Militant Atheism Picks On...

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

...Mother Teresa:

An atheist organization is blasting the U.S. Postal Service for its plan to honor Mother Teresa with a commemorative stamp, saying it violates postal regulations against honoring "individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings."

The Freedom from Religion Foundation is urging its supporters to boycott the stamp — and also to engage in a letter-writing campaign to spread the word about what it calls the "darker side" of Mother Teresa.

The stamp — set to be released on Aug. 26, which would have been Mother Teresa's 100th birthday — will recognize the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work, the Postal Service announced last month.

"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years," the Postal Service said in a press release. "Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations."

But Freedom from Religion Foundation spokeswoman Annie Laurie Gaylor says issuing the stamp runs against Postal Service regulations.

"Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can't really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did," Gaylor told FoxNews.com.

Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts expressed surprise at the protest, given the long list of previous honorees with strong religious backgrounds, including Malcolm X, the former chief spokesman for the Nation of Islam, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"In fact we honored Father Flanagan in 1986 for his humanitarian work. This has nothing to do with religion or faith," Betts told FoxNews.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,584165,00.html

More time than brains.

[Alpha Mare]

How many times do we have to explain what Jefferson was referring to? 

[Spirit of Ronald Reagan]

We need to petition the post office for an atheist stamp.  A picture of Jesus giving them the bird. 

[cclanofirish]

We need to petition the post office for an atheist stamp.  A picture of Jesus giving them the bird. 

LMAO...that is a great idea for a bumper sticker.

[Thor]

I wish that I had so much money that I didn't know what to do with it because I would tie these assholes up in court. There is NO "Freedom From Religion" mandated in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. It DOES allow the free exercise thereof. In my opinion, they are violating MY (amongst others) civil rights.

[TheSarge]

How many times do we have to explain what Jefferson was referring to? 

I've done everything but write it in crayon for the morons like this that come here.

Nothing will budge their head from their ass on this topic.

[Celtic Rose]

How many times do we have to explain what Jefferson was referring to? 

They don't care.  They are so concerned about possibly being exposed to a religious belief that the actual intent of the founders is not needed.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

They don't care.  They are so concerned about possibly being exposed to a religious belief that the actual intent of the founders is not needed.

Which just goes to show their weakness.

I've been exposed to truckloads of religious sentiment. theology and philosophy...

...and I'm still a cruel, debauched, shallow-souled asshole of a rabbit.

[The Night Owl]

Which just goes to show their weakness.

I've been exposed to truckloads of religious sentiment. theology and philosophy...

...and I'm still a cruel, debauched, shallow-souled ******* of a rabbit.

Why do you keep talking about atheists as though you're not one? I mean, I realize that bashing athiests is an easy way to win friends at right wing forums but don't you ever feel silly bashing a category you belong to? Well, perhaps I'm assuming too much. After all, I have yet to hear you deny the existence of the Lord. That seems to be a line you won't cross.

[The Night Owl]

I wish that I had so much money that I didn't know what to do with it because I would tie these assholes up in court. There is NO "Freedom From Religion" mandated in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. It DOES allow the free exercise thereof. In my opinion, they are violating MY (amongst others) civil rights.

Yes, the Founders wanted a nation in which people are free to worship or not worship and the fact that they drafted a secular Constitution which makes no mention of any god or any religion is an undeniable indication that they wanted total separation of church and state.

Borrowing from Ronald Reagan, Christopher Hitchens said it best: "Mr. Jefferson, build up that wall!"

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Why do you keep talking about atheists as though you're not one? I mean, I realize that bashing athiests is an easy way to win friends at right wing forums but don't you ever feel silly bashing a category you belong to? Well, perhaps I'm assuming too much. After all, I have yet to hear you deny the existence of the Lord. That seems to be a line you won't cross.

I didn't realize that nihilism required a sworn oath. I only thought it required...nothing.

Still...

You suggest claims of religious sympathy are a means to gain popularity.

But then you seek to entice me to renounce belief in the divine.


Methinks what you're after is only to have me rejected by my fellow conservatives.

Or maybe you are a militant atheist only to curry favor from your fellow liberals.


Such petty machinations and so shallow as to be insulting. Do you really imagine I would never have anticipated you poking your crooked little beak into this thread? Do you really imagine yourself to be so stealthy and sly? You do us both a disservice with such vain musings.

