I have updated the list of news stories on the Moment of Silence webpage to include those related to the recent oral arguments hearing. I also posted some corrections to errors in the original story which were repeated by other media.
To the supernaturalists who sent us numerous e-mail, voice mail, snail mail, and blog comment messages recently, I respond by recommending the very short book Letter to a Christian Nation by neuroscience doctoral student Sam Harris. It reminded me of Age of Reason by founding father Thomas Paine.
Posts
62 comments:
I don't suppose that it has occurred to you Dave that the natural, what is commonly called the supernatural, are part and parcel of what U*Us call "the interconnected web of all existence of which we are a part"?
Instead of recommending a book by yet another anti-religious fundamentalist atheist "crusader" how about responding to some of the comments on your blog?
I recommend "Religion versus America", by Leonard Peikoff. This esssay can be found in The Voice of Reason
Mr. Croft, I watched the news videos on your link. I think there is absolutely nothing the Rosemeade school system will ever be able to do to make you happy. Nothing. They can remove all the "In God We Trust" posters, make the teachers quit wearing Abilene Christian U tee shirts, remove the moment of silence, and take away the pledge, and there will still be more things you will demand that they do. You will continue to look for "violations" of everything and file lawsuits to get your point across.
I'm in agreement with Robin Edgar. I think you should come out of hiding now and respond to some posts or do a television interview to explain yourself.
You're a smart, intelligent man who no doubt has the ability to come up with a God-free curriculum, free of pledges of allegiance and moments of silence in your own home. You probably have more access to scientific resources than many of the teachers at the school where your kids go to, given your profession. You also understand that you have these rights as an American citizen and NOBODY IS GOING TO STOP YOU FROM DOING IT. So why haven't you? The only conclusion I can make is that you WANT to create a stir in your community and you WANT to antagonize the other students and parents around you. What gives??? And no, I'm not going to take this discussion into a private email with someone else. If Mr. Croft has a problem with my post, he can delete it.
Swordsandlace, but that is when it stops. You didn't hear atheists filing lawsuits on the TX pledge prior to the TX pledge being changed did you? I don't care if you teach your kid creationism at home but when you bring non-science into schools we get argumentative and scientific. How hard is it for you to understand secular/neutrality in regards to religion in public schools? If we taught Sam Harris' book or Dawkins book on atheism then you'd have a legitimate concern and I'd understand why you were fighting for you Constitutional rights. Why can't you understand xianity or religion can't be favored?
I'm not understanding how a moment of silence can compare to taking up class time to teach a book on atheism. It seems like the minutes, if we're getting technical, would actually be more. I'm not a math whiz by any stretch of the imagination, but lets say 10 minutes a day on Dawkins book. 10x5=50. That's 50 minutes of class time versus one minute per day. 1x5=5. And let's not forget the study time the student will need at home, so I'm being conservative.
I favor teaching evolution in the schools. I favor all viewpoints. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Well rounded education is far better for a child than a narrow minded upbringing, and I can personally attest to that.
I can't understand how having a moment of silence all of a sudden is so threatening and becomes "you're all going to convert right NOW to believing in God or else!" I'm sorry, but to me, that seems narrow minded and frankly, for a humanist, unopen to other views. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the moment of silence actually watered down from the school prayer? So how are we evolving towards a bigger threat to atheists? A moment of silence can really mean anything. It's open to interpretation. And I fail to see how that is forcing something down someone's throat.
Let's just say, for argument's sake, that Mr. Croft gets what he wants? The moment of silence banned? Then he gets the tee shirts banned? Then he gets the posters banned? What's he going to want banned next? I'd really like to have this question answered by somebody since Mr. Croft doesn't seem to want to do it. It's like, "Okay let's slowly replace America with Communist China's belief system."
How do we resolve this issue? By bending to Mr. Croft's wishes and giving him a total pass to what he wants?
Swords, then reduce the teaching of atheism to 1 minute a day. A simple paragraph or two will suffice. There are multiple viewpoints on evolutionary science at the high school level? Not that I'm aware of. I don't think they spend enough time on evolution. A 1/4 of the science class school year would be great.
