A colorful mural that shows the famous white 9/11 cross in Effingham, Illinois, has become the latest flashpoint over religious freedom, pitting atheists and a group opposed to mingling church and state against the legal group that saved the iconic American Legion peace cross in Bladensburg, Maryland.
Just before Christmas, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation asked Effingham to erase the cross depicted in a mural that also shows an American flag on an overpass near Effingham High School, claiming that it sends the wrong message to students.
“A mural that depicts nothing except a Latin cross alongside the American flag sends a clear message: that patriotism and religiosity are interrelated,” said the group in a letter to Effingham Mayor Mike Schutzbach.
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It sends the exact correct message to students.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous!
ReplyDeleteDon't like it .... don't look at it
Delete1:27 if you are Christian...
ReplyDeleteAtheists are the most offended people in the country. Always looking for things that offend them.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to fight back and say we have a right for the cross to be there.
ReplyDeleteIll say this again - Atheists don't believe in anything. So it CANT hurt their feelings. What these people are, are satanic worshipers using Atheism as a cover. If you are a TRUE Atheist you would not care what symbol is shown. You simply don't believe it. If you a Satan worshiper, it offends you - but you cant tell the work you worship satan and need the cross to be gone. No you hire lawyers and use the terms separation church and state. This was never meant to be used this way - but some greedy satan worshipping lawyer found a loop hole for the sheep and able to get it passed.
ReplyDeleteKeep worshipping Satan - see where it gets you in the end.
Agree. It helps justify all of there perversion
DeleteI'm an Atheist and I am not offended by the cross. I say that if it brings comfort to some then there is no harm being done.
ReplyDelete2:45 is dead on luciferian idealogy is shoved down OUR THROATS suck it up buttercups and embrace GODS truths. Deny it at your own peril
ReplyDeleteAtheists have a god and it's them...IGNORE the Ignorant. Leave it there and move on.
ReplyDeleteI say let's erase ALL ATHEISTS!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete1:27 if you are Christian...
January 8, 2020 at 1:46 PM
Awww... Poor baby, I guess you weren't raised Right!
ReplyDelete"..Atheists are the most offended people in the country. Always looking for things that offend them.."
Not all atheists. Just these professional atheists and their crew of full-time lawyers.
People hide behind Atheism to hide their Fascism
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteA number of folks on this post have denigrated atheists. Not all atheists are bullies and jerks like this FFRF bunch.
It's kinda like the racial thing really.. I don't dislike anybody because of their color or race-- but I DO dislike a fair number of people because of the way they ACT-- their culture.
Same here. The "Freedom From Religion Foundation" could be more aptly named the Eliminate Religion Foundation, because THAT is what they are all about.
Except you'll notice that they don't do this to muslims.. do they?
Why not?
Because they know that the muslims won't 'turn the other cheek'--they'll clean their clock.
These particular 'atheists' are bullies and jerks. Period. And they do it in places and ways that they know they can get away with it. Like a schoolyard bully. And they get off on it, because they do it all the time.
So if you are one of the FFRF full-time lawyers that makes your living bullying Christians, why don't you come on here and explain why you can't let people believe what they want and say what they want under the rights that the US Constitution explicitly affords them. You say you are defending the Constitution.
And don't bother with your lie about it being "illegal", because it isn't. NAME THE LAW THAT IS BEING BROKEN.
If you are the 'enlightened' ones, the 'free thinkers', why won't you let others think and speak freely too?
You're just bullies and jerks.
@ January 8, 2020 at 8:45 PM
ReplyDeleteThe FFRF responds to public outcry. This country is 70% Christian... so it stands to reason that it would appear that they are only responding to Christian infractions. Tell me, in your experience, how many MUSLIM images are emblazoned in courthouses, public buildings, schools?
In this example we see here, this is OBVIOUSLY a Christian Cross... and it is disgusting and dishonest that it is represented as something other that what it obviously is to somehow smuggle it's true intentions through the court system. It is antithetical to what the symbol represents. It is a clear demonstration of a tyrannical majority forcing their will upon everyone else.
