Lovin' Like A Christian

The school prayer that hung in Cranston High School West asked god to give students the desire to be kind and helpful to classmates, and to help them be good sports and give them the ability to smile when they lose. Yet when Jessica Ahlquist, a 16 year old student at the Rhode Island high school, challeneged the legality of having a school prayer, they turned on her like a pack of wolves. Heck, a pack of starving wolves would probably have shown more restraint. There was an outpouring of hate on Twitter and Facebook directed at her and nasty doesn't even begin to describe many of the comments.

Jessica Ahlquist had shown enormous courage in speaking out against the unashamedly blatant Christian message in strongly Catholic Rhode Island. She knew that the school was not doing the right thing by promoting the Christian faith over all others and asked the administration to take the prayer down. She said that the prayer was divisive, offensive to non-Christians and made her feel ostracized. It was only after the administration refused that she approached the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to reason with them. But as is so often the case, when god knocks on your door, reason leaves through the window and the ACLU did no better than Jessica. The issue eventually went to court with Jessica as the plaintiff represented by the ACLU. The lawsuit -- which had no raison d'être in the first place if the school administration had shown even a modicum of rational thought -- was presided over by Judge Ronald Lagueux, a Reagan appointee.

In what was an open-and-shut case, Judge Lagueux said that the prayer was without a doubt religious in nature. He said that it was a government endorsement of religion and therefore unconstitutional. The Constitution of the United States calls for a separation of Church and State and having a Christian prayer displayed prominently in the school is a clear violation of the law. He ordered that the prayer be taken down immediately and decided that the legal fees should be provided to the plaintiff. The school officials had the chutzpah to argue that the paryer is secular and its purpose was more traditional and motivational than religious. But it's clear as day that a prayer when it starts with 'Our Heavenly Father' and ends with 'Amen' is nothing but secular. That being the case, any unbiased layperson can clearly see that it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Like a testimonial to Christopher Hitchens' book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, the abuse flowed soon after Jessica took issue with the constitutional violation. Even if you have the stomach for vitriolic comments, the vile nature of many of those the so-called children of Jesus hurled at Jessica will make you do just that -- hurl. Abuse from her peers, though inexcusable, can be attributed to a lack of maturity, but when adults in her city who are supposed to be more reasonable and rational stoop to such low levels, it is utterly disgusting. She was constantly harassed, insulted, belittled and ostracized for doing nothing more than standing up for the constitution. It is shameful that fighting against a blatant disregard of the law can leave you fearing for your own life.

State Rep. Peter Polombo called her "an evil little thing," a "clapping seal" and a "pawn star" on WPRO, a radio station station in Providence, RI [1]. Other students in school threatened to beat her up. Somebody who obviously knew her posted her home address on the Internet in the hope that other haters, aka Christians, would harass her. The comments on the Internet range from 'I want to punch you on the face' to 'getting shit thrown in her face' (her classmate). Somebody even said that god is going to f**k her in the ass with the banner.

JesusFetusFajitaFishsticks took screenshots of this appalling behavior. You can read some of those here, but be warned, it will make you cringe.

This widespread 'love' shown by Christians in Cranston, Rhode Island, the United States and probably the whole world is a perfect example of the hypocrisy that is rife among followers of Christ. Even us godless 'immoral' atheists couldn't bring ourselves to abuse a 16 year old girl. If this is the Christian definition of the word 'moral', I'd rather be immoral, thank you very much. When the god they so love causes them to do such abhorrent things, how do they expect atheists to even want to believe in him?

Bodily harm, rape and death threats are what Christians wish upon Jessica. So much for the love and tolerance that they preach. They are tolerant of rapists and murderers who repent and come back to Jesus, but will spit on an atheist no matter how good they are. It is a sad but true fact that many Christians think they have carte blanche to do whatever they want, break any laws as long as they do it in the name of Jesus or god. I'm not saying that all Christians participated in the abuse, but a majority did and that is absolutely sickening.

Hemant over at the Friendly Atheist has started a fundraiser for Jessica Ahlquist's college education. You can read more about it here. According to Hemant the proceeds will be given to the American Humanist Association. Please contribute if you can.

Jessica Ahlquist is a hero for defending the Constitution in the face of such brutality. She has shown immense courage in standing up to these monsters. Her strength of character will hopefully be an inspiration to other young atheists to speak up. After witnessing this torrent of abuse, the more humane among us stood up in support of Jessica. Here is a sampling of some of those heart-warming comments:

Now if anyone tells me I have the courage of a 16 year old girl, then I'll be flattered because of @jessicaahlquist
     - Paul Anskat

@jessicaahlquist If my daughter grows up to be half as strong as you, I've succeeded as a father. Well done.
     - Eric Thornber

@jessicaahlquist Tune off the disgruntled souls, you upheld the constitution. You should be handed a medal, not death threats.
     - Celeste Rousselot

There's a tag for letting @jessicaahlquist know that her efforts are appreciated. Thanks, Jessica! #ThankYouJessica
     - Patrick May

@jessicaahlquist You're a hero, these people sending insults will only be remembered for showing the world what "christlike" really means!
     - james boggs

Jessica Ahlquist, we are proud of you. Don't let those damned Christians say anything else.



[1] http://cranston.patch.com/articles/ahlquist-fight-over-mural-despite-harrassment-threats-worth-it

Iowa, What Were You Thinking?

