Well, you oughta read the article.
PhillyChief's response:
Sam,
Freedom of opinion is a protected right in America, but in order to form the best possible opinions, you need to have accurate information to base those opinions on. You don't seem to have accurate information for your opinions so I'd like to offer that information to you.
"You atheists are rabid in your beliefs"
There's no belief system to atheism. Atheism is a response to a claim of deity existence. There's not even any rules for how to reach your conclusion. You can reach it through logic, through tea leaves, through a sixth sense, or reach it the way you (I assume) are an atheist when it comes to Thor and Vishnu, you just refuse to believe.
"You can preach your religion of Darwinism in our schools, but our Christian beliefs are forbidden."
Where do I begin? Ok first, NO religion is permitted to be preached in public schools due to the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment (each American should read and know their Constitution). You can teach religion, but you can't preach it.
Second, science is not a religion. Science is a process that has been successful for understanding our world and affording humanity great achievements (we are, after all, communicating right now due to science). Science's process requires hypotheses be testable and refutable. For instance, you can claim grass is purple, but such a claim is easily refuted. Now you can also claim that grass is green due to fairies, but such a claim is not scientific because it can't be tested. This is why ID was denied in the Dover case, because it's an untestable claim and thus, not science.
I wouldn't expect Shakespeare to be taught in science class, and I wouldn't expect Newton's laws to be taught in a religion class. It's just not where they belong, so aside from the unconstitutional aspect, religion simply doesn't belong in a science class.
"If you want to proclaim that we come from monkeys..."
No, chimps and humans have a common ancestor. That's different. What you're saying is like you came from your cousin, when actually you both share a grandparent. Capiche?
"Why are you afraid to let Christians give their point of view in Schools, Government, etc.?"
The Supreme Court has ruled that doing that in school is coercive. The idea is that if presented by the school, then the pov carries the weight of the school's support and by extension, the government's, when this is unconstitutional (remember that 1st Amendment?). Far from restricting you, it's actually there to protect you. In our nation's history, Catholics invoked the 1st Amendment to have their children protected from Protestant preaching in school, and various Protestants have used it to protect their children from other Protestant teachings they disagree with. I know you like the idea of debate, which is fine if everyone is on equal footing, but if the authorities are the ones who champion one pov, then that's not equal footing, is it? This is the whole point of the Establishment Clause. Again, I encourage you to read it.
Most everything else you wrote is simply opinion. I don't agree with your opinions, but so be it, but the quoted bits above were simply based on either incorrect or insufficient knowledge. I will answer a question of yours...
"What are you atheists so afraid of? Why do you get so angry?"
I would say frustrated more than angry. Frustrated by opinions based clearly on a lack of knowledge and/or understanding and frustrated by what we see as continued attacks upon the Constitution. I would say angry at decisions made which are detrimental to society which were made based on religion like Abstinence only sex ed and no distribution of contraceptives (everywhere this occurred, there was a significant rise in teen pregnancies and STDs), blocking equal rights for all Americans, blocking scientific research, and of course eroding the value of an education attainable in public schools.
Btw, the things I mentioned which inspire anger and frustration don't just affect atheists. There are many Christian groups who feel the same way, as do Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and various other groups because the sentiments don't rise from a disagreement over a religion, but rather what's done in its name. I truly wish the whole argument were simply over whether or not there were any gods. If that was all there was to argue, then there'd be little point getting angry.
1 comment:
I fear Sam will not learn and is happy in his ignorance. Although he might find his ability to pray aloud anywhere might be retracted, no one suggests he cannot pray in church, home, private homes, etc. Jesus suggested that prayer be done in solitude, out in the open, as God is everywhere. Public School is different as it is open to all people including those that do not wish school to be used for religious services, teaching, etc. That is the role of churches pr private schools where it is assumed all assembled there, wish to share similar thoughts. I am not sure that non Catholics, or non Jews or non Muslims, or atheists, would want their kids to be forced to attend services that are different than the services of the religion of their family. In a multi cultural land, which services are agreeable to all? Perhaps Mormanism, Islam, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodox, Scientology, Atheism, etc should be the accepted form of religion for all schools. There are over 2,000 Protestant denominations; five Jewish; many Catholic; several Muslim, etc. which shall we teach and which should not be allowed? Which would you like your tax dollars to fund? Who will select the teachers and what should the criteria be for hiring them?
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