Bad Atheism, Bad Politics

corplinx

JREF Kid
corplinx
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
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Lawsuit in illinois against a law mandating a moment of silence in schools.

This is the kind of crap that drives donations to Jay Sekulow.

When I was a young theist, I never felt pressured to pray during a moment of silence and in fact usually used that time to think about naked chicks.

Now that I'm older and an atheist, I would still feel no pressure to pray and would most likely think about naked Billie Piper.
 
If by "moment of silence" you mean "pray", I completely agree Corplinx.

I don't know if it's because in Québec religion isn't much important anymore, compared to the US, but I too never felt the pressure to pray when I was in primary school. I really don't care if, for example at a funeral, we have a moment of silence to pray. I just stay silent and not pray, it doesn't bother me if others pray, I just don't do it myself. I just take the moment of silence as an opportunity to reflect on the deceased, or when it's a moment of silence in school, I take this moment to relax.

Actually, a moment of silence is welcome these days, when everything is going so fast and so loud, to stop once a day for silence is a good thing.
 
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Apparently, the brilliant authors of the moment of silence bill included prayer in the title. Sigh
 
I agree. Who cares? As long as they don't have to bow their head or clasp their hands or anything like that.
Of course the law itself is equally pointless.
 
The problem is, the words of the law say "and prayer." for that moment of silence.

And when has anybody really heard of somebody asking for a moment of silence that wasn't implying it was really just about a prayer?

Not only is the moment of silence obviously about prayer, it's also inhibitory of non-silent prayer. What if I wanted to pray by doing a ceremonial dance and/or song?

What we have here is that religious students who wish to pray can do so, but everybody else is being forced to disrupt their activities to accommodate the praying students. The ones praying are being allowed a freedom, everybody else is not.

It's an obvious infraction of the separation of church and state. Come on.
 
pipelineaudio said:
err, Quebec would be in that country to the north with the government funded religious schools right?

http://www.canadiancrc.com/funding_religious_schools.htm
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I'm not sure about the rest of Canada, but our school boards are now secular, and based on language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_education_system#Religion_in_schools

ETA: although I agree that I grew up in the faith based system, and had to go through first communion, confirmation and all that crap, the decline of religion in our society was well underway, so there was not very much pressure there.
 
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Well, it's better then when I was a kid in South Carolina. We had teacher-led "Grace" before lunch, and in another class, actually had the teacher reading from the bible. A moment of silence would have been an improvement.
 
You see, the problem with this crap is that it's just too obnoxious, even by my standards. In European constitutional monarchies you have the official church and all of that nonsense, but at least it's more laid-back and not so in-your-face, or such is the case to my understanding. The problem with prayer/silence, saying God in the pledge, even having silly pledge, is that it has more to do with identity politics, arrogance and supremacy than introspection, patriotism or solidarity. I would not want this lorded over me and I definitely would not want it lorded over my kids so that they get a daily reminder that they're godless, hell-bound heathens.
 
Aerik said:
Not only is the moment of silence obviously about prayer, it's also inhibitory of non-silent prayer. What if I wanted to pray by doing a ceremonial dance and/or song?
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Then do it at home.

A moment of silence allows everyone to do what (if anything) their religion requires (be it praying or thinking of naked chicks) without bothering everyone else.

Crying a river because it's "enforced prayer" makes your atheism look petty and discriminatory.

What's next- cancelling all lunch breaks because you're on a diet, and don't think you should be forced to stop school for an hour with the expectation that you will eat?
 
We had a moment of silence in my high school from 1989-1993. I don't think I ever saw a single kid pray. It was a nice pause at the end of homeroom before we started the day. Maybe some kids were praying but I was too busy daydreaming about naked cheerleaders to notice.

The proponents of a moment of silence are usually religious people who want it there so that students can pray if they want to. You know what, its fine with me.

Students can pray before or after school all they want. The school doesn't have to make time for this at all. But this won't be the first or last dumb law Illinois passes or rejects.

I'm sure a moment of silence was merely a school or district thing when I was in school and not a state law.
 
corplinx said:
When I was a young theist, I never felt pressured to pray during a moment of silence and in fact usually used that time to think about naked chicks.
Click to expand...

Given all times are times one should think about naked chicks, this adds zero information to this discussion. Thanks.

Now that I'm older and an atheist, I would still feel no pressure to pray and would most likely think about naked Billie Piper.
Click to expand...

I can recall going to church on Sundays with my parents, and hoping we sat near some women or teenage girls in skirts so I could check out their legs. How shameful! wonderful the glories of life!
 
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I'm a Christian and I oppose the "moment of silence" thing. I always figured that there are plenty of times during the school day to pray. Between classes, lunch, study halls.

As for the sin of imagining naked chicks..let me tell you about this one gal in my homeroom - Rhonda! :)
 
T'ai Chi said:
Can detractors show *actual* harm coming from this?
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Can you show any authority that the detractors need to demonstrate "actual" harm?

Can you show any authority that being forced to worship in a manner different from one's preferences isn't "actual" harm?

Exactly what, in your opinion, is the point of the First Amendment?
 
Go ahead and roll over for the Christians every step of the way. Pretend that atheists are just small and petty for daring to say anything. Fool yourself into thinking that the fundamentalist right-wing doesn't have an agenda.
 
corplinx said:
Lawsuit in illinois against a law mandating a moment of silence in schools.

This is the kind of crap that drives donations to Jay Sekulow.

When I was a young theist, I never felt pressured to pray during a moment of silence and in fact usually used that time to think about naked chicks.

Now that I'm older and an atheist, I would still feel no pressure to pray and would most likely think about naked Billie Piper.
Click to expand...

Naked Billie Piper? Where?
 
JoeEllison said:
Go ahead and roll over for the Christians every step of the way. Pretend that atheists are just small and petty for daring to say anything. Fool yourself into thinking that the fundamentalist right-wing doesn't have an agenda.
Click to expand...


A. All Christians are not fundementalists.
B. Some Athiest are Small and Petty..just like some Christians are.
C. Of course they have an agenda. So do the the people you support.
 
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