The moment of prayer is giving in to the xians to allow prayer when it has no place in school. Pray on the bus to school, in between class or during a test but don't give xians the nod and say prayer is ok when it does no good. It's wasted time. When you take 30 seconds of that minute to explain how intercessory prayer has no effect then you are showing both views and being tolerant. It was reworded from school prayer but the same intent and we all know it. Did you read his other page where he said the t-shirt comment was a lie? (surprise a xian lies) Which posters removed? The word map posters? The Constitution posters or the religious posters? The next intrusion of church/state separation. In Round Rock Texas the AU is suing the district for allowing prayer to be a part of the graduation, not by a valedictorian but put in the ceremony intentionally. Did I say anything prior to that when a student prayed? Nope. And we see you guys as the Taliban thinking we need religion in public places. You keep your religious stuff in your home, church and to yourself.
Hey David,
I just want to apologize for the world of “religion” that so often soils the name of God., and that may have portrayed in inaccurate picture of who God is, and made you feel negative towards people that believe in God.
I love and respect you as a person and your contribution to our world. If you will allow me, God is love, He loves us all, and he wants us humans to try a “new” way to be human. The problem is we are not very good at it. It involves things like tolerance, loving our neighbor, feeding the poor, loving the “unlovable” Caring for the planet, sacrifice, Giving grace to those who don’t deserve it, forgiveness, Standing up for the injustices of the world, being more concerned with others than self. . . The list could go on and on. If you share a passion for some of those things then I would say we have a lot in more in common than we do in differences
Peace to you on you journey through this life.
homecooks, that would be secular humanism you are describing and there is no need to include god.
So if the moment of silence is removed from the school system, and then the pledge of allegiance stricken from the schoolday's activities so his kids don't have to stand up for it anymore, and then nobody else will have to endure those two things, will this make David Croft happy? Will he have won the fight?
Yes. Me too.
So you are saying yes, that you will have won this fight if the Texas School System gives David Croft what he wants? The moment of silence removed and the pledge of allegiance taken away?
I wish David Croft would answer his posts directly though, but I guess anyone else's answer will suffice. By the way, how many people are listed on this lawsuit? Just Mr. Croft and his wife? Or are there others?
Well, you kind of worded it wrong. It's not what I want. It's what's neutral. What I want is a class on atheism where we totally explain how xianity is wrong. See the difference? I'm going overboard to make a point. I don't know but I do know I contacted the ACLU about this, under god, and Round Rock ISD allowing prayer to be voted by students when that's unconstitutional. 6 people from round rock got a lawyer and the AU to sue. I contacted the Superintendent when it happened and just today after I found out about the lawsuit. He said we're going to court and they will decide. I asked him to stop this action to save taxpayer money and he said it's going to court so that's why this happens.
In reading thru all the post and responses by the defenders of Croft (not by himself???) it hit home that people like the Crofts, txathiest etc actually see themselves a god because they are the ones ignorant enough to say that their kind are the creator of the microscopic, DNA, essense of life, universe and all of creation when we all know no one is that smart or capable of doing so.
GOD made it or a CREATOR made all of this and not you people so cramming all these books and quotes and lawsuits down everyones thorats will never convince anyone you are your own creator.
I'm a down to earth somewhat religious of a common sense guy who is open to new ideas and learnings but I did not take a book called 1984 and let it make me an athiest.....after being raiosed a Christian!!! That statement by Mr Croft is so wrapped up in his quest for self servitude and self advertising it is unreal!!
I really do believe this one thing - There are so many more "believers in a higher than us power" that the foundation of the majority of believers in God outweigh you at this time and hopefully for eternity.
Until then I will state it again your type of beliefs are much better served in communist China or N Korea or somewhere else besides the country that founded a nation by God fearing individuals and agreed upon by the majority and your constant fight to tell the majority we are the wrong thinking ones when we all feel it is you that have it all wrong.
Care to take a count or a poll and see if I am right on this Mr Croft?????????? Or do you come in here as txathiest to answer for yourself and hide???????
I found this blog and saw an opportunity to explain why I support David. I am not god nor think it. I don't believe in any gods. If you enjoy smearing me to feel better about yourself then you are shallow. Your faith based idea that god/creator made all this belongs in your church or home but not school and it's completely unsubstantiated by logic or science. It's not majority rule with the Constitution and the US has gone from 9 to 16% non-religious since 1990 and that is only going to get higher. Every trend shows that in developed countries, and the US is lagging so we'll play catch up. Our country was founded by believers. Deists and Unitarians who came out of the Enlightened Era after watching how corrup xianity was in Europe so they made the USA a secular nation and created the separation of church and state/1st amendment. If you love a theocracy move to Iran and bow 5 times a day. I am not hiding from you and I'm not David.
Here's a poll for you.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
Mr. Croft, I'll leave this link here and you can watch Mr. Obama's presentation at your leisure. I think you will find it very interesting. Something to think about before the next Presidential election, and also a reminder that this issue is much bigger than just the moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance in the Texas public school system. Good luck to you in your suit against Governor Perry.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/faith/
That is what I love about America, freedom! Freedom to choose how you want your children raised. It is our liberty and rights. I am educating my children at home. We have a clear family direction, willing to invest the time and the extra money it takes to buy the exact curriculum that supports our beliefs. It is like buying a car, if you don't like the model - choose something else. We fought for what we wanted and it was not implemented, so we left the system. We are certainly raising outstanding, well-educated American citizens without utilizing the public system. I wish this country would divide into two seperate nations, Conservatives & Liberals. As the saying goes... A house divided will fall. We are a stagnate nation without common ideals or goals wasting time fighting instead of moving forward toward excellence.
you would think that as blessed with as many kids you have that you would spend more energy than fighting for your own slefish belief - the one that comes across like you know and we are all stupid - that the energy to teach your children to love or what ever word you find to descibe love in one of the eco-optihuman-frogs r us- books you read - teach your kis to love people and not fight and moan when they hear the word God the rest of thier lives - it is on the money or they going to not touch money b/c our country was founded on Godly principles? You just seem like you need some attention - real real bad- someone should hug you - but to be clear in a optihuman ticket on the spaceship we are just matter and cells - kind of way
you have every right to belive what you want - just wish you would put that energy for more postive things - are'nt you tried of just always being upset - oh As a Christian - your no better than me or I you - and I will love you no matter what... but you know I guess you could move to a island or jungle to protect you and your family from hearing anything in the world. :) you the man!
AFTER THIS CROFT CHARACTER LOSES HIS COURT CASE. MAYBE HE SHOULD JUST MOVE AND ENROLL HIS CHILDREN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL DISTRICT. AT LEAST HIS CRACKPOT VIEWS WILL BE ACCEPTED THERE. I AM ASHAMED THIS GUY LIVES IN TEXAS.
Do you have nothing better to do than to file lawsuits and tie up our court systems with this non-sense. If you have such a big problem with what the school system is teaching your children and they are being harmed then why don't you home-school your children; or is that out of the question because then you would have nothing to fuss about.
In this past session, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that requires school districts to offer a Bible Course which is supposed to teach the historical and societal affects including the arts. It allows the student to determine what main textbook to use! It also throws in for the minority religions a provision that allows a school district to have courses on other religious perspectives.
I think this is exactly what Mr. Croft is trying to prevent. The far overreaching by the religious right. If the idiots like Texas Senator Dan Patrick have his way, all of our kids would have to have Bible study despite what our religious and spiritual beliefs are. As a practical matter, there is no way that any school district in Texas would offer a course on Atheism or any religion other than Christianity. Therein lies the problem Bible Beaters. Stop shoving your beliefs down our throats, and the David Crofts of the world will stop filing lawsuits.
