Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
Lots of people don't like us for this one.
Blasphemy Day 2009 is part of The Campaign for Free Expression, a joint initiative between the Center for Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism, intended to focus attention on one of the most crucial components of the freethought movement: the right of individuals to express their viewpoints, opinions, and beliefs about all subject -- including religion.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue on Blasphemy Day:
The Center for Inquiry is factually incorrect to say that “Free speech is the foundation on which other liberties rest.” Freedom of conscience is the first liberty, and it is inextricably linked to freedom of religion. Moreover, the whole concept of inalienable rights presupposes a belief in the Creator. In other words, atheists have the right to mock religion because our Christian Founding Fathers afforded them human rights.
They are all such phonies. The stated purpose of Blasphemy Day has nothing to do with any religion but Islam, yet there is not one scheduled event insulting Muslims. We can only guess why. So who have they chosen to mock? You guessed it—Christians.
Artist Dana Ellyn will wander to Washington, D.C. to show her masterpiece, “Jesus Does His Nails,” a portrait of Jesus polishing a nail jammed into his hand. In Los Angeles, there will be a film about a gay molesting priest and another about a boy who is so angry about being sent to bed that he asks God to kill his parents. Oh, yes, American Atheists will conduct “De-Baptisms” in New Jersey.
Nice to know that even the atheists know that Christians can be counted on to react to their antics like good Christians. Which is why there will be no violence.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Last edited by corduroy_blazer on Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
Bill Donohue wrote:
The stated purpose of Blasphemy Day has nothing to do with any religion but Islam, yet there is not one scheduled event insulting Muslims. We can only guess why. So who have they chosen to mock? You guessed it—Christians.
I think Penn Jillette said it best when he said Bill Donohue is a dipshit.
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:21 am Posts: 23078 Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina Gender: Male
theplatypus wrote:
:shake:
You people.
On second thought, I really don't know how I feel about any of this. Maybe someone can try to explain how this accomplishes anything but piss people off.
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On second thought, I really don't know how I feel about any of this. Maybe someone can try to explain how this accomplishes anything but piss people off.
This thread or Blasphemy Day or both?
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Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:04 am Posts: 2057 Location: The end of the spiral...
theplatypus wrote:
On second thought, I really don't know how I feel about any of this. Maybe someone can try to explain how this accomplishes anything but piss people off.
I'd have to agree. I would assume the goal of these "institutions" would be to promote tolerance of secular beliefs and open mindedness.
I would call this kind of mean spirited if it didn't first come across as a sophomoric publicity stunt.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:51 am Posts: 17078 Location: TX
Cpt. Murphy wrote:
theplatypus wrote:
On second thought, I really don't know how I feel about any of this. Maybe someone can try to explain how this accomplishes anything but piss people off.
I'd have to agree. I would assume the goal of these "institutions" would be to promote tolerance of secular beliefs and open mindedness.
I would call this kind of mean spirited if it didn't first come across as a sophomoric publicity stunt.
Publicity stunt. The question is, is a publicity stunt actually sophomoric in this case? It seems to me that publicity is exactly what organizations like CFI need. I think the whole point is to let people know they are out there and that it's ok to not be christian. Atheist pride, it's similar in many ways to gay pride. These people have been historically oppressed in one way or another so people just going out and "being atheist" (or secular humanist) serves a purpose in itself.
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:04 am Posts: 2057 Location: The end of the spiral...
Buffalohed wrote:
Cpt. Murphy wrote:
theplatypus wrote:
On second thought, I really don't know how I feel about any of this. Maybe someone can try to explain how this accomplishes anything but piss people off.
I'd have to agree. I would assume the goal of these "institutions" would be to promote tolerance of secular beliefs and open mindedness.
I would call this kind of mean spirited if it didn't first come across as a sophomoric publicity stunt.
Publicity stunt. The question is, is a publicity stunt actually sophomoric in this case? It seems to me that publicity is exactly what organizations like CFI need. I think the whole point is to let people know they are out there and that it's ok to not be christian. Atheist pride, it's similar in many ways to gay pride. These people have been historically oppressed in one way or another so people just going out and "being atheist" (or secular humanist) serves a purpose in itself.
I agree with your sentiment. I'm sure there is a degree of sensationalism in Bill Donahue's description of the sorts of displays that will be going on, but I think where this crosses into buffoon territory is when you have displays that are designed to do no more than rile religious people (and let's be honest, "De-Baptisms", and paintings making fun of Christ on the cross are designed to piss people off). Your comparison to gay pride showings is spot one, and from what I've seen, those often cross the line to the degree that you have to wonder if the goal is to champion one's cause, or to simply piss the other guys off.
Basically, you run the risk of coming across in the same way that the TEA parties did, and I really doubt that is the idea here.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
To be sure, Blasphemy Day and the Blasphemy "Contest" are two very different things, I think.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
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