President's October Message-Intellectual Dishonesty
Written by Stuart Bechman   
Thursday, 09 October 2008 01:20
I've regularly struggled with how Christians get a pass on the inane fallacies of logic, reason and evidence that they regularly display to defend their faith, whereas those of us who try to point out those weaknesses and/or demand the same level of respect for our non-faith worldview are labeled as "arrogant," "intolerant," "touchy," "petty," "angry," and the ubiquitous "militant."

This past month, a few more city councils in Orange County adopted motions to display "In God We Trust" in their chambers. Reading the news stories provides a running case study of the intellectual dishonesty of Christians in public office: "Well, you can't please everybody" was one quote, as if the council had been forced to adopt some kind of slogan and no one could come up with anything better. Another described it as "Americans' god-given right to recognize and celebrate the role of the Creator in the founding of this country," completely and no doubt deliberately missing the entire point of the Establishment clause. Another baldly stated: "In view of its prominent and historic place in our uniquely American government, I support displaying ‘In God We Trust' in our council chambers."
I think we have every right to be angry about such duplicitous assertions. It's not just intellectually dishonest. It's cynical pandering. Such values and behaviors are, of course, not ethical. But those are the values and behaviors that we see repeated over and over when devoutly religious people rise to public office. We see the triumph of piety over ethics, the triumph of self-interest over principle.
It's not like they haven't been presented with evidence that these claims are bogus, anti-American and offensive. They just don't care. Their moral values are simply the end justifying the means. They do it simply because they can.

Here's another example: While the rest of the nation was distracted with the unfolding financial crisis, the Senate took time on a special Saturday session in late September to pass legislation (H.R. 5872) to honor and raise funds for the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that actively and blatantly promotes and engages in religious discrimination. This bill had been held up for months by pressure from the Secular Coalition and other church-state separationist groups who rightly pointed out the constitutional, let alone the moral, problems with the bill.. But when the spotlight was elsewhere, the Senate quietly and unanimously approved it. And they did this in the middle of election season, within little more than a month until elections. That's chutzpah.

There's some heartening news this election season. Late last month, US Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina made the mistake of publicizing the issue that her opponent, Kay Hagen, was the recipient of a fund-raiser hosted by an atheist leader in the Washington, DC area, and questioning the values of someone who would associate with such people. Dole's press release was posted on an atheist website, and within days the entire atheist community knew of the previously unknown Hagen, flooded Hagen's website with donations and Dole's website with angry letters. It's nice to see the atheist community beginning to flex our muscles in the national political arena.

There's also a new website and vendor for pro-evolution products, www.charliesplayhouse.com. Its owner, Kate Miller, had a booth at the AAI Convention and showed off some really wonderful children's books explaining evolution in a fun way. If you have kids, or are buying for kids this coming holiday season, you'll want to check this out.

Sometimes we atheists are accused by religious apologists of being hypocritical, of yelling foul when atheists are marginalized but remaining silent when it's religious groups who are oppressed. So while I'm complaining, I'll also share with you a news article of US Muslims being terrorized-by Americans. On Friday, September 26, the end of a week in which thousands of copies of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West-the fear-mongering, anti-Muslim documentary being distributed in several key political battleground states via DVDs inserted in major newspapers and through the U.S. mail-were distributed by mail in Ohio, a "chemical irritant" was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service. The room that the chemical was sprayed into was the room where babies and children were being kept while their mothers were engaged in prayers. If this had happened to a Christian church, the FBI and the White House Office of Public Relations would have labeled it a terrorist act and arrested the makers and distributors of the DVD as enemy combatants. Atheists everywhere should be outraged that any group, religious or otherwise, would be subjected to this kind of harassment and violence.
Our movement is only as strong and as visible as the individuals in it and the actions we take. I encourage every one of us to be proud of our atheism and the Constitution which protects our freedom of conscience, and to stand up against the religious bullies who are more than happy to strip
us of our rights in favor of promoting their favorite invisible friend. We owe it to ourselves, our country, and future generations.