Posts tagged Secular
married to trouble
How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious.
38 notes &
Secular forms of entertainment…leave you speechless.
And that’s why they used to not let the common people read the Bible…
or even read, really.
(Source: hatefulatheist)
20 notes &
Alabama schools continue in unlawful prayer
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has yet to receive a response from Superintendent William Valentine regarding Lauderdale County School District’s sanction of illegal prayer before athletic events. FFRF wrote two letters on behalf of a concerned Lauderdale County School District resident and Alabama members of FFRF.
Local complainants confirm sectarian prayers that invoke “Christ” continue to be broadcast over the loudspeaker at Brooks High School football games and “micro-midget” elementary school football games, despite FFRF’s warnings that these acts are in direct violation of the First Amendment.
“It is coercive and inappropriate to ask students to listen while a prayer is delivered at athletic events. This is especially disturbing given the young age of these students,” said FFRF Staff Attorney Stephanie Schmitt.
Public school events must be secular in order to protect the freedom of conscience of all students. Prayer before football games establishes an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion, turns students who are non-Christian into outsiders and confers the school’s seal of approval on adherents.
“It is a tenet of the First Amendment that the State cannot require one of its citizens to forfeit his or her rights and benefits as the price of resisting conformance to state-sponsored religious practice,” as stated by the Supreme Court in Lee v. Weisman. In Edwards v. Aguillard the Supreme Court noted, “[the] State exerts great authority and coercive power…because of the students’ emulation of teachers as role models and the children’s susceptibility to peer pressure.”
“We ask that the school district commence an immediate investigation into the complaints alleged and take immediate action to stop any and all prayers occurring before any school-sponsored event,” wrote Schmitt in a final appeal to Valentine.
“What makes this situation particularly egregious is that violations are occurring in elementary schools. The District is imposing illegal prayer upon the youngest and most impressionable students, and this must stop,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.
From Secular News Daily
~Mooglets
Oh, Alabama.
What are you doing, Alabama?
You got the rest of the union to help you along.
What’s going wrong?
If someone else is allowed to marry their same-sex partner, the anti-gay marriage advocate is affected in no way, oppressed in no way, their right to hold those beliefs is violated in no way.
Just as orthodox Jews aren’t victims of oppression when other people are allowed to legally watch television and use electric appliances on Saturday. Just as Muslims aren’t victims of oppression when other people are allowed to legally purchase alcohol. Just as Hindus aren’t victims of oppression when other people are legally allowed to eat beef.
You are expecting a level of cultural dominance that is completely unreasonable. You are expecting the right to to demand that your religious practices be taken as civil law and that the prohibitions of (I assume) Christianity be enforced on everybody — including non-Christians and Christians of denominations that accept equality in gay rights.
Precarious Pencil: Christian Privilege: Not Being Allowed to Dominate Others Doesn’t Mean You’re Being Oppressed.
(via fishsandwich)
(Source: jaraconnell, via progressivegroan)
35 notes &
Life can restrict man and cripple his imagination, or it can stimulate him and help him to become more fully human. Which it does depends in large part upon the philosophy he adopts. He can choose a hackneyed, old-fashioned creed, supported by the weak-minded, the celibate and the unimaginative, or a modern, progressive rationalism, based on science and humanity, and supported by the greatest intellects in the world. For the healthy, uninhibited mind this should be an easy choice.
