Petition to remove tax breaks for religion

The following is an overview of the petition:

God in America

We here at anamericanatheist.org are always interested in learning more about religion, especially where we live. To that end, I would like you to watch a 6-part documentary miniseries that the PBS show “Frontline” is airing called “God in America.” You should check your local listings, but where I live, the first two parts were shown last night, the next two tonight, and the final two tomorrow night. Last night’s show covered the early American period, including the great awakening. Tonight’s show promises to be interesting as it will chronicle the religious arguments for slavery during the civil war and the rise of African American churches.

We may not agree on the significance of every point raised in the show, but I think it promises to raise some interesting discussion points. I got 15 out of 15 on the recent Pew forum’s religion quiz (thanks for the refresher on Jonathan Edwards, Robin!), but I can’t say I knew much about George Whitefield, Anne Hutchinson or John Hughes (not that John Hughes, although he is pretty cool!) before watching the show. However, I would like to make an observation why America is so religious.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Continue reading…

‘Americans United’ against National Day of Prayer

Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued this press release asking the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a lower court decision which declared the Congressionally-mandated National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.

The current incarnation of the U.S. National Day of Prayer began in 1952 when President Truman signed a bill requiring each future president to declare a day of their choice as a ‘national day of prayer’. The concept of a National Day of Prayer is somewhat simply argued against given the establishment clause of the in the First Amendment, which states clearly that Congress may not pass any law enforcing religious observance.

Tea Party Religion: Glen Urquhart

This is the first in a series of blog posts detailing the religious views of the “American” “Tea ‘Party’.” (excessive quotation required)

A man by the name of Glen Urquhart has won the Republican primary for a Delaware seat in the House of Representatives, currently held by Republican Mike Castle, who was recently defeated in his bid for a Senate seat by another notorious Tea Partier, Christine O’Donnell.

Glen Urquhart, at a campaign event in April 2010, asked aloud:

Do you know, where does this phrase ’separation of church and state’ come from? It was not in Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists. … The exact phrase ’separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph Hitler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State ask them why they’re Nazis.

The blog Below the Beltway has a more detailed write-up on the historical accuracy of this statement, but needless to say, Urquhart is about as wrong as you’d expect:

(Jefferson, writing to a committee of the Danbury Baptists in 1802) … Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God … I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

Two months later, Urquhart clarified his statement after a video surfaced, apparently filmed by a man working for a contending GOP candidate:

It was an April mistake. In that segment, it was not as skillfully worded as I would like to have been … Let’s all be careful about what phrases we use without thinking them through. The Nazis used the same separation-of-church-and-state rhetoric for a very, very bad purpose. I didn’t mean to suggest — and I am not suggesting — that people who are liberals are Nazis … Faith was at the center of the creation of the United States … We have it on our money, ‘In God We Trust.’ We have moved towards an ‘In Government We Trust’ statement of faith. … I think the pendulum has swung dramatically against the Christian faith. It’s almost become a whipping boy in our society. There is obviously every need for religious tolerance — and that applies to Christians, Jews and Moslems.

It should be noted Urquhart’s confused position has this writer confused as well.

Christian non-profit sues school district for prohibiting bible distribution

Yep, another lawsuit. This time, World Changers of Florida has sued the Collier School District after the the district denied the group’s request to hand out bibles on their school campuses. World Changers explains how they had wanted to do this during Religious Freedom Day on January 16th, and that the First Amendment does not apply to the group’s private endorsement of religion.

The school district requires approval from the superintendent and the district’s Community Request Committee. This committee denied World Changers’ request after advice from District Attorney Jon Fishbane.

Source: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jul/01/christian-suing-collier-school-prohibit-bible/

Louisiana and Texas declare day of prayer for Gulf spill

Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas declared Sunday the day of prayer for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the AP article, Jindal is hoping for ‘perseverance in coping with the environmental crisis’ and Perry wants to pray for ‘healing of individuals, the rebuilding of communities, and the restoration of the entire Gulf coast environment.’ According to NBC, Mississippi and Alabama are participating as well, with perhaps more states to follow.

If people want to set aside time for ‘remembrance,’ or ‘reflection,’ that is different in nature than setting aside time for a specifically religious ritual of ‘prayer.’ We should mourn the 11 dead in the drilling rig explosion, and we should express deep care for the local ecosystem, but endorsing this day as an official representative of the government is too far. The National Day of Prayer (also found here) that we covered earlier in the year was found unconstitutional for the very same reasons that this is. Government must allow, generally, for people to observe their religions, but it is too far for the government to request that you act in a religious fashion. However, it seems when an atheist, or even a religious person advocating separation of church and state speaks up, he/she is the bad guy. I will likely put an update when I find articles of people claiming that God’s grace closed the oil spill, how technology is nothing in the face of God, and how anyone injured or any damage suffered was because of sin somewhere by someone.

Anti-gay non-profit ministry linked to GOP

The rock-oriented ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide made statements implying the killing of homosexuals to be a “moral” act during their own radio show. Minnesotan Republican Michelle Bachmann has supported this ministry a couple times, which now creates quite a controversial link between the politician and her religious views, which have already been strongly fundamentalist and conservative in the first place.

Also interesting to note is the relationship between the non-profit group and the Republican party. While the ministry has not done anything explicitly in support of the party for the IRS to reevaluate their non-profit status, Minnesota governor candidate Tom Emmer donated more money than legally allowed towards the ministry.

Source: http://minnesotaindependent.com/58393/gop-linked-punk-rock-ministry-says-executing-gays-is-moral