I helped my neighbor put up his nativity scene on his lawn the other day.
In it, Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings and a couple of Roman soldiers are pelting a scrawny, smug-looking, nerdy guy in a dishdasha with rocks and garbage. The nerdy guy has a little callout balloon with an arrow (made out of mylar and wire) saying “Ooh, don’t hurt me, I’m an atheist douchebag wuss”.
When my neighbor put up the display, I looked at him for a moment, mildly dumbfounded.
“What?” he asked, handing me a can of Miller.
“Well, nothing – and thanks for the beer! But…do you honestly think that this – mocking atheists – is the real spirit of the season?”
“Well, sure! What else is faith for?”
“Um…well, focus on the eternal, as well as on the best that our Christian tradition asks of us?”
“Well, sure”, he said with at tone that really meant “Duuuuh”. “But mocking atheists is part of it, too! It’s a vital part, in fact!”
“Where on earth did you learn that?”
He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, toward Bud Ismir’s house. Ismir, a Moslem, had put up his own scene; a group of children, animated by the spirit of Mohammed, whacking at a figure labeled in Arabic (with helpful English subtitles) “atheist” who was trussed up like a turkey in a net bag dangling from a tree, like a sort of organic pinata.
“Er…wow”, I said, cracking the beer. “That doesn’t even make cultural sense”.
“Well, you’ll love what the Rubensteins put up for Chanukkah”, he said, pointing over to our other neighbor had erected the previous day; a huge, aluminum and plywood Dreidel, powered by an electric motor, spinning randomly, coming occasionally to a stop as a light inside illuminated the Hebrew/English messages on the sides; one read “Atheists! Go Straight To Hell! Losers!”
“Um…” I started – and then gave up. I took a long drag off the beer, and submitted to the spirit of the season, dabbing a little bit of splashed “frankinsense” onto the shoulder of the cringing atheist figure.
Tis the season!
——–
On the one hand, the Illinois state capitol would seem to have a much more sensible approach to holiday decorations than many city, county and state governments; they allow displays from all faiths to put up displays in the Capitol rotunda. Christian, Moslem, Jewish, or what-have-you.
Including the atheists. And that’s where the story begins:
A conservative activist and Illinois comptroller candidate was escorted from the Illinois State Capitol building Wednesday when he tried to remove a sign put up by an atheist group.
William J. Kelly announced Tuesday that he planned to take down the sign put up by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and on Wednesday, he tried to make good on his plan.
But Kelly said when he turned the sign around so it was face down, state Capitol police were quick to escort him away.
Was Kelly right to flip the sign over? Maybe not. First Amendment, free speech, yadda yadda yadda.
But let’s not dismiss him entirely:
The sign reads: “At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”
So in a display intended to celebrate the spirit of the season, what do the “atheists” do? Put up a sign whose sole purpose is to piss in other peoples’ Wheaties.
“I don’t think the State of Illinois has any business denigrating or mocking any religion,” Kelly said, “and I think that’s what the verbiage on the sign was doing.”
And so while Kelly’s methods may have been wrong, his motivations – in a purely ecumenical sense – were absolutely correct. If – as Establishment-Clausers constantly remind us – the government has no business promoting religion, then isn’t disparaging the beliefs of others even less appropriate a use of public space?
As to Kelly’s claims that the sign mocks religion, foundation co-President Dan Barker said: “He’s kind of right, because the last couple of sentences do criticize religion, and of course, the beginning is a celebration of the winter solstice. But that kind of speech is protected as well – speech that is critical and speech that is supportive.”
The obvious response is to found a “religion” – in my case, a denomination of a religion, since I’m not giving up Christianity anytime soon – part of whose liturgy is to mock the “Freedom From Religion Foundation” as a bunch of self-indulgent, intellectually-indolent, solipsistic jagoffs.
And apply for permits to display signs explaining why.
Tis the season!
What dumb message. Atheist communists and fascists spent most of the 20th century doing their best to harden hearts & enslave minds.
Now, now, Terry. We don’t want to tie the ideology of America’s smug, corn-fed, overprivileged atheists of convenience to the hard-line, ends-justify-the-means atheism of Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim-Il Sung/Kim-Jong Il. Do we?
The hell we don’t!
Atheists have always amused me. They are a group who define themselves by what they don’t believe, which is a negative starter. But (some of) them who seem to have a deep need to ridicule and/or dismiss those who hold religious belief is very telling.
As the old church marquee read, “To our Christian friends, Merry Christmas. To our Jewish friends, Happy Huannuka. To our Atheist friends, Good Luck.”
There are so many problems with the atheist message . . .
Catholic & other liturgical Christian denominations have a tradition that reason leads one to God and a rejection of atheism. Reason is not the opposite of religious faith, it informs and complements it. The atheist message on the signs is parochial in the sense that it tells you more about what atheists think about religion than it does about religion itself.
Here’s my deal with atheists: if there’s no faith involved, its not a religion. If it’s not religion, leave it out of a public religious display. If it is a religion, and is based on faith, don’t appeal to “reason” as being the basis of your religion.
