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Fox New Channel's War on Atheism

Dorian Gray said:
Christmas is a secular holiday - unless you consider an enormous inflatable illuminated Homer Simpson Santa Claus in someone's yard 'religious'.

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Well, near my house some terminally-tacky fundie has decided to celebrate Christmas by reconstruction of the 3 crosses of Golgotha...all charmingly done with brightly flashing Christmas lights! I just want to go up, smack the guy, and explain to him that he's supposed to be celebrating his Lord's birth....not his death!! Whadda maroon!

-z
 
rikzilla said:


Well, near my house some terminally-tacky fundie has decided to celebrate Christmas by reconstruction of the 3 crosses of Golgotha...all charmingly done with brightly flashing Christmas lights! I just want to go up, smack the guy, and explain to him that he's supposed to be celebrating his Lord's birth....not his death!! Whadda maroon!

-z
If you do, he'll just set it up for Easter instead.:p
 
Dont forget how the ACLU is the most dangerous organization in the country. You know they are tryingto stamp out religion.

I like the Fox story about the ACLU having Santa banned from a Kansas School. How awful!!! What they forgot to mention was that this particular "Santa" they wanted ousted was really a Pastor who would come into a public school and bascially direct the kids to christianity.
 
...near my house some terminally-tacky fundie has decided to celebrate Christmas by reconstruction of the 3 crosses of Golgotha..

Sneak over at night and hang an inflatable Santa on each one.
 
American said:
For a room full of athiests, this place has no problem clearing out around christmas time. Where is everyone?

Just because THEY turned it into a fasting day doesn't keep us from having a feast or two.

Even if they did have a hard time figuring out what day was in fact the solstice. :rub:
 
rikzilla said:


Well, near my house some terminally-tacky fundie has decided to celebrate Christmas by reconstruction of the 3 crosses of Golgotha...all charmingly done with brightly flashing Christmas lights! I just want to go up, smack the guy, and explain to him that he's supposed to be celebrating his Lord's birth....not his death!! Whadda maroon!

-z

Awp!

Oh, you got a digiCam?

You gotta show us.

You just gotta show us.
 
ktesibios said:


Yeah, but the nail holes would let all the air out. :wink8:

I don't know where the URL is now, but there was this news report about a store display in Japan that featured both a cross and a Santa. The rest is left to your own imagination.
 
A few years back the news reported how Christmas had become quite a popular holiday in Japan--and mentioned a manger scene populated by Disney characters.

A new inflatable Christmas figure for this year is the Cat In The Hat. I wonder if the fundies have identified him as Satan yet.
 
I have an interesing question.

Would ANY secular organization be able to survive, and indeed continue to thrive, if they had been involved in all the things that Catholic Church has done?

Let's see, in the past 50 years they have been known to collaberate with the Nazis, help Nazi war criminals escape justice, raped thousands of children, been involved in major abuse of children and even adults at convents leading to death in some cases, have thwarted the efforts to bring people to justive, etc..

And yet, it was the Catholic Church who helped push the "under God" into the pledge and now it is atheists, which no American Atheist organization that I know of has been charged with any wrong doing ever, who get's the label of being the "bad guys".

I already understand the issue, so I'm not going to "ask why", but I think the irony is fitting....
 
Malachi151 said:
I have an interesing question.

Would ANY secular organization be able to survive, and indeed continue to thrive, if they had been involved in all the things that Catholic Church has done?

Let's see, in the past 50 years they have been known to collaberate with the Nazis, help Nazi war criminals escape justice, raped thousands of children, been involved in major abuse of children and even adults at convents leading to death in some cases, have thwarted the efforts to bring people to justive, etc..

And yet, it was the Catholic Church who helped push the "under God" into the pledge and now it is atheists, which no American Atheist organization that I know of has been charged with any wrong doing ever, who get's the label of being the "bad guys".

I already understand the issue, so I'm not going to "ask why", but I think the irony is fitting....
Uh huh...somehow, even though all the politicians are religious, the Catholic Church harbors and hides pedophiles, the televangelists are con artists, the Bible Belt has the highest rates of divorce...it is somehow all the fault of the atheists.
 
I doubt there is a conspiracy on the part of religious people to install Jesus in our public venues as much as I doubt there is a conspiracy of atheists to remove Jesus from America. I think it is the work of busy-body individuals.

For example, on Christmas eve, Billy Graham's son, who is also taking up the evangelical torch, was on Hannity and Colmes. It started out nicely enough, but then Hannity asked him if Jesus was a liberal or conservative. Apparently, Colmes had claimed in his latest book that Jesus was a liberal. Hannity began a diatribe about welfare dependence and creating a nation of leeches and would Christ be that kind of liberal? And so on. Graham the Younger looked at Hannity with a deer in the headlights look and said, "That's politics" and looked at the floor. The interview ended there.

