| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"buckeye" |
| Date: |
11 Dec 2007 07:06:37 AM |
| Object: |
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/opinion_newdow
A famous atheist says the Constitution has its own sort of Golden Compass.
Screenshot: New Line Cinema
Hollywood spent a mind-boggling $180 million to bring author Philip
Pullman's celebrated anti-religious novel, The Golden Compass, to the
silver screen, but essentially stripped the work of its devastating attack
on organized religion.
On the eve of the film's release, we asked America's most famous atheist,
Dr. Michael Newdow, how he feels about this. Dr. Newdow is a California
attorney and physician best known for his efforts to ban schools from
reciting the Pledge of Allegiance because of the phrase "under God."
---
Michael Newdow talks to reporters outside his home in Sacramento,
California, about his lawsuit that prompted a federal appeals court to
declare school recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional.
Photo: Associate Press/Rich Pedroncelli
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has commented on the
release of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. The final line is, "And
remember, his twin goals are to promote atheism and denigrate
Christianity." Accordingly, the League "wants Christians to stay away from
this movie."
This is obviously different from when the Catholic League supported Mel
Gibson's work, The Passion of Christ. The Passion, many would say, had
similar twin goals: promoting Christianity and denigrating Judaism. Thus,
we see what is not unexpected, especially when religion is at issue: People
lend their support when their system of belief is advocated, and wish to do
anything but when the advocacy is for the belief systems of others. That is
what the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment
absolutely protect. Accordingly, let the clamor continue, and let each of
us weigh in (or simply listen) with whatever biases we bring to bear.
There is another clause in the First Amendment, however, which is quite
different. That one is the establishment clause, which has nothing to do
with expression by private actors, be they individuals, organizations or
whatever. The establishment clause speaks only to what the government may
say. In other words, we don't want the government getting involved in these
arguments. As Justice Scalia has written, "The government may not … lend
its power to one or the other side in controversies" of such a religious
nature.
While the Catholic League maintains its animus towards The Golden Compass,
one hopes that it will support this notion of government neutrality.
Unfortunately, that seems unlikely. It was a Catholic organization, after
all, that was the key group behind the 1954 alteration of the Pledge of
Allegiance. In that year, the Knights of Columbus lobbied Congress to
modify the words "one Nation indivisible" so that "one Nation under God,
indivisible" (italics added) is what is now recited in our public schools.
They still congratulate themselves over the change.
Interestingly, Catholics in the founding era were very much treated like
the atheists of today. Our Founding Fathers literally hated the Catholics.
Samuel Adams, for instance, wrote that "much more is to be dreaded from the
growth of popery in America, than from the Stamp Act or any other acts
destructive of civil rights." John Jay, the nation's first chief justice,
attempted to have the right to the free exercise of religion open to all
"except the professors of the religion of the Church of Rome." And when the
Quebec Act was passed in support of the (Catholic) government in
neighboring Canada, the Continental Congress wrote in protest to the people
of Britain, complaining that Catholicism was "a religion that has deluged
your island in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder
and rebellion through every part of the world."
This in not meant to single out Catholics. Protestants, Muslims, Jews,
atheists, Buddhists and every other religious group is just as capable of
being discriminated against, and of discriminating against others. It is
just a call to exult in both of the religion clauses in our marvelous
Constitution. While we all impart our views to the tapestry of opinion and
celebrate not only the freedom of others to disagree, the muzzle that has
been placed on government in this one subject area has been (and continues
to be) responsible for so much animosity, suffering, cruelty and death.
The Golden Compass, situated in a different universe, is named for what is
called an "alethiometer." Referred to as "a GPS device for locating the
truth," it essentially reigns supreme in terms of value for that world's
inhabitants. In religion, it seems there is only one truth: that we will
never all agree. Whatever one's views on atheism or other religious belief,
in this universe and on this world, the establishment clause of our First
Amendment deserves the esteem of an alethiometer.
---
The Rev. Dr. Michael Newdow is a minister in the First Atheist Church of
True Science and the plaintiff in the case that went to the Supreme Court
in 2004, challenging the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. He
requests that we disclose that he has yet to see the movie, The Golden
Compass, which wasn't released to the public until Dec. 7.
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
***************************************************************
.. . . 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)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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| User: "jcon" |
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| Title: Re: America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
11 Dec 2007 07:36:51 AM |
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On Dec 11, 7:06 am, buckeye <buckeye...@nospam.net> wrote:
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/opinion_newdow
So this guy is the "best-known atheist", but Anthony Flew
is the "infamous atheist" or sometimes "notorious atheist".
If they're not careful, they'll run out of titles.
-jc
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| User: "Hatter" |
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| Title: Re: America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
11 Dec 2007 08:12:18 AM |
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On Dec 11, 8:36 am, jcon <cirej...@yahoo.com> wrote:
On Dec 11, 7:06 am, buckeye <buckeye...@nospam.net> wrote:
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/opinion_newdow
So this guy is the "best-known atheist", but Anthony Flew
is the "infamous atheist" or sometimes "notorious atheist".
If they're not careful, they'll run out of titles.
-jc
I heard of Flew only after the theists started to skwalk about him:
and the titles I heard were: "Top Atheist," "World's Most famous
Atheist," or "World's Leading Atheist"
Funny I never heard of him till then
Hatter
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| User: "Lord Calvert" |
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| Title: Re: America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
11 Dec 2007 09:43:41 AM |
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On Dec 11, 8:06 am, buckeye <buckeye...@nospam.net> wrote:
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass
I thought that America's best known atheist was former Minnesota
governor Jesse Ventura. After all, he was the first atheist in the US
to get elected to a major political office in over a century.
Rich Goranson
Amherst, NY, USA
aa#MCMXCIX, a-vet#1
EAC Department of Cruel and Unusual Choreography
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who
need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their
noses in other people's business. I live by the golden rule: Treat
others as you'd want them to treat you. The religious right wants to
tell people how to live." - Governor Jesse Ventura (I-MN)
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| User: "Bert Hyman" |
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| Title: Re: America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
11 Dec 2007 09:51:38 AM |
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(Lord Calvert) wrote in news:21e02da4-b5b3-4ddb-
934a-c33e179b92f6@r60g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:
On Dec 11, 8:06 am, buckeye <buckeye...@nospam.net> wrote:
America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass
I thought that America's best known atheist was former Minnesota
governor Jesse Ventura. After all, he was the first atheist in the US
to get elected to a major political office in over a century.
While Ventura made statements that clearly show he has no time for
"organized religion", he's no atheist; he's widely reported as being a
Lutheran.
http://www.atheists.org/flash.line/ventura3.htm
MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe in God?
GOV. VENTURA: Absolutely.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you consider yourself a Christian?
GOV. VENTURA: Yes, but I don t believe necessarily that I need
a church to go to. I can go my religious beliefs can be by a
lake, they can be on a hill, they can be in the solitude of my
own office. And I believe that there s no set example of what
people s beliefs should be.
MR. RUSSERT: But do you believe that Jesus Christ is the
Savior?
GOV. VENTURA: Yeah, according to, you know, the religious
beliefs that I have.
--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |
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| User: "Brian E. Clark" |
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| Title: Re: America's Best-Known Atheist Riffs On Golden Compass |
11 Dec 2007 10:45:31 AM |
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In article <21e02da4-b5b3-4ddb-934a-c33e179b92f6
@r60g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, Lord Calvert said...
I thought that America's best known atheist was former Minnesota
governor Jesse Ventura. After all, he was the first atheist in the US
to get elected to a major political office in over a century.
Apparently, only infamy counts for fame these days.
--
-----------
Brian E. Clark
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