Religion in America: Atheists claim discrimination

[usregimechange]

The owner of a coffee shop near Birmingham, Ala., has banned members of a secular group for atheists, agnostics, and other questioners from meeting in her cafe. The Universist Movement is claiming Christian persecution, while Cool Beans owner Amy Anderson says she's only trying to maintain order in her business.

In an increasingly religious America, the nonreligious have begun painting themselves as a persecuted minority.

"It's not OK to discriminate on the basis of race or sexual orientation anymore, but it's perfectly valid for someone to say I would never vote for an atheist for president," says Mel Lipman, president of the American Humanist Association.

...

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/050802/2religion.htm

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Would she be allowed to stop a meeting of a political group

in her cafe? If so, she should be allowed to stop meetings of other self-selected groups.

[LisaLynne]

2. There's an interesting spinning phrase in there ...

"In an increasingly religious America, the nonreligious have begun painting themselves as a persecuted minority."

Begun to paint? Excuse me? That's loaded, IMHO. Yeah, we're just making all this up.

[trotsky]

3. Very good catch.

I would also dispute the writer's statement that America is "increasingly religious." The religious are getting more airtime, but after an uptick in church attendance after 9/11, the decline in regular churchgoers has continued.

But yeah, we've just "begun" to claim religious persecution. Being burned at the stake for heresy wasn't bad enough!

[progressoid]

4. Agreed

I think the religious are increasingly vocal, and unfortunately, wield too much power. But their numbers are not increasing.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. I sent the paper an e-mail protesting

And took a not-so-subtle swipe by mentioning a non-religious politician who managed to get elected President here.

[NMMNG]

6. I sent them an email

It read as follows:

Your article states:

In an increasingly religious America, the nonreligious have begun painting themselves as a persecuted minority.

Has Ms. Hsu had her head buried in the sand for several decades or has she no knowledge of American history? From this statement I gather the answer would be "both".

For one, America is not becoming more religious, the religious are simply becoming more vocal and demanding. Unfortunately many of the most vocal are the rabid fundamentalists, who are more like the pharisees Jesus despised than true Christians.

And the nonreligious have "begun painting themselves as a persecuted minority"? Ms Hsu has that backwards. The nonreligious have been a persecuted minority since the beginning of recorded time. Even in More's Utopia, written in the 1500's, it was noted that: atheists were looked at askance...and never allowed to hold office. Nowadays however it is the religious who whine that they are the victims of "anti-Christian bigotry" when they have never had so much power in this country.

I suggest Ms. Hsu educate herself before writing her next story on this topic.

[CarbonDate]

7. Aaargh... it's like a FOX News story....

...they cover a true event and use verbiage to despariage those who speak the truth.

[wli]

8. What's that Bush Sr. said again?

So much for citizenship.