It was Hannity and Colmes who were guilty of politicizing religion, not the religuous man himself. And I believe that is where most of the trouble lays, despite the Pat Robertsons.

Keep it clear in your minds it is Fox that politicized the religious issue in the case of the opening post of this topic. They not only fan the flames, they start the fire.
 
Luke T. said:
I doubt there is a conspiracy on the part of religious people to install Jesus in our public venues as much as I doubt there is a conspiracy of atheists to remove Jesus from America. I think it is the work of busy-body individuals.

No offense, but that is a bunch of nonsense. Find me an atheist who is trying to "remove Jesus from America". The idea itself is silly. Some people respect the law and religious freedom, and some people want to violate the rights of others with their silly mythology. I say believe whatever fairy tale turns you on...just stop insisting that the government acknowledge it.
 
Zero said:
No offense, but that is a bunch of nonsense. Find me an atheist who is trying to "remove Jesus from America". The idea itself is silly. Some people respect the law and religious freedom, and some people want to violate the rights of others with their silly mythology. I say believe whatever fairy tale turns you on...just stop insisting that the government acknowledge it.

I think you misunderstood me. THe second half of my first sentence was "I doubt there is a conspiracy of atheists to remove Jesus from America."
 
Luke T. said:


I think you misunderstood me. THe second half of my first sentence was "I doubt there is a conspiracy of atheists to remove Jesus from America."
LOL, sorry about that, my fault...:jedi:
 
Luke T. said:
I doubt there is a conspiracy on the part of religious people to install Jesus in our public venues as much as I doubt there is a conspiracy of atheists to remove Jesus from America. I think it is the work of busy-body individuals.
I'm not trying to fall on one side of this issue or the other, but one of my favorite Jahova's Witnesses stories is from the time a couple of them came to my door several years ago.

Among the usual "Watchtower" sales pitch, they hit me with something along the lines about, "how great will it be when God comes to Earth and rules the world." When I questioned them about what that meant, I realized that they were literally talking about God taking up residence in the White House and having a world-wide theocracy from Washington.

Granted, I think this particular pair of JW's lived on the far side of wacky land, even for JW's, but there are extrimist groups who would love to instigate a Christian/American version of the Taliban. That Graham Jr. learned something from his father's mistakes doesn't mean that the movement doesn't exist.

Of course, there are also groups that truly believe in Bigfoot, but that doesn't mean that they'll make a difference either.
 
Upchurch said:
That Graham Jr. learned something from his father's mistakes doesn't mean that the movement doesn't exist.

Yeah. I did mention Pat Robertson. There is no denying that some clergy are overly involved in politics. Reverend Jesse Jackson. Reverend Al Sharpton.

But I still believe most of the politicization of religion comes from people who just like to make noise, like Hannity and Colmes. The argument over whether Jesus was a Liberal or Conservative is as stupid as an argument over whether he was White or Brown, and has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a world view.

I think the fear on the part of religious people is over morals. They believe morals are directly descendant from religion. By removing religous influences, you are begging for corruption. And it is easy to find evidence to confirm this belief.

The reasoning is simple. Theist:moral. A-theist:a-moral.

We all want to figure out What's Wrong With America Today. Is it the commies? The blacks? The godless heathens? Democrats? Republicans? Drugs? Flouride in the water? Aliens? Negative vibes?

It boils down to a feeling that things are beyond one's personal control and headed in a very bad direction. All things paranormal carry this doomsday undertone. So do many things political. Global warming. Immigrants. On and on.

It is time for America to start making a gratitude list. :D
 
Luke T. said:
It boils down to a feeling that things are beyond one's personal control and headed in a very bad direction. All things paranormal carry this doomsday undertone. So do many things political. Global warming. Immigrants. On and on.
Well put. The question is, how does one differentiate between actual problems and political scapegoats? In the US, at least, politics has become so polarized that it is near-impossible to neutral. No matter how hard you try to find the midpoint the spectrum of an issue, there will be someone who will accuse that point as being on one side or the other (generally on the opposite side from the accusor). How can you know if the accusor is right or wrong?

That's mostly a rhetorical question, I suppose, since any answer to the question is subject to the same relativization it's trying to remedy.
It is time for America to start making a gratitude list. :D
That used to be what Thanksgiving was for. Maybe we should stop worrying about the true meaning of Christmas and start pushing for the true meaning of Thanksgiving*.


* Turkey and mashed potatos.
 

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