Whether or not anyone believes in “God” (or “god,” or “G-d,” or “Allah” or “The Virgin Mary” or “The Flying Spaghetti Monster” if you prefer) depends entirely on the definition of God on the table at the time.
This is all true. Real atheism requires a measure of faith that it also seeks to deny.
Atheism breeds witless slobs like PZ Meyers who are so taken with the awesomeness of themselves, they are driven to spend their every waking hour obsessing on religion.
Nah, the problem is the Illinois State Legislature setting up a Christmas decoration area.
Oh, sure, “they allow displays from all faiths to put up displays in the Capitol rotunda. Christian, Moslem, Jewish, or what-have-you,” but that’s just a facade — cover for the Christmas decorations. I’ll bet this display only happens in… yup, you guessed it, December.
There are no major Jewish holidays in December, for example. Hanukkah sure isn’t a major religious holiday, and it sure ain’t a Jewish Christmas.
The solution for church and state is NOT equal time, but real separation.
If, however, they are going to let religionists put up their messages, they pretty much have to let the non-religionists and anti-religionists put up theirs.
Don’t like it? Ban `em all, and let people decorate the other 98% of the buildings in the state, which are private property, however they want.
that’s just a facade — cover for the Christmas decorations. I’ll bet this display only happens in… yup, you guessed it, December.
So?
I mean, Separation Clause notwithstanding – so what? America is a majority-Christian nation. As long as a majority observance doesn’t harm the minorities, there is no right not to be annoyed.
Anyway, the point isn’t about the Separation Clause; I don’t disagree, necessarily, that none should be allowed to display messages in the Capitol (or that all should, for that matter); merely that the atheists’ message was pointless and venal.
I mean, Separation Clause notwithstanding – so what? America is a majority-Christian nation. As long as a majority observance doesn’t harm the minorities, there is no right not to be annoyed.
There is a right not to have government choose and promote one religion over the others — or none. The Christmas December Holiday display does just that, and that’s the problem.
And I don’t think that the message was at all pointless, given the venue. Nor was “Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds” particularly venal, nor any different from the implicit “ours-is-the-one-true-way-and-the-rest-of-y’all-are-gonna-burn” message of many religions.
I thought that the Islamic display with the unbeliever effigy was particularly funny: Radical Islamists torture and kill real unbelievers, not dummies.
While I don’t have a particular problem with banning all official religious displays from government offices, I have to say…
There is a right not to have government choose and promote one religion over the others — or none.
Dunno that a display is “promotion” as much as “observance”.
And yes, I know, there’s probably some legal precedent that says it is. I disagree.
And I don’t think that the message was at all pointless, given the venue.
I don’t know that I said there was no point to the atheists’ message. It certainly had one.
Nor was “Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds” particularly venal, nor any different from the implicit “ours-is-the-one-true-way-and-the-rest-of-y’all-are-gonna-burn” message of many religions.
I’m not aware that that was part of any Christmas display.
I thought that the Islamic display with the unbeliever effigy was particularly funny: Radical Islamists torture and kill real unbelievers, not dummies.
Most relgions do, or did . Christianity did it a thousand years ago. And the Canaanites probably have a pretty good establishment clause case.
When Christians, or Jews or Muslims get together on a holiday I doubt that they spend much time mocking other religions. It’s all the atheists seem to want to do. The message isn’t very appealing. The particular message from the Illinois atheists is incoherent; Christmas does not occur on the solstice. Why is the penultimate sentence “There is only our natural world” rather than “their is only the world”?
Oh, and I don’t think either of you guys are using the word ‘venal’ properly. Merry Christmas!
I don’t see the problem with the majority observing and/or celebrating their holidays — and, by the way: Merry Christmas, Mitch — publicly or privately. My personal preference is for private celebration, but I’m pretty sure I don’t get to choose how others celebrate/observe/whatever.
But . . . when it’s the government offering space for the celebration (even when, as I don’t think it’s a secret, it’s to please those Christians who want to use the government space) there’s both law and reason requiring it to open the space to everybody. The results of that are, often, unpleasant for pretty much everybody.
Kelly’s absolutely right about one thing — it isn’t, and shouldn’t be, the government’s place to mock any religion. That’s not what we hire governments to do, after all. And, of course, it didn’t — it wasn’t the government that was, even arguably, mocking his religion; it was a group of atheists, exercising their rights to free speech in the same place that was opened to all. Killjoys? Sure. But if the government had just stayed out of it, the folks who want to display all sorts of joy with this holiday of theirs could do so anywhere else, and without having their displays sullied by the presence of a retort there. The atheists wouldn’t have the right to share the space at your neighbor’s house, or at the privately-owned shopping mall or any other private property.
Just so’s we’re clear – my preference is for private celebration, too.
My only beef is with the wahabbi atheists.
And of course, anyone referring to Festivus in any way, shape or form.
At any rate – may the ecumenical spirit of this season be with y’all.
I do think it’s revealing that Andrew phrased this: “the-rest-of-y’all-are-gonna-burn” which indicates a particular prejudice. Those crazy religious folks are all Southern knuckle-draggers who handle snakes and marry their cousins, right?
Atheism and bigotry go hand in hand? Or are they just so much smarter than everyone else?