Friday, November 21, 2008

Put on Your Kid Gloves

The city of Rancho Cucamonga had the "Imagine No Religion" billboard taken down. The billboard was put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

I am so sick of this country treating those who are brainwashed by religion with kid gloves. It seems that every time that they are offended and complain everyone scrambles to make them happy because they are afraid of a lawsuit. This kind of special treatment needs to end. There are thousands of people in this country that aren't religious and we deserve to have our ideas heard and to not have our freedom of speech squashed because religious people don't approve. I have seen numerous billboards that were put up by churches advocating their particular brand of religion These billboards don't offended me, they have every right to put of their billboards. Most of the time I get a good chuckle by reading them, or some blog fuel if they are particularly zany.

5 comments:

noisician said...

i agree that it's lame they were pressured into taking down the billboard. however, to me the billboard seems a little confrontational. not that some religious folks aren't the same way, but i'm not sure that showing atheists as aggressive anti-religionists is going to do anything other than reinforce a negative stereotype.

vjack said...

I'm not sure if it is lawsuits they are afraid of. That seems to be our chosen strategy. I think the bigger concern is their massive numbers. When they call for a protest or boycott, even if a tiny fraction of them show up, it is still a massive turnout.

As long as they have us beat with regard to organization, we're going to continue to struggle.

Anonymous said...

I agree. These people are adults and need to act like it. I'm so sick of having to be extra-nice to people in groups who are theists and can't take criticism or a hint of any disagreement with their precious beliefs.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, do you watch the news? It seems to me that the people who can't deal with us "religious zealots" have one main strategy - lawsuits. (Remember the belly aching about the ten commandments in the court houses, prayer in schools, need I continue?) Vjack is right, our main method of protest is boycotting - which we have every right to do. If you (referring to a commercial entity) do something to greatly offend us, why would we ever want to use our money to continue to support your business? Why should we be expected to?
As for the -Seeing religious billboards nauseates me- whining, let me once again reference the temper tantrum thrown by atheist groups about the ten commandments in government buildings. Have you ever seen the outside of the Supreme Court? It's covered in religious carvings. What's next, folks? Are we going to have to redo the front fascia of historical landmarks so we don't offend YOU? Oh wait, wasn't this post about whiny Christians? Guess we aren't the only ones, HUH?

noisician said...

jhguba -

You have to be fair: there is quite a difference between a paid advertisement and government sponsorship.

A billboard is paid for by whoever wants to send a message. This is very different from a state sponsored display (e.g.: 10 commandments in a courthouse) or activity (e.g.: prayer in public school).

Go ahead and buy advertising space to display your religious messages.

Go ahead and pray in your churches (isn't that what they're for?) or in your private religious schools, or at home.

Just don't try ask to have it sponsored by the government and/or with public funds.

Imagine how you'd like it if some other religion (try: Islam) were forced upon you and your kids at school, and maybe you will begin to understand why it was wise that our founding fathers specified that gov't and religion should not be entangled.

"Now kids: everyone face Mecca and kneel on the floor. Katie, I can see your face, put your burka back on correctly."