In this episode Doug talks to Sarah Levin from Secular Strategies, about her project Secular Democrats. Sarah discuss how the non-religious would find a good home in the Democratic party. She explains why the freedom to be a bigot is subverting religious freedom for all of us and finally they talk about the problem with Christian nationalists feeling entitled to our tax dollars.
Tag: Christian privilege
What this means is that while religious practitioners still enjoy their apparent majority in America, each new generational “cohort” has been less likely to practice religion than the previous generation. Among tenth and twelfth graders, almost all the drop-off in churchgoing happened in the years between 2000 and 2013.
It was reported last week that the Federal government passed a law that allowed the land underneath the Mount Soledad Cross in San Diego to be sold to a private Christian front group. The sale seems to bring an end to a 26 year court battle to have the cross removed from a public park. The case and end result shows how hard some religious conservatives will fight for their privilege and for their symbols. It is a sad day for the 1st Amendment.
The Friendly Atheist has the latest:
Uncle Baphomet, tell us a story?
Christians in Oklahoma are freaking out over a request by members of the Satanist religion to erect a monument to their religion on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capital next to a 10 Commandments monument. The Christians are upset about the attack on their privilege but it shows another good reason why government property should be free of any religious trappings. You either accept all religions or none of them. The Christians only have themselves to blame for the divisiveness.
The ACLU has a lawsuit to remove the 10 Commandments monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol. A New York based group, Satanic Temple, requested a permit to erect their own monument next to the Decalogue. The design released by the group is for a 7 foot tall representation of Baphomet, a bearded, goat-headed, winged hominid with horns seated on a throne beneath a pentagram with two smiling children to either side.
This week House Bill 376 was introduced in the Ohio legislature. I call it the ‘Jesus Painting Protection Act’ but the formal name is ‘Ohio Religious Freedom Restoration Act’. It creates special rights for the ‘religious’ to avoid any law or act by the state or local governments if it is a ‘burden’ on a person’s religious beliefs. This dangerous law could leave children unprotected from abuse, allow discrimination in areas way beyond just same sex marriage, and allow Sharia Law.
One reason given for the introduction of the bill was the recent removal of Jesus paintings from two public schools here in Ohio.
Jackson OH Jesus location in High School building
The other day I posted an update to the Jackson, Ohio school district Jesus painting court case. Someone on twitter sent me a strong reaction tweet about it and the ensuing conversation shows that some theists don’t want religious freedom for others – just themselves.
Here is the original tweet: