Incredulation
So I’m checking my daily comics this morning using my copy of Comictastic when I reach Mousewax in the list of comics. Comictastic mistakenly grabbed the wrong image from the site, but it really shocked me. It’s a scan of a letter from the editorial page of Brandon Lewis’ (the web comic artist) newspaper:
Reader voices strong opinion on atheists
It’s time to stomp out atheists in America. The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America. If you don’t believe in God, then get out of this country.
The United States is based on having freedom of religion, speech, etc., which means you can believe in God any way you want (Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.), but you must believe.
I don’t recall freedom of religion meaning no religion. Our currency even says, “In God We Trust.” So, to all the atheists in America: Get off of our country.
Atheists have caused the ruin of this great nation by taking prayer out of our schools and being able to practice what can only be called evil. I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.
Alice Shannon
Soldotna, UT
Y’know, I’m a bit of a history buff, and the Constitution is something I really enjoy reading and studying; but I must have missed the part of the First Amendment which states that belief in God is required. Here, I was under the impression that it said that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that that clause meant that there could be no national (i.e. “official”) religion, or that free exercise of religion didn’t really mean freedom of religious belief. Silly me. What’s strange to me, is that I don’t remember reading Ms. Shannon’s interpretation in The Federalist Papers either. I suppose I just have to pay more attention to what I’m reading.
Amendment I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peacably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
March 4th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Interestingly, I’m always confused by the idea that atheists aren’t religious. From dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/r…):
1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
March 4th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Or rather can’t be religious.
March 4th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Well, many people do claim that atheism is a religion unto itself. While I would argue that this argument is nothing more than splitting hairs, I do recognize that atheism is a religious belief (defined as a firm conviction regarding the existence or nonexistence of God).
It doesn’t really matter anyway, because the First Amendment protects everyone’s religious beliefs, and atheists and the faithful ought to just lay off each other and hold hands and skip through a field of flowers on a sunny and cloudless day together.