"Stand Up for Religious Freedom" Rallies Are Religious Oppression

Author: BlairScott / BlairScott's blog

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AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC.
http://www.atheists.org
http://www.americanatheist.org

06JUN2012: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, please contact:
Dave Silverman, President 732-648-9333
Blair Scott, Communications Director 256-701-6265

ATHEIST CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP CALLS “STAND UP FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM” RALLIES RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION

American Atheists, an atheist civil rights group dedicated to atheists’ civil rights and the separation of religion and government, announced today that the “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” rallies to occur nationwide on June 8 are a misnomer and blatantly ignore the intent of the First Amendment. The coordinators and coalition of groups supporting the rallies are equally supporting theocracy and religious oppression: the opposite of what they are claiming to support.

Blair Scott, Communications Director, stated, “Religious freedom is guaranteed to the individual: not a collection of individuals or an organization. A church does not have religious freedom: the individual congregants do. A collection of religious persons do not have religious freedom: the individuals in that collection do. You cannot amass your individual freedoms to trump the freedoms of others.”

The rallies are being put together by a coalition of well-known groups who continually pursue ways to violate the separation of church and state, including the main coordinating group, the Pro-Life Action League.

Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, said, “This demonstration is a protest against religious equality. The protestors are demanding equal rights to support their church’s position, essentially subjugating America’s secular law under their religious dogma. How can we have equality if the government changes its laws to suit one religion?”

Religious freedom applied to this situation means that women and their partners can decide whether to use birth control pills or any other legal contraceptive they and their doctors see fit. It does not mean that a religious-based business can deny these options.

AJ Johnson, Development Director, observed, “The rallies are not only a misnomer, but an insult to the secular principles embedded in our Constitution. These groups are not promoting freedom; they are using specific religious beliefs to restrict women’s rights and access to healthcare. This is an attempt to enforce religious oppression by these groups and should not affect our public policy.”

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a non-profit 501(c)3 national organization that defends civil rights of Atheists, Freethinkers and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of church-mosque-temple and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

Comments

effilc / Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:10

really?

Though I agree with your agenda and your assessment of the religious agenda, your interpretation of religious freedom is dead wrong. Making half-cocked statements like this is counter-productive and gives the rest of us a bad name.

“Religious freedom is guaranteed to the individual: not a collection of individuals or an organization. A church does not have religious freedom: the individual congregants do. A collection of religious persons do not have religious freedom: the individuals in that collection do. You cannot amass your individual freedoms to trump the freedoms of others.”--Blair Scott

Religious people have the same rights as the rest of us, to assemble peacefully and promote their agenda(s). Unless your definition of 'religious freedom' is different from everyone else's, people have the right to practice whatever they want as long as it doesn't break any laws. While the incessant religious bullying and cultural repression of others is unethical, particularly nasty, and low-minded; it is not illegal.

They DO NOT have the right to legislate religious agendas that infringe upon the constitutional rights of others using congressional means or by popular vote. The legislative processes in place will eventually defeat these as we continue to fight them and the legislative processes run their course.

WilliamWeber / Sun, 06/17/2012 - 14:22

my freedom of lets me take away your freedom

If you stop me from using my freedom to stop you from using your freedom then you have restricted my freedom. That is the logic of the religious freedom rally and the religious right that wants a place in government. My church doesn’t believe anyone should work on Sunday because it offends God. Your church says Jesus changed that and it is ok to work on Sunday. So, if you prevent my religious group from passing laws to prevent people from working on Sunday, then you have prevented our group from exercising its religious freedom. What this degenerates to is using government to decide religious disagreements between religious groups. One church says it will recognize gay marriage. Another religious group does not believe it is the Godly thing to do and has a law passed to prevent gay marriage. So, the government decided who would have the dominant scriptural interpretation. But, now the government is establishing which religious view is valid. But, the first amendment is about the government not deciding which religious interpretation is valid. Each individual person themselves gets to decide. The government does not have to be concerned with such matters.

FreeFromGawds / Thu, 06/21/2012 - 20:32

Jewish Orthodox abuse

The issue of extreme secrecy in the jewish orthodox community and child abuse has been in the news for a long time why has this case not been blogged about at AA?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/nyregion/4-ultra-orthodox-men-charged-...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/nyregion/ultra-orthodox-jews-shun-thei...