You allowed to do as you please by our constitution. However, you sir are a moron. If you don't like the "God" part in either the Pledge of Allegiance or the State Pledge of Allegiance, then I invite you to leave this great state and nation and go somewhere else.How about Iraq or India. You sir are in the miniority and We are a Nation Under God and if more people adhered to that philosophy, then this great nation could become even greater. If you don't like it, LEAVE.
I'm behind you 100%. There wasn't a need for "under god" until the communist fear mongering of the 50's. "God" (*a* god, goddess(es), flying spaghetti monster, whatever) isn't necessary to patriotism.
It is brilliant comments like Jeff's that reassure me that I'm right and the religious zealots are wrong. Good job Jeff. Your arguments are akin to a kid taking his toys and going home because he got mad.
We are talking about a PUBLIC school here. I admire what the Crofts are doing. I commend them for standing up for their children's rights when clearly they were opening themselves up for all kinds of horrible backlash from those that choose not to understand or are simply so used to Christian privilege. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Croft! Don't let them get you down.....
As a fellow Texan and American tired of the religious right imposing their "moral values" on the rest of us I applaud your actions and wish you the best of luck. For some reason these right wing nuts believe separation of church and state is just a suggestion and not the law.
As a fellow Texan and American tired of the religious right imposing their "moral values" on the rest of us I applaud your actions and wish you the best of luck. For some reason these right wing nuts believe separation of church and state is just a suggestion and not the law.
Howdy
I just wanted to let you know that my family is on your side and back you 100%. I’m glad that you and your family have the courage to stand up to all of the nuts that have what I think should be deemed a physiological disorder. I mean wow their answer to everything is that some made up invisible Santa Claus type all mighty being did it all. What I think it comes down to is that they (religious people) are the ones that are narrow minded. They are the ones that can’t stand not to have answers to questions like what happens when I die. They are like little children that need to have that reassurance that everything will be okay.
You know I’m sure that if lets say some other non-christian religious group of people became the majority here in the US and they decided to change the US and Texas pledge to “one state under Allah” they would have issues with it too.
Makes ya think . . . . .
Mr. Croft,
I am glad some people in Texas have the guts to stand up to the theocrats. I grew up in Texas, and I care deeply for the state. It's good to see that I'm not the only one who is sickened by all the moves the Texas legislature has made recently to force the religion of the majority on the minority.
Keep up the good fight!
Ethan Lowry
Santa Clara, CA
So all who believe in God are nuts and all of those who don't are righteous.
txathiest points out that the 16% should be allowed to rule the 84%
So that makes athiest right and all others wrong.
Hey I am not saying any religion or Bible classes or anything like that belongs in a public school as there are too many to try to please and that takes away from teaching the basics because the teachers will be bogged down trying to avoid causing a law suit.
The main focus I started out opposing is the law suit against 60 seconds of free thought and the fact that the Croft's like to advertise themselves in blogs and in law suits as helping us all by starting that law suit.
Free thought is not a religion and it allows one to quickly do whatever they feel like thinking or praying at the time.
That is where I saw the Croft's for what they are in that self promotion is their true goal and not helping the 86% of us who do not oppose free thought.
That is how txathiest can say their numbers are climbing because they are shoving their agenda into our courts and slowly tearing away at free thought and the right to believe in God and will not stop until they achieve total anti religion in the US.
Mr Croft scoffed at those of us who have not supported him because we only say he will find out in the afterlife.....in the world he wants which would all be athiest instead of saying he would suffer in the afterlife they would just behead him now and not wait for that.
The 10 commandments which are basic life laws would not be taught so killing him off will be acceptable in his world. Taking all his money and valuables would also be acceptable because stealing will also be ok.
Once we are run over by non God fearing folks like these what kind of world will it be then?????
Instead of do unto others as you would have them do unto you it would be get rid of all who don't think like he does because he has no morality due to worshiping himself.
I don't want laws that force his children to believe in God, or even here the name God. I want laws that allow mine to have that choice and a minute in school to think about what they want to even if it is a prayer. Your children can think about the Target trip Mrs. Croft took them on and told us all about.
