For Immediate Release: May 13, 2008Contact: Anne Singer, 202-271-4679Religious Right Tries, Again, to Impose the Ten Commandments on American Citizens The Secular Coalition for America Responds On May 8, 2008, the Reverend Rob Schenck held a press conference in Washington, DC in an effort to drum up support for a Congressional resolution declaring an annual National Ten Commandments Weekend. Schenck also called on the Supreme Court to issue a definitive ruling allowing the public display of the Ten Commandments in its decision on the Utah case of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, a case the Court takes up this fall. Schenk is President of Faith and Action, ?a Christian outreach whose mission is to challenge Capitol Hill with Biblical Truth and change the nation one policy maker at a time.? Joining Rev. Schenck at the press briefing in front of the Supreme Court were the Reverend Patrick J. Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition and William J. Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition. All three groups are active in national politics and are part of the larger conservative religious movement. Schenk told his audience, ?Religious freedom is the first and most important of all freedoms,? and that ?the Ten Commandments unify all Americans.? In response to this renewed effort to pass a Ten Commandments Weekend resolution, originally introduced in 2006, the Director of the Secular Coalition for America, Lori Lipman Brown, issued the following statement: ?Someone should ask Rev. Schenck how he can say he supports religious freedom when his goal is clearly to undermine religious freedom in our country. Apparently Rev. Schenck is unable or unwilling to see the hypocrisy of his position. ?Calling on Congress to endorse the Ten Commandments flies in the face of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The Establishment Clause states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” and yet the first few Commandments demand the worship of only one god. The First Amendment also protects the free exercise of religion, but the Commandments prohibit it by prescribing even the act of uttering God?s name, not to mention how we get to spend our weekends. ?Furthermore, imposing the Ten Commandments on citizens by forcing them to pay with their tax dollars for their presence and maintenance in public places also flouts the First Amendment; asking the Supreme Court to allow the public display of biblical laws is fundamentally un-American. ?The Ten Commandments are not unifying. They are, in fact, divisive in the way they privilege a few religions and reject the rest and would, if sanctioned by our government, condemn the tens of millions of Americans who don?t believe in a god. America prides itself on religious diversity, and our government must never tell us how ? or whether ? to worship. Anyone looking for ten rules to rally around need look no further than the Bill of Rights.? ***** The Secular Coalition for America is the national lobby for atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheistic Americans with the unique mission of protecting their civil rights. Based in Washington, DC, its full-time lobbyist and support staff engage public policy makers and the media to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. Information is at www.secular.org .
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QF’s Blog: http://irrationaltheorist.blogspot.com/
Sorry there, Dave.
Okay, I’m not going to church on sunday, abstaining from sex, or believing in God anytime soon dammit! There is, however, one commandment I wish the USA would follow however, I wish we would take that awful engraven image that says “in God we trust” off of our money since that is a violation of like the 2nd or 3rd commandment depending on which one you start with.
Dave, protecting our peoples from this intrusion is important. I am not an atheist, and do not debate people on the existence or non-existence of God.
But, when it comes to a government that pretends that the common will of a few wealthy minds constitutes which God is supporting our country…… I get a little scared.
Continue writing.
This is not about whioch b elief is right. It is about keeping our government accountable.
Here they go. Up on the soapbox once again for an election year media blitz. When will these poor christians ever learn that they’re being played?
WWED?
What would Einstein Do?
I will let him speak for himself:
site
Here is the URL:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24598856/
Wow…nice exaggeration Dave.
However, it’s obvious your tone has changed. Seems like the hammer has come down from the new AA president…
Simple math, phreeky.
300 million x .14 (the 14% the University of Michigan study determined don’t believe in gawd in the US) = 42 million.
That can be called tens of millions, I think. Just where were you educated?
Atheistmike
Phreeky? Educatered? Weell, I thaink he ken d’ hiz times n’ hiz gazzintas. Dat nuf?
If the AA board doesn’t come clean in two months time then I will be shifting my financial support to The Secular Coalition for America and FFRF. I’m marking July 13 on my calendar.
I with Sam Harris on this one. If Amerika determines the 10 commandeers must be posted, POST THE PUNISHMENTS! When everybody realizes they’ll be put to death for coveting their neighbor’s wife’s ass, perhaps there will be some epiphanys.
Comment from: atheistmike
Obviously not where you were…we were taught to do our own DD and not rely upon others…
http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/topnav/press/atheists_are_distrusted
Tell me…exactly how much of your own research have you done in regards to religion…?
Don’t feed the troll
Swing and a miss by phreedm!
I do believe the “tens of millions” derived by the 14% is accounting for all those who state “no religion” or “no preference,” not only atheists. And considering that this article is about the fact that the ten commandments supposedly “unify” America, then using the 14% is appropriate.
http://tinyurl.com/4q3y6x (pdf)
http://tinyurl.com/2fahg
http://tinyurl.com/3paq7y (pdf)
Sorry, i fed the troll…
BTW, typo in the title of the post?
I think we can go higher then tens of millions since I am sure all the muslim , Jewish , and any other non CHRISTIAN believers will not appreciate this.
This is a great example why we need a dem in the white house….we dont need a theocracy being legislated from the supreme court……
god bless america….a religious state….
suck it ten commandments
phreedum has a very serious anti intellectual streak, like many fundamentalist xians, and is not very trusting of science or technology. I think he probably isn’t very bright and has a limited or substandard education which embarrasess him so he attacks those of us who are educated and intelligent as being “elitists” (as if that’s a bad word). His obvious lack of understanding of basic concepts like evolution or separation of church and state speaks volumes to this.
Alex
Phreeky, like many Americans, is dumb as dirt and enjoys flaunting his ignorance. He flaunts his ignorance because he knows that educated America will distribute the fruits of their labor without favoritism. He likes to see himself as someone that is taking advantage of the elite – those stupid smart people. In reality he desperately would like to be one of the elite but he realizes he will not be. So he mocks the labor of others as a protective mechanism against his cognitive dissonance.
post all 613 commandments.we need to get back to that old time religion.
there is alot of sex in the bible
sex and brute force and forced sex.and giants and people in whales i’m not sure what giants and people in whales have to do with sex but its in the bible so it must be something about sex.there are so few jews i thought they didn’t like sex the bible proves at one time they did what happened.