I have no issue with atheists. DJones and BadCat are also professed atheists and I've never had an issue with them. How stupid of you to ignore the qualifier assigned to the subject.

It is the self-contradicting prosletyzing atheists that twist my neurons. I have found most of them to be so weak they could never survive on their own and I see no reason why their semi-existence should be propped-up by the labors of others. They're little better than veal calves but not nearly as tasty.

[The Night Owl]

I didn't realize that nihilism required a sworn oath. I only thought it required...nothing.

Still...

You suggest claims of religious sympathy are a means to gain popularity.

But then you seek to entice me to renounce belief in the divine.

Well, in my experience I've found that when people refuse to deny the existence of the Lord it's usually because they're either afraid of offending the Lord or they're afraid of offending people. Which camp do you fit in?

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Well, in my experience I've found that when people refuse to deny the existence of the Lord it's usually because they're either afraid of offending the Lord or they're afraid of offending people. Which camp do you fit in?

I fit in your mom.

[The Night Owl]

I fit in your mom.

See? Now what would you do without me to get your blood flowing?  

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

See? Now what would you do without me to get your blood flowing?  

I'd still be doing your mom.

[Alpha Mare]

Well, in my experience, I've found that when people refuse to discuss their religious beliefs it's usually because they're fed up with obnoxious assholes who can't mind their own business.

[Celtic Rose]

Well, in my experience, I've found that when people refuse to discuss their religious beliefs it's usually because they're fed up with obnoxious assholes who can't mind their own business.

I had to stop discussing religion with my brother because we just ended up fighting.  I think I finally got through to him when he couldn't tell me what harm there was in me being a Christian.  However, we haven't tried to discussing it since. 

[Thor]

Yes, the Founders wanted a nation in which people are free to worship or not worship and the fact that they drafted a secular Constitution which makes no mention of any god or any religion is an undeniable indication that they wanted total separation of church and state.

Borrowing from Ronald Reagan, Christopher Hitchens said it best: "Mr. Jefferson, build up that wall!"

Bullshit!!! God is mentioned in the Constitution several times, albeit a non-denominational God. The "wall of separation" was in a letter that Jefferson wrote to some Baptist church in Va, you dumb bastard.

[The Night Owl]

Bullshit!!! God is mentioned in the Constitution several times, albeit a non-denominational God.

No gods are mentioned in the Constitution. This is by design.

[Thor]

No gods are not mentioned in the Constitution. This is by design.

OK, I concede your point. I suppose that I was thinking about the Declaration of Independence, whereas "God"  or "Creator" is mentioned several times. Regardless, there is NO requirement for a separation between Church and State. I stand by that statement until ANYONE can prove otherwise.

[The Night Owl]

OK, I concede your point. I suppose that I was thinking about the Declaration of Independence, whereas "God"  or "Creator" is mentioned several times. Regardless, there is NO requirement for a separation between Church and State. I stand by that statement until ANYONE can prove otherwise.

The separation is implicit.

[Celtic Rose]

The separation is implicit.

The rights of individuals to practice their religion without government interference is inviolate. That includes those who are in the government.  No where does it say that people are protected from being exposed to the religion of others.

How does a postage stamp with a religious figure interfere with anybody practicing their religion?

[MarshallLaw]

I'd still be doing your mom.

Meeeee-owwwww.

Bunny gots claws.


No...wait, that didn't sound right.........

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

On purely technical grounds:

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

One could argue they ONLY included it because it was the only dating convention in operation at the time but if all one wanted to due was declare a date "Year of our Lord" seems superfluous for a doument devoid of flourishes.

The separation is implicit.

And the freedom of religious expression is explicit.

Have you ever read the Massachusett(e)s state constitution written by the Adams brothers? It actually allows for the state to fund the building of churches and the retention of salaried ministers. While later repealed apparently at the time it was in perfect accord with the COTUS. I wonder what that implies.

[The Night Owl]

On purely technical grounds:

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

One could argue they ONLY included it because it was the only dating convention in operation at the time but if all one wanted to due was declare a date "Year of our Lord" seems superfluous for a doument devoid of flourishes.
And the freedom of religious expression is explicit.

I don't really have a problem with purely ceremonial uses of religious expression.