That is the basics you are fighting here...... that law suit has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with Mr Croft getting his 15 seconds of whatever exposure he is getting.
Lastly, THANK GOD the judge ruled against the Under God suit you have going on....... one down and one to go eh?
Thank you so much for all your work! I can't believe I only learned about the addition to the Texas pledge this afternoon, after my daughter called me crying about how uncomfortable she was. She had spent the past few years reciting a non-religious pledge to this scared state, only to find the walls of the school seeming to close in upon her before her breakfast even had time to digest.
Who wants to chart out the prayer times for Muslims for this school
year and have your moment of silence
to coincide with those prayer times?
Do we have any takers????
To Swordsandlace, I like your point on how a moment of silence is a watered down school prayer. Imagine a class of 25 students, 24 of them with hands together and heads bowed.
As soon as one of them finishes early and notices the one student not praying, the student not praying will be targeted as a nontheist. I think we all know how cruel kids can be when they find a reason to pick on another. Here's my question: What do we really need a moment of silence for any way? Seriously, what is the purpose? We live in a country that will allow those that need or want to pray, to do so most any time you want. I need to know why it's so important to the religious, to force this moment into the public schools.
To planoguy, the freethinkers are not shoving an agenda onto anyone.
We are simply trying to keep the religious at bay, not halt others freedoms and right to their religion. All of the court cases that are ongoing right now are because the religious have stepped over the line and we are simply calling them on it. Do you see an atheist trying to get "In No God Do We Trust" placed on our currency?
That would be pushing an atheistic agenda. No we aren't, because we know that all Americans do not profess to that way of thinking. We see that having "In God We Trust" isn't how ALL Americans think, so why force them to be subjected to your religious views.
Furthermore, a secular society would still enforce laws against killing and stealing. Man has known that these are wrong for far longer than the bible has been around, so you don't need the bible to teach these things.
I'm an atheist in America,
and I approve of Mr. Croft's message.
Quote:
Planoguy
"I don't want laws that force his children to believe in God, or even hear[sic] the name God. I want laws that allow mine to have that choice and a minute in school to think about what they want to even if it is a prayer. Your children can think about the Target trip Mrs. Croft took them on and told us all about."
The Law already provides for this. Separation of Church and State "should" protect Mr. Croft's kids from being forced to believe in one religion over another. YOU have the absolute right to enroll YOUR children in a private school that teaches the beliefs YOU have.
Every child in Texas has the right to a free PUBLIC education, and that is where YOUR beliefs rub up against what is allowed by the Constitution. Yes, you have the right to practice your religion, but you do not have the right to infringe on other people's rights in practicing that religion. Not have a moment of silence does not infringe on YOUR practice of religion.
While I think the legal cards are stacked against Mr. Croft concerning a moment of silence, I think it is important that we protect our kids from being intimidated into beliefs about things that are truly unknown; ie. religion.
If your kids want to speak on their religious beliefs, a new law passed by the Texas Legislature attempts to codify the rights they already had; that namely being the right to speak publicly about religious viewpoints. The statute is called the Religious Viewpoint Anti-Discrimination Act, and it gives all students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a limited public forum.
Thus, I believe YOUR kids' rights to "pray" is sufficiently protected, and there is no need for a moment of silence. But, OUR kids right to be free from religious prosthyletizing must be protected also.
"Secularists are wrong when they tell believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square."
-Barack Obama
"Not every mention of God is a breach of the wall of separation. It's doubtful that reciting (or muttering) the Pledge of Allegiance and quoting the words "under God" is tantamount to brainwashing. He says that he didn't feel brainwashed when he did it."
-Barack Obama
i would give you a high five if i ever met you. i've been preaching (for lack of a better word) how wrong it is for under god to be in any pledge for as long as i can remember. when i came back to school on monday and heard of the addition of under god to the texas pledge, i was completely appauled. how can we claim seperation of church and state when practically every politician is a christian and so is our president! something so official, like the pledge, shouldn't have anything to do with religion, it was fine the way it was before!
i am a Christian and i support what you're doing.
i actually made a post on my blogspot about it if you would want to read it.