The FFRF HAS addressed other than Christian issues as well, this is from their website:
... FFRF doesn't consider that we "go after" anyone of any religion. We "go after" violations of the Establishment Clause. We work to uphold a valued constitutional principle. But we are pleased to provide examples of some of the types of violations involving minority religions that we have taken action against. They include:
-The Muslim college professor we challenged for promoting his personal religion in the classroom. FFRF sent out a press release on this complete with audio clips and PowerPoint slides, to Starnes' Fox News buddies but he didn't report on it.)
-Our protests of a Buddhist shrine on public land in California.
-Letters to the mayors of Philadelphia and Dallas for hosting Iftar events to honor Ramadan, or to public libraries that planned on closing for the Dalai Lama.
-Our complaint about prayer "rooms" in a New Jersey school where Muslim students were dismissed from instruction to pray, clearing up the confusion on the law regarding accommodating religious students, including Muslims, in public schools like those in Frisco, Texas
-Our notice to a Brooklyn school that their play, which emphasized Islam and the importance of having faith especially during difficult times (to be performed in front of elementary school students), was unconstitutional.
2:02 Atheists and queers.
ReplyDelete@ January 9, 2020 at 9:24 AM
ReplyDeleteThe "offended" argument is a strawman so you don't have to address the issues.
The issue is a violation of the law, as written in the Constitution, the highest law of the land.
Wanting the law to be followed, and pointing out a violation of it is NOT being offended. It is following the law.
But please, explain to me how this is being "offended". It seems to me, the only people taking offense are those that are upset when they are told they can't force their religion on everyone else. That's when the REAL offended people show up... and boy are they loud.
Don't people have something more important in their lives than this?
ReplyDelete758
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the murder of Jesus Christ by the Sadducees is the single most important matter in life.
What were you thinking? Maybe spend some time on an upcoming election?
@ January 12, 2020 at 11:43 AM
ReplyDeleteI think you will have difficulty making a the claim that this is "true". Also, it is not his death that is the single most important fact, as it were, but his resurrection is it not.
While there is a consensus among historians that a Jesus person was likely to have existed (the only writings of this person are in the Bible, and may have been mentioned by Josephus.. no other historical account of this person is found anywhere else), his divine supernatural abilities ARE NOT recognized as historically true, nor is anyone raising from the dead. In fact, there are credible mythicist hypothesis that point to no such person ever existing, or that the Christ person is a conglomeration of many different stories of many differing people.
Regardless, this detail matters not to the discussion at hand. The obvious cross in this mural is an obvious Christian symbol, and it is not all inclusive and only represents one thing. It should not be included as part of this public artwork.
@ January 8, 2020 at 2:46 PM
ReplyDeleteYou strike me as someone who doesn't know any atheists, nor has taken any time to learn about any other perspective other than your own. Do us all a favor, I won't try and misrepresent you, how about you don't misrepresent me?
Atheism, is a position on one topic, the existence of a deity. That is it. Period. Hard stop. It tells you nothing else about them. To say atheists are "satanists" is ABSURD by the very definition. I don't believe your god exists, ipso facto your devil doesn't either.
Saying that atheists don't believe in anything makes no sense. I'm sure you'll find we both believe in a great many similar things... with the exception of a deity.
Saying a "true" atheist wouldn't care about the cross in this mural is absurd as well. Speaking for myself, I value and respect religious freedom and liberty our secular Constitution affords us and that our secular government protects. For it to take sides and allow a religious group to shoe horn it's iconography into a public space violates that very impartiality. So yes, atheists care and they should... in fact all Americans should care.
I recommend, that instead of you arguing against straw men, you take the time to actually address the viewpoints people actually hold. Address them as they are, and not as the fictional cartoonish caricatures you paint them as.
LET 'EM WANT. Just say "NO"
ReplyDelete