ELLEN JOHNSON ON CBS NEWS “SUNDAY MORNING” TO DISCUSS ROLE OF ATHEISM & ATHEISTSTHIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2007 — 9:00 AM ET ELLEN JOHNSON, President of American Atheists will be one of the guests on the CBS News program “CBS Sunday Morning” this coming Sunday, August 19, 2007. The show airs at 9:00 AM ET; check your local listings. Ms. Johnson will be discussing the latest wave of popular books on Atheism, and role that religion and Atheism now plays in the country. Other guests include Julia Sweeney, Christopher Hitchens, and Boston University Professor Stephen Prothero. WHO & WHAT: Ellen Johnson, President of American Atheists on “CBS Sunday Morning” program on the role of Atheism and religion in civic life. WHEN: This Sunday, August 19, 2007 — 9:00 AM ET, check local listings. WHERE: CBS “Sunday Morning” program on the CBS Network. MORE INFO: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/sunday/main3445.shtml (see: “Atheists Make Their Case Against God.”) AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.
Another thank you from me as well for posting the vid, as I too was occupied with worshipping St. Mattress of the Springs and missed the broadcast. Praise him, oh mighty one of the pillow top.
I thought it was interesting that the show talked to atheists, and then had responses from believers to present their side.
Why is it that when shows have segments about the role of religion in our lives they rarely have an atheist on to offer our side?????
Karen, I’m glad to be back a little more often, as well. I did a bit of traveling this summer . . . and my beloved cat died on May 20, just 3 weeks short of her 20th birthday. Her name was “Pixel,” which is where my blog name comes from. I’ve been debating changing my blog name here . . . but for now I’ll keep it the same . . .
. . . . sheesh . . . I feel like Phreedm with all these ellipses . . .
pixel
Oh, I am sorry about your cat. I hope her passing was peaceful. She lived a very full life at almost 20 years. Must have been the influence of her owned person.
If you keep your name the same, that’s one way of having her live on.
I’m sure you miss her. Cats are wonderful companions.
Karen,
Thanks! I really miss her a lot. I still have another kitty, but Pixel was just the best cat ever. We had a real human/cat bond. I seriously loved her more than I loved a lot of humans!
I think you’re right about keeping her name. I think I will.
dear atheists, I come to you with a peace treaty.
Simply if we can agree that things like prayer should not be forced upon atheists . . .and likewise atheists should not force religious people not to pray.
If we can agree the state should not force atheists to go to church and . . . . .. . atheists should not force Christians not to go to church
If we can agree NOT on exclusion but rather on government neutrality. . . then we can be at peace.
peace out.
Christopher Bell
You’re preaching to the choir here. This is what we atheists have been saying all along.
Want to help us persuade the religious nuts?
Some religious people are nuts and some are not.
Some atheists are nuts and some are not.
Some religious people are creative and some are not.
Some atheists are creative and some are not.
this list goes on but I hope you get the idea. You do some research and you will realize that . . . a persons beliefs alone do not make them creative or uncreative, smart or dumb, mean or kind. There are many variations in each group.
I would be happy to pursue a discourse that . . . takes into account the freedom of both sides. Im well aware that some atheists are true . . . how can I put it . .. well lets just say some atheists would really prefer to take over rather than let the other side have their say and their freedom. So . .. perhaps some atheists have been saying what Im saying all along . . but .. not all of them.
Im here for one reason and one reason only, to promote proper state church seperation.
proper seperation means to me, that even a government official can excersize their religion personally and within their own family . . . they can do this as long as they do not force, by law, others to join them. Now the SAME principle must hold true for the atheist. I realize I may actually be speaking to a mixed crowd here. I hope some of you people here are on my side with this. Now christians are still confused about how to deal with things like prop 8 consitutionaly . . .its sort of like asking should we allow public porn . . but on other issues like prayer and church and holy book or temple I think Christians and atheists can come to agreement on the politics of the matter. I propose a series of laws be past in an attempt to reach these final agreements.
the first action we can take together concerns prayer. We can call this proposition 9.
simply, no government official shall control how ones prayers or whether or no one does pray even if this one is another government official.
you have to remember that the freedom of christian teachers to pray in public schools is being stiffled in some places.
Do you agree with my proposition 9?
please realize . . . Im not saying that atheists should be forced to pray. Im saying .. . Christian teachers should be alowed to pray by themselves so long as they do not coerce others into doing so.
Proposition 9: Government shall not control how citizens or government officials pray. Government shall not control whether or not citizens or government officials pray. Government shall not force other citizens or government officials TO pray. Government shall not force other citizens or government officials NOT TO pray. Government shall not, by rule of law, force prayer upon or strive to take prayer away from any citizen or government official. The FORCE of government shall remain neutral, yet the government may freely express its veiws and pray so long as it does not make it LAW.
As a first step of political peace between us. . . we must end government controled prayer. If you believe in state church seperation the proper way, you must realize that government must not control religion . . . thats not the same thing as government seperation from religion. Think clearly about this. William pen would say exactly what Im saying right now I think. It goes both ways, it is true neutrality. The neutrality is not . . in religious or atheist expresion . .. . . . but . .. . rather . .. it is neutrality of LAW ENFORCEMENT . . . sort of like what you see on some internet sites. please consider my proposal. hope to here from you as soon as you have given it a great deal of thought. remember . . . . we are talking about neutrality of enforcement . . . not expresion. There are milestones .. . . but we can accomplish something. I never forced an atheist to pray. I hope you as an atheist can say the same about your treatment of christians.
PS; the removal of that atheist sign in the public square better not have been done by a gov official. And no gov official should remove the tree . . . either.
Christopher Bell
Can you name any atheists who are like that? Why would they?