I can't wait until the majority of the state is muslim (the fastest growing religion). Then the pledge can be changed to "One state under Allah". Maybe one day it will be changed to "One state under Buddha". Hopefully then the folks who actually support adding "under God" to the pledge will realize how anti-American it is. When does it end? When your religion is not the majority? Wake up... delusional people are everywhere, especially at your local church :)
How do I support your cause? Do you have donation place? I am a Texas teacher. It makes me sick everyday to see the perversion in the state legislature who in their full right mind knew what they were doing to circumvent common sense and the law. Religion is a personal choice and has no business to be out in public, let alone in a school where children are so easily swayed. Period. I try everyday to remove religon from public life. It belongs only to the person himself that chooses it, no more. It sickness me to think of how silly religious people are. Just thought I'd give you a thumbs up.
David, keep up the great work! People like you give me hope for a better future!
Thanks for your effort in opposing the religious right from encroaching on everyone's freedom of religion. I fully support you and your family.
I support you 100% - thanks for having the guts to fight the good fight. These nut jobs won't be satisfied until we're all praying to their fictitious god. Yeah, freedom of religion, as long as you swear allegiance to their god. Boy, am I sick of all these right wing religious zealots.
I support you 100% - thanks for having the guts to fight the good fight. These nut jobs won't be satisfied until we're all praying to their fictitious god. Yeah, freedom of religion, as long as you swear allegiance to their god. Boy, am I sick of all these right wing religious zealots.
I just finished a quick read of “Letter to a Christian Nation”. I liked the following passage:
"And yet, while the religious divisions in our world are self-evident, many people still imagine that religious conflict is always caused by a lack of education, by poverty, or by politics. Most nonbelievers, liberals and moderates, apparently think that no one ever really sacrifices his life, or the lives of others, on account of his religious beliefs. Such people simply do not know what it is like to be certain of Paradise. Consequently, they can’t believe that anyone is certain of Paradise. It is worth remembering that the September 11 hijackers were college-educated, middle-class people who had no discernable experience of political oppression. They did however spend a remarkable amount of time at their local mosque talking about the depravity of infidels and about the pleasures that await martyrs in Paradise…The truth, astonishingly enough, is this: in the year 2006, a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get seventy-two virgins in Paradise. Western secularists, liberals, and moderates have been very slow to understand this. The cause of their confusion is simple: they don’t know what it is like to really believe in God."
I would suggest, however, that he has missed another important reason why Western “liberals” and secularists have been slow to understand this. A Western “liberal” tends to be, politically, left-of-center. This means that their political agenda tends to promote things like a redistribution of wealth from those who produce to those who do not. This means that they tend to see religious conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Africa, not in terms of religion, but in terms of poverty because this is more consistent with their political agenda.
One other note: In the back of "Letter to a Christian Nation", the author gives a top-ten reading list. Number 10 is "Atheism: The Case Against God", by George H. Smith. I read this back in 1995, so it has been a while, but I seem to remember it made a lot of good points.
I agree with much of what you have said in recent weeks, but i read in the paper that you had an issue with a teacher who wore an Abilene Christian University t-shirt to school. I was curious about this. If they had a "Spirit Day" where everyone was to wear their college t-shirt, and she attended that university, what else should she have worn? I have no problem with her wearing that shirt, as long as she didn't try to make everyone wear it! Can you explain your thinking on this?
Erin,
I don't think that ever happened. I think that was a rumor that the media spread. Look at this other web page by David regarding this issue:
http://www.croftpress.com/david/politics/moment/#news
Cheers! Just learned about this on the RationalResponder's website. You are standing up where many of us are too afraid of criticism.
Behind you all the way,
Matt in Victoria BC
Dean,
Thanks for the clarification.
