A complaint I hear often in debates about church and state is about people who challenge violations who hide their identity. People who oppose separation of church and state think that people who sue should be known publicly as if not knowing their identity makes their case not valid. I respect people who challenge violations of church and state and use their real names, but as a case in South Carolina shows, it’s something you have to be prepared to do with eyes wide open. Some Christians really really don’t like challenges to their privilege especially if the complaint comes from atheists.
In Chesterfield County, South Carolina, Jordan Anderson and his family challenged the systematic proselytizing in his middle school. They won the case but the family was harassed for challenging the Christian privilege in their community.
Tag: lawsuit
Back in July of 2011, American Atheists filed a lawsuit to prevent a Christian cross from being installed at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. On Good Friday, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled that the obvious Christian cross was really a secular item. I don’t know who should be more angry with the decision, atheists who don’t have any symbol marking their dead at the site, or Christians who keep having their symbols deemed generic and secular.
It should be no surprise that the Catholic Church has been working hard to stop abortions in the US by supporting laws that would prevent women’s reproductive choice. The church seems to care about the fetus more than the mother. That’s except when the issue of money comes up. As defendants in a malpractice lawsuit in Colorado the church is trying to hide behind a state law that says a fetus is not a person which is the opposite of its general view point on abortion.
Lori Stodghill was seven months pregnant and weighed close to 400 lbs, on New Years Day 2006, when she didn’t feel well. It was a holiday and her obstetrician told her to go to the emergency room at nearby Catholic run St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City. By the time her husband, Jeremy, had parked the car and returned to the ER, his wife was struggling for life due to cardiac arrest and a pulmonary embolism. Later, Lori and her unborn twins were pronounced dead. A couple years later Jeremy sued the hospital and doctors.
American Atheists have filed a lawsuit challenging a recent addition to the 9/11 memorial in New York. A piece of rubble from the World Trade Center terrorist attack that is in the shape of a cross. The suit has generated a lot of “bad” press from the media, death threats, and other nasty messages from the “peace and love” Christians. Some freethinkers and seculars might be complaining about picking this fight but I admire American Atheist for standing up for what they believe. I think they have a good case and so do the directors of the memorial.
The “cross” was found in the debris and then worshiped in the following days by believers working the site of the tragedy.