Some recents posts found on
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
Subject: A Time of Doubt for Atheists
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-et-atheist18jul18,0,4239168.story?coll=la-h\ome-headlines
[excerpt]
July 18, 2005 latimes.com : California Single page Print
E-mail story
COLUMN ONE
A Time of Doubt for Atheists
# With the religious making inroads in popular culture and politics,
nonbelievers yearn for higher power in Washington.
By Gina Piccalo, Times Staff Writer
It's been years, decades even, since the Almighty was so hot.
The evidence is everywhere. President Bush rallied the faithful to
hold on to the White House. A book by an Orange County preacher
extolling God's purpose in our lives stays a bestseller for more than
two years. And Hollywood, frequently seen as a den of iniquity, is
courting a more spiritual audience in movies and TV.
ADVERTISEMENT
Faith is the new must-have, evident when a major leaguer points
skyward after his base hit, when a movie star credits the Big Guy for
his Oscar, when the Justice Department backs the display of the Ten
Commandments at two state capitols, and when it defends the Salvation
Army's requirement that employees embrace Jesus Christ.
So where does that leave the fraction of Americans who define
themselves as godless? Although the percentage of Americans who claim
no religion is about 14%, less than a quarter of them identify
themselves as atheists, according to recent polls.
Some are using humor to cope, such as actress Julia Sweeney in her
one-woman play "Letting Go of God," which ran in Los Angeles for
several months this year. "It's really because I take you so
seriously," she tells an imaginary God, "that I can't believe in you."
Others see the future as a time when nonbelievers are outcasts and
religion dictates law, social protocol, even private life.
"The McCarthy era is the last time this climate existed," says Simi
Valley resident Stuart Bechman, co-president of Atheists United, a
local affiliate of Atheist Alliance International.
[end excerpt]
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and the discussion group for the above site listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members]
For people in Hampton Roads you are also invited to join
NORFOLK/VA. B. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE MEETUP GROUP
http://churchandstate.meetup.com/47/
Virginia Chapter Americans United for Separation of Church and State
http://au-va.org/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
"Dedicated to combatting 'history by sound bite'."
Now including a re-publication of Tom Peters
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE HOME PAGE
and
Audio links to Supreme Court oral arguments and
Speech by civil rights/constitutional lawyer and others.
This site is a member of the following web rings:
Freethought Ring--&--Freethought, Religion & Beliefs Ring
The First Amendment Ring--&--The Church-State Ring
American History WebRing--&--The History Ring
Let Freedom Ring--&--Religious Freedom Ring
Law Issues Ring--&--Legal Research Ring
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