August 12, 2014
FoxNews.com


Football coaches at Chestateee High School in Gainesville are allegedly using multiple avenues to promote Christianity among players, including by integrating Bible verses on team documents and pre-game banners and regularly leading the War Eagles in prayer, above. (Courtesy: American Humanist Association)

A Georgia high school football program may have God on its side, but not the Constitution, according to critics who say prayer and proselytization have no place in the playbook.

Football coaches at Chestatee High School in Gainesville are accused of quoting scripture on team documents and pre-game banners and regularly leading the War Eagles in prayer in a religious blitz the American Humanist Association (AHA) declares unconstitutional.

“There’s really no defense for doing this,” AHA attorney Monica Miller told FoxNews.com. “It’s not even solely student prayer — it’s teachers and coaches praying with students. And we have reason to believe it’s not an isolated event.”

"There’s really no defense for doing this."
- Attorney Monica Miller, American Humanist Association

Miller, whose organization sent a letter Tuesday threatening to sue Hall County Schools, said a “concerned citizen” notified the national nonprofit group that the 1,200-student school in Gainesville, about 55 miles northeast of Atlanta, appeared to be doing an end run around the First Amendment. The letter demanded that coaches cut team-sanctioned prayers and remove all Bible verses and other religious messages from team documents and materials.

The group was particularly outraged that outgoing Head Coach Stan Luttrell joined players as they held hands and prayed.

“At times, the head coach has led the prayers, which is an egregious violation of the Establishment Clause,” the letter continues. “This involvement in prayer as a ‘participant, an organizer, and a leader’ would unquestionably ‘lead a reasonable observer to conclude that he was endorsing religion.’”

The letter cited numerous cases of coaches and teachers leading team prayers during practices and after games and said the program cited scripture in 

A workout log included a citation to Galations 6:9, which reads: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up," and a banner used for a pregame ceremony alluded to Proverbs 27:17, which reads: "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

“Unfortunately, the school’s actions in unconstitutionally advancing and endorsing religion do not end with the prayers,” read the letter.

Gordon Higgins, director of community relations and athletics at Hall County Schools, told FoxNews.com that district officials will probe the allegations.

“We will be investigating, but it’s really too early in the process for me to comment," Higgins said. "But we’re going to start looking at this right away and address any impropriety that we find."

Chestatee may have had a higher power on its side during the regular season last year, when it posted a respectable 9-3 record. But it lost in the state playoffs to Sunday Creek by a 55-7 score.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/12/group-tells-georgia-high-school-football-team-to-punt-prayers/?intcmp=latestnews

OzmO

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OMG, drop it already.  If coaches and kids want to pray let them.

Straw Man

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OMG, drop it already.  If coaches and kids want to pray let them.

it looks like more than a simple pre-game prayer from what what mentioned in the article

Agnostic007

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it looks like more than a simple pre-game prayer from what what mentioned in the article

Lack of common sense and good judgement on the coaches part

OzmO

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it looks like more than a simple pre-game prayer from what what mentioned in the article

Yeah, its a bit over the line according to their rules.   Is there a parent protesting the coach doing this?

Straw Man

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Yeah, its a bit over the line according to their rules.   Is there a parent protesting the coach doing this?

how about a compromise

leave the bible verses off team documents, banners, etc.. and stop trying to proselytize

and maybe have moment of silence instead of a prayer (so the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist kids are not forced to pray)


James28

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Was in my girlfriend's classroom yesterday.  She teach 5-6 year olds at a Christian school. Very very uncomfortable watching the indoctrination. She agrees completely. When I introduced myself everyone said 'Hello ●●●●●●● , God bless you'. They kept saying it. Very creepy watching 5yo kids brainwashed like that. Feels like watching a sect.
*

Agnostic007

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Was in my girlfriend's classroom yesterday.  She teach 5-6 year olds at a Christian school. Very very uncomfortable watching the indoctrination. She agrees completely. When I introduced myself everyone said 'Hello ●●●●●●● , God bless you'. They kept saying it. Very creepy watching 5yo kids brainwashed like that. Feels like watching a sect.

That's how the belief survives over a couple thousand years... adults brainwash the children from birth. How else would a grown adult believe all the animals were placed on a boat and the rest of the world wiped out in a flood, the sun stopped in the sky, or a sea parted or any number of the other outrageous claims in the book..

OzmO

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how about a compromise

leave the bible verses off team documents, banners, etc.. and stop trying to proselytize

and maybe have moment of silence instead of a prayer (so the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist kids are not forced to pray)



I can live with that.  Although, if in the situation, i wouldn't exert much energy over it.