Until the last few days of 2011, Rick Santorum was a non-entity. Nobody knew who he was, nobody cared. He was trailing in the polls, just marginally ahead of last-placed Jon Huntsman (who, by the way, seems to be the only candidate with any semblance of sanity), polling at about 4%. Right where he belonged. Rick Santorum's campaign was like a wadi in the summer, dying and bereft of life. Then Iowa came along like the long-awaited rains, and now his campaign has a new lease of life. Santorum lost by a mere 8 votes to default front-runner, Mitt Romney who has weathered surges from one candidate after another-- Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich.

So what about Rick Santorum makes me cringe? He personifies everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. When bigotry rears its ugly head, you can be sure Santorum is not far behind. Extremely homophobic, anti-science and out of touch with reality, he swears by a book illiterate desert dwellers made up over two thousand years ago.

Marriage Equality

At a college in New Hampshire, when asked about his views on gay marriage he compared it to polygamy. He waxes eloquent about how all men are created equal, yet when it comes to supporting same sex unions, homosexuals no longer hold the same rights. It's a case of 'your equality ends where my beliefs begin'.



Santorum thinks he's on logically sound ground by comparing marriage equality with polygamy. He couldn't be further from the truth. As a commenter on The Friendly Atheist put it, "To recognize same-sex marriage, not a single law relating to the practice of marriage changes -- only eligibility changes". Legalizing polygamy causes a whole host of legislative problems due to issues relating to tax benefits, power of attorney and how assets are divvied up on death of a spouse. Same sex marriage on the other hand is simply entitling same sex couples to the same benefits that a heterosexual couple gets. Also, going by Santorum's twisted logic, that heterosexual couples could marry would be the only necessary condition to allowing polygamy as well. If two straight people can marry, then why not three, ten or even a hundred as long as they are all consenting?

Santorum thinks his views on gay rights are not bigoted because they are the teachings of the Catholic Church, founded on more than 2000 years of history. And that is exactly the same logic bigots used when they fought against abolishing the practice of slavery. The Bible condones it, so slavery must be good. And abolishing it would lead to a breakdown of the righteous lives that god wants us to lead. They had the same problems when it came to allowing inter-racial couples to marry as well. Now, who besides the most bigoted people in the world think interracial marriage is a sin?

If Santorum's argument is that same-sex couples cannot procreate naturally and that procreation is a necessary condition for marriage, then what about infertile heterosexual couples? What about couples who don't want to have babies? Santorum wants the government to dictate what goes on in the bedroom.

Evolution and Science

Moving on, his views on science are quite antediluvian. He questions the scientific validity of evolution and he proposed incorporating a clause in the No Child Left Behind Bill which stated that evolution was not widely accepted. By the ignorant, illiterate Bible-thumpers perhaps. 99% of the scientific community accepts evolution. If we listened to the ignorant, we'd still be living in a flat earth-centric universe. Santorum recently said, "Science will only allow things in the classroom that are consistent with a non-creator idea of how we got here, as if somehow or another that's scientific". Really, Santorum? Where do you get these ideas from? Oh yes, the Bible. That outdated set of rules written by ignorant people so many many years ago.

Abortion

"As long as abortion is legal, we will never have rest because our law doesn't comport with God's law". His god's law also states that a woman who is raped has to marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). He wants her to have and raise the child of her rapist -- love someone who reminds her of a heinous crime that violated and humiliated her. A girl who is raped and impregnated by a relative should not be allowed to have the choice to terminate her pregnancy? A child of such an abhorrent act can have any number of genetic disorders. It can never hope to have a functional family. Yet, abortion is not an option. Heck, according to the Catholic Church even contraception and the morning-after pill is morally wrong too. If we allow morality to be dictated by such a morally corrupt organization, we end up staring further and further down the barrel of the second Dark Ages.

Stem Cell Research

Rick Santorum is also uncompromisingly opposed to stem cell research. He called it, 'the wholesale destruction of human life paid for by the federal government'. He pledged to support the presidential veto of any bill that calls for the advancement of stem cell research -- research that could potentially save thousands of human lives. It's quite hard to understand. If he thinks we are playing god, I'd like to see him not take any medication or go to a hospital in the event of a cardiac arrest.

Separation of Church and State

And to top it all of, he doesn't abide by the Constitution's guarantee of the separation of Church and State. He wants to impose his beliefs on the rest of the nation. He proudly says, "America is a country that was founded on the concept that our rights come to us from our creator, come to us from God. He doesn’t say just do whatever you want to do with them, in fact he has laws we must abide by. In our case we have civil laws, but our civil laws have to comport with higher laws". Thomas Jefferson would be mortified to hear statements such as these.

Who'd have thought the two Mormons in the race for the Republican nomination would be the more reasonable of the lot? They accept evolution and stand by the separation of church and state!

Santorum's Roll of Dishonor

"I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say 'now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people'."

- Rick Santorum on President Obama’s race and pro-choice beliefs, 1/19/2011

"The reason Social Security is in big trouble is we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees. A third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion, because one in three pregnancies end in abortion."

- Rick Santorum on how abortion is responsible for Social Security’s problems, 3/29/11

"I don’t think it works. I think it’s harmful to women, I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated, particularly among the young. I think it has, as we’ve seen, very harmful long-term consequences for society. So birth control to me enables that and I don’t think it’s a healthy thing for our country."

–Saying that birth control is harmful to women, society and our country. CN8′s “Nitebeat with Barry Nolan”, July 28, 2005

"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

–On what homosexuality is not. Associated Press interview, April 2003.

For more such gems: Santorum Exposed

To read more about the other candidates' secular and humanistic views: 2012 Presidential Candidate Scorecard