If you click on the article it will get big enough for you to read it.
Ginger Strivelli delivered on her promise to bring Pagan spell books to North Windy Ridge after the intermediate school made Bibles available in December. She said school officials said they would allow for the availability of her materials, just as they did the Bibles from a local group of Gideons International.
When Strivelli brought the Pagan books to the school Wednesday morning, she said she was told “a new policy is being crafted.”
“I’m not surprised a bit. That’s fully what I expected,” Strivelli said. “Basically, they were calling my bluff thinking I wouldn’t bring in the books.
“They’re changing the policy, which is wonderful. They shouldn’t (allow) it, but they shouldn’t have done it to start with. That makes it unfair after they have given out Christian propaganda.”
Strivelli was first angered on Dec. 19 when she said her son brought home a Bible that he picked up from North Windy Ridge.At the time, Principal Jackie Byerly said, “If another group wishes to do the same, I plan on handling that the same way as I have handled this.”
“I’m glad they’re changing the policy,” she said. “But the people who made the wrong decision to start with still need to be punished and held accountable. They should’ve had the correct policy in place to start with,” said Strivelli.
How unsurprisingly hypocritical. They only change policy when called on it and “conveniently” right before they have to follow through with their promise to treat all religious books donated to the school in the same fashion.
(via seriouslyamerica)
Jamila Bey, a 35-year-old journalist, said, “To be black and atheist, in a lot of circles, is to not be black.” She said the story the nation tells of African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights is a Christian one, so African-Americans who reject religion are seen as turning their backs on their history. This feels unfair to Ms. Bey, whose mother is Roman Catholic and whose father is Muslim, because people of different faiths, and some with none, were in the movement. The black church dominated, she said, because it was the one independent black institution allowed under Jim Crow laws, providing free spaces to African-Americans who otherwise faced arrest for congregating in public.
Recognizing the role of churches in the movement, Ms. Bey still takes issue when their work is retold as God’s. “These people were using the church, pulling from its resources, to attack a problem and literally change history. But the story that gets told is, ‘Jesus delivered us,’ ” Ms. Bey said. “Frankly, it was humans who did all the work.”
This is a great article from The New York Time about African-American atheists. You should read it.
This is fucking ridiculous. Is this what’s in store for United States citizens? If you don’t believe in god you have to enter into a registry as if you had been added to the sex-offender list? Fuck this shit. First it’s a registry, then a boycott on businesses, then what? Ghettos and concentration camps?
Fuck you “pastor Mike.” You can kiss my godless asshole. I want a registry for every priest/pastor/minister who has ever even been accused of putting their hands on a child. I’m sick and fucking tired of hearing about “morality” from the lowest scum that could be scraped from the bottom of a pile of shit.
…the sad thing is that if this goes Tea Party-public there’ll be a lot of support for it -.-
(via seriouslyamerica)
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) - A Marshalltown auto detailing business is joining forces with two local churches for an advertising campaign to counter ads placed on city buses in Des Moines by an atheist group.
Jim Johnson, the owner of Marshalltown’s Showroom Auto, said their message for Des Moines buses will be, “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” He said they’ve raised enough money for seven signs. Their goal is 20 signs.The Des Moines transit system charges $139 a month to advertise on a bus.
An atheist group placed ads on buses this summer that read “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
That led to a dispute over advertising on the city’s buses. The transit authority removed the ads, then reversed course. It later approved a policy allowing political and religious ads.
—
The above story is the latest in a mini-controversy that has been brewing in Des Moines over the past few months.
It started with the news that the Iowa Atheist and Free Thinkers (IAFT) had purchased advertising space on the sides of some Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) buses. The ads that went up on the buses read: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
After complaints from some riders, DART decided to pull the ads and refund the money, saying that the signs were installed before DART’s advertising commission could approve them. Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D) also decided to weigh in on the controversy saying:
“I was disturbed personally…by the advertisement, I can understand why other Iowans were also disturbed by the message that it sent”
As one could imagine, IAFT was not happy with the decision and the ACLU got involved with the case. The following day, DART reinstated the ads at their expense, citing an outdated advertising policy.
Then, DART, citing a policy that drivers can’t choose which buses they drive, suspends a bus driver who was refusing to drive one of the buses with the signs.
Now we have the latest counter by church groups…
My observation in all of this:
Church group’s ad says: “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.”
versus
The atheists’ ad saying: ”Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.”
Now, looking at this from a pure rhetorical angle, which do you suppose is more effective, asking a question or calling someone a fool?
