| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"J Young" |
| Date: |
03 Dec 2007 11:52:35 PM |
| Object: |
Atheists join religions in holiday display |
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/voices/20071202_Atheists_join_religions_in_holiday_display.html
Atheists join religions in holiday display
The group's tree at the county courthouse joins a Christian creche, a Jewish
menorah, and the Chamber of Commerce tree.
By Walter F. Naedele
Inquirer Staff Writer
The head of Atheists Alliance International plans to put up a tree this
weekend on the lawn at the Chester County Courthouse to stand beside three
traditional holiday displays there.
The 20-foot tree will be hung with copies of covers of books, including "Why
I Am Not A Christian," "Why I Am Not a Muslim" and "Judaism Beyond God."
This addition to last year's three holiday displays is sponsored by the
Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia which, its president Margaret
Downey said, is "welcoming to agnostics, atheists, humanists, skeptics,
rationalists of all kinds."
As there was last year, there is also a Chamber of Commerce tree - 32 feet
high - meant to attract shoppers, as well as a Christian creche and a Jewish
menorah.
When told of the Freethought display, Colin Hanna, a former county
commissioner whose organization - Pennsylvania Pastors Network - is
sponsoring the creche, said, "Their intention is to use the courthouse to
make a political statement?
"That seems to me a pretty fundamental perversion of the purpose of holiday
displays . . ."
Downey said her display, which she is calling "A Tree of Knowledge," is
decorated with covers of works such as the Bible.
"The reason we advocate reading the Bible," she said in an interview, "is
because so many people become atheists upon completing the entire reading of
it."
Next to the Bible, she said, is Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian
and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects."
Next to a copy of the Koran on the tree, she said, "we are placing 'Why I Am
Not a Muslim,' by Ibn Warraq." And then there is "Judaism Beyond God" by
Sherwin T. Wine.
The Freethought Society has been to the courthouse before. In 2001, it sued
to have a Ten Commandments plaque removed from a courthouse wall.
In 2003, a Federal appeals court in Philadelphia refused to allow the then
83-year-old plaque to be removed. It ruled that the county commissioners'
concern, in refusing to remove the plaque, was its age and historical
status, not its religious content.
Downey, who lives in West Chester, is president of Atheists Alliance
International, which she said represents 55 groups totaling 5,200 members.
A spokeswoman for the Chester County Commissioners office said the two
trees, the creche and the menorah were the only displays for which
applications had been submitted by a Nov. 15 deadline.
In a statement, Carol Aichele, chairman of the county commissioners, said,
"The commissioners set the policy for winter holiday displays, giving all
community groups an opportunity to erect a winter holiday display - as long
as it doesn't cause anyone viewing the display to believe that the county
endorses one particular religion.
"The request from the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia is for a
'Tree of Knowledge' - a 20-foot tree that will display book covers. This
organization applied for permission in the same way that other organizations
did, and met all the design, safety and insurance requirements. It will be
displayed along with the Christmas Tree, the Creche and the Menorah."
Katie Walker, president of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce,
said in an interview, "This will be the 28th year in a row," for a tree
sponsored by her agency. "We've always seen the [Chamber] tree as a
commercial attraction."
Last year for the first time, the county commissioners agreed to add a
menorah and a creche.
Hanna, a Republican who is president of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network,
said its creche will be the same as last year. The Network represents 1,000
congregations, which he described as "Biblically faithful." .
The menorah is sponsored by Chabad of Chester County, whose synagogue is in
Devon.
"We are an outreach organization, more than a congregation," Rabbi Yossi
Kaplan said in an interview.
The first candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, which this year is
Tuesday, he said, "and we light the last candle on Dec. 11."
"I would hope that the menorah we put up is a symbol of religious freedom,"
Rabbi Kaplan said, "not just for the Jewish community but the community at
large."
--
J Young
jyoungvisions@aol.com
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 12:17:36 AM |
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On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about.
Tell us, nazi turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to
be racist, intolerant, bigoted?
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| User: "J Young" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 12:48:26 AM |
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<parsifal222@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1996e54a-06e7-463a-99ca-cbd9bfd19f79@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about.
Tell us, nazi turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to
be racist, intolerant, bigoted?
Tell me, idiot: when have I ever injected the Bible into any discussion? I
quote the Pope, not the Bible.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 03:07:45 AM |
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On 4 d=E9c, 07:48, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
<parsifal...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1996e54a-06e7-463a-99ca-cbd9bfd19f79@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about.
Tell us, nazi turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to
be racist, intolerant, bigoted?
Tell me, idiot: when have I ever injected the Bible into any discussion? I=
quote the Pope, not the Bible.
Tell us then when the Pope said that it was OK to be racist,
intolerant and bigoted... And yet, every single of your posting is
either racist, intolerant or bigoted...
Are you *that* stupid or are just trying to win a bet?
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| User: "Nosterill" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 03:40:04 AM |
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On Dec 4, 10:07 am, wrote:
On 4 d=E9c, 07:48, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
< > wrote in message
news:1996e54a-06e7-463a-99ca-cbd9bfd19f79@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...=
On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about.
Tell us, nazi turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to
be racist, intolerant, bigoted?
Tell me, idiot: when have I ever injected the Bible into any discussion?=
I
quote the Pope, not the Bible.
Tell us then when the Pope said that it was OK to be racist,
intolerant and bigoted... And yet, every single of your posting is
either racist, intolerant or bigoted...
The Pope leads by example.......
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 07:43:51 AM |
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On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:48:26 -0500, J Young wrote:
<parsifal222@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1996e54a-06e7-463a-99ca-
cbd9bfd19f79@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about. Tell us, nazi
turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to be racist,
intolerant, bigoted?
Tell me, idiot: when have I ever injected the Bible into any discussion?
I quote the Pope, not the Bible.
Must be where you get your Nazi sympathies...
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
“The most dangerous man to any government is the
man who is able to think things out... without regard
to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.
Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the
government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.”
- H. L. Mencken
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| User: "Michael Gray" |
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| Title: Re: J Young finally knows what he's talking about |
04 Dec 2007 02:26:08 AM |
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On Mon, 3 Dec 2007 22:17:36 -0800 (PST), wrote:
On 4 Dez., 06:52, "J Young" <jyoungvisi...@aol.com> wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Hypocrisy: finally a subject you know everything about.
Tell us, nazi turd: where in the bible does it says that it's OK to
be racist, intolerant, bigoted?
On just about every single page, at last count.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: Atheists join religions in holiday display |
04 Dec 2007 07:43:23 AM |
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On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:52:35 -0500, J Young wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
No more so than celebrating a pagan holiday while claiming paganism is
wrong.
It's *your* church that co-opted a pagan celebration and tried to turn it
into a Christian holiday...
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
“Communism, like any other revealed religion,
is largely made up of prophecies.”
- H. L. Mencken
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| User: "raven1" |
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| Title: Re: Atheists join religions in holiday display |
04 Dec 2007 12:14:36 AM |
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On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 00:52:35 -0500, "J Young" <jyoungvisions@aol.com>
wrote:
A little hypocritical, no matter how they try to present it.
Your ability to miss the point is truly breathtaking...
---
"Faith may not move mountains, but you should see what it does to skyscrapers..."
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