Cry like babies and sue because twinkies now come as singles instead twins. Today I set out to prove that rectangular maps of the world are harming my children. If they keep teaching from those my children will be terrified when they travel because we might eventually go over the edge. Hey Napolean Dave didn't you get the attention you deserved as a child? What on earth is going on in that brain of yours. LOOK AT ME I'M TAKING ON GOD AND I THINK I AM WINNING! Wow you must be constantly drunk. Well lock yourself in a cell Otis and sober up. Let me recommend some reading for you. It's called I AM AN EGOMANIAC LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME NOW ^%$#$IT! MOMMY THEY WON'T PLAY WITH ME. Oh honey it's ok we will sue them later c'mon in for a twinnie twin twin of twinkies.
tsmith, Are you ok??
David
I think we must go to the root of the problem to fight Christ-psychotics. The acceptance of delusions (which are at the base of all religious irrational beliefs ) as reality, is simply symptomatic of a neurological malfunction like schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy, Borna virus induced depression et al. It amazes me that this fact is not presented when fighting these delusions infected folks in court. Any Neurologist, free of the disorder ( atheist ) can argue this empirical fact in any lawsuit. After all, it is the brain who creates thinking not the heart and when this organ is infected with the irrational beliefs of religious anachronistic fantasies, despite having received an education, it cogitates not unlike folks suffering from a schizoaffective disorder. This is indicative of brain malfunction.
In the same manner the mentally ill can avoid prison because of their condition committed to mental health clinics instead, Christians on the other hand ought to be committed because of their dysfunctional puerile thinking which can be dangerous to others i,e Hitler, Jones, Doe, Koresh, Paul Hill, Andrea Yates etc
The phrase under God is as effective as "under the Tooth Fairy" or under Santa. The insanity, irrationality, anachronism and falsehoods of religious thinking must be point out to any judge. We must realize that in Christ-psychosis infected America the words God and Religion are synonymous with Christ and Christianity respectively, which is the reason these nuts go berserk when the word is to be removed.
One can not win a case like this in court unless a neurologist points out the fact (using tons of neurological data) that the delusional beliefs of the religious and those of a temporal lobe epileptic or schizophrenic are practically indistinguishable. The name of the god, aka imaginary friend, been the only difference between these groups.
Neurologists declaring religious beliefs a neurological disorder is the only way, IMHO, America can free itself from the clutches of this devastating intellect dragging, ignorance inducing psychosis.
Neurologists could be the kid that said: hey mom, the emperor wears no clothes.
All the best.
Calpurnpiso, Chandler Arizona
David
I think we must go to the root of the problem to fight Christ-psychotics. The acceptance of delusions (which are at the base of all religious irrational beliefs ) as reality, is simply symptomatic of a neurological malfunction like schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy, Borna virus induced depression et al. It amazes me that this fact is not presented when fighting these delusions infected folks in court. Any Neurologist, free of the disorder ( atheist ) can argue this empirical fact in any lawsuit. After all, it is the brain who creates thinking not the heart and when this organ is infected with the irrational beliefs of religious anachronistic fantasies, despite having received an education, it cogitates not unlike folks suffering from a schizoaffective disorder. This is indicative of brain malfunction.
In the same manner the mentally ill can avoid prison because of their condition committed to mental health clinics instead, Christians on the other hand ought to be committed because of their dysfunctional puerile thinking which can be dangerous to others i,e Hitler, Jones, Doe, Koresh, Paul Hill, Andrea Yates etc
The phrase under God is as effective as "under the Tooth Fairy" or under Santa. The insanity, irrationality, anachronism and falsehoods of religious thinking must be point out to any judge. We must realize that in Christ-psychosis infected America the words God and Religion are synonymous with Christ and Christianity respectively, which is the reason these nuts go berserk when the word is to be removed.
One can not win a case like this in court unless a neurologist points out the fact (using tons of neurological data) that the delusional beliefs of the religious and those of a temporal lobe epileptic or schizophrenic are practically indistinguishable. The name of the god, aka imaginary friend, been the only difference between these groups.
Neurologists declaring religious beliefs a neurological disorder is the only way, IMHO, America can free itself from the clutches of this devastating intellect dragging, ignorance inducing psychosis.
Neurologists could be the kid that said: hey mom, the emperor wears no clothes.
All the best.
Calpurnpiso, Chandler Arizona
Keep up the good fight brother. This is going to be a long battle. I am glad you are standing up to the Xian Fundie morons. Thank you. If I had children in public school, I would be doing the same thing.
Religion and education are opposites and do not mix.
umhckcWow you fellers use lotsa big words. Are you guys still having yourselves frozen when you die? You know just in case they find the cure later on that science couldnt provide in the time of your demise. Neuro NERO psychopaths. Genius left the building with you Gentleman the instant you fell for that Darwin CRAP. It's not possible that you have a monkey gene. But with all the crap you sling you do display some of the behavioral characteristics. And yes TX Atheist i am fine for a delusional person who suffers from Missing Link syndrom. Oh wait thats not me.
That would be your other personality, mr. Schizophrenic and he only comes out weekends? We are 99% the same as chimps. The missing link was found it's called fossil.
Simialarity in design doesn't make it relative it is simialar. Actually, an argument for intelligent design. However if we share an ancestor shouldn't you breed a monkey and show us a half human half monkey missing link. You could make some scientific porn. I mean we are related but not like first cousins or anything. Honestly people might be very open to such a relationship. Could you imagine the baby viewing. Oh just look at all that hair. And bananas are way more affordable than formula.
From the "Texas Freedom Network" website regarding the bible curriculum in public schools:
"Most troubling is the fact that the new curriculum still clearly reflects a political agenda. Like the old version, it seems to Christianize America and Americanize the Bible. It continues to recommend the resources of WallBuilders, an organization devoted to the opposition of church-state separation, and it still advocates showing that group’s video, Foundations of American Government, at the beginning of the course. This video, narrated by the founder of WallBuilders, David Barton, argues that the Founding Fathers never intended for church and state to be separated and that America has descended into social chaos since devotional Bible reading and prayer were removed from public schools."
Mark A. Chancey
Assistant Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Southern Methodist University
October 2005
"The Texas Freedom Network affirms the right of every child to pray voluntarily in public school and the right of parents and children to practice their own faith in public school, free from state-sponsored prayer. We support the right of school districts to include a moment of silence during the school day, which would provide students with a time in which they may choose to pray, meditate or reflect, free from government-mandated prayer. We uphold current Texas law, which protects the religious freedom of parents and students in public schools."
Uh...can someone explain this to me? Does TFN need to be dismantled and reorganized now because of this view?
chimps have 24 pairs of chromosomes and humans only have 23 pairs, that wouldn't work when mating. That's not design but millions of years of evolution. We are all related, you, me and every living thing.
I'm a little surprised TFN supports the moment of silence but it is nothing but a back door to justify prayer. After conversing with Mark Chancey awhile back I have dropped my membership with TFN. They are mainstream xians but not church/state separates as far as I see it.
"AFTER THIS CROFT CHARACTER LOSES HIS COURT CASE. MAYBE HE SHOULD JUST MOVE AND ENROLL HIS CHILDREN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL DISTRICT. AT LEAST HIS CRACKPOT VIEWS WILL BE ACCEPTED THERE. I AM ASHAMED THIS GUY LIVES IN TEXAS."
i live in texas and i am very ashamed so do you...what happened to tolerance? Even if we don't like someone's views we have to learn to respect them.
As an Atheist i am very observant of the society around me and i find it an unreasonable waste of time to pray and hope instead of DOING something.
However, i have not allowed my personal views to make me decide that all christians are fools and religion should be abolished. In my honest opinion you have the right to believe whatever you want.
A moment of silence IS a moment of silence. Nothing else, you can do whatever you feel like doing during that 1 minute and roam free inside your own head if that's what you wish.
The only opposition i have of the new addition to "under God" in the texas pledge is that it relates patriotism with religiosity, and that sends a very clear and very erroneous message to future kids raised repeating the pledge.
"So many gods, so many creeds! So many paths that wind and wind, when just the art of being kind is all this sad world needs."
--Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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