This is going to be longwinded, but oh well. I cannot sleep because people are still lighting off remaining stocks of their fireworks.
The Atheist, believing only in the power of man, sees the destruction and prohibition of the symbols of deity worship as a sign of the strength of the religion of Atheism or Humanism. The absence of religious symbols is not a neutral position; it is a position favoring the atheistic belief.
I don't get where that thought process comes from other than the convenience to make a sweeping generalization from imagination in order to satisfy oneself. I don't recall any Atheist Inquisitions or Atheist Crusades. Atheist beliefs are almost -always- self-arrived/realized by an individual or small group of people that ponder theological and philosophical subjects. There is no overwhelming global body of Atheists at the Vatican lead by a heirchy of Atheists that determine things like what shoes would Atheists wear or what holidays they should concoct. In fact, Atheism has many sub-beliefs and varying degrees of extremity in and of itself, just as any religious, political, economic, or major belief system that guides the various cogs running the world. A reasonable introductory article can be seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist
As such, you would find it impossible to back up such an argument that Atheism as a whole (since is is fragmented and isolated by socialogical and demographic environment) is somehow out to erradicate theistic symbols as a prime directive of a governing or structured belief system, since there is no structure, period. There are no Sunday Atheist gatherings or Atheist dogma. There are some groups (mainly on the Internet) that might host small rallies or gatherings of Atheists for whatever reason it is they do (barbeques and t-shirt ideas perhaps) but nowhere near the magnitude of established theistic groups. Atheists do not follow proselytized theistic dogma and scripture engrained since early childhood that (in the case of Abrahamic-based religions) states their [belief] is the only way and that it is your job or tenant to convert others and push them into conformity (and historically, that included fear, torture, death, and genocide of indiginous natives).
I would say such a statement is a complete lack of logical thought. If the Constitution of government were to favor Atheism using the illogical statement reposted above, it would erect a statue that would somehow represent the disbelief and dismissal of all theistic beliefs. However, that is not the case. It simply leaves a blank slate. Our Constitution is written in a way that it is secular and allows the expression of non-religion or religion. Absence of religious symbols favors no particular religion or lack thereof. The absence of religion isn't the evidence of favoring the belief in no religion. Important: note how that is worded.
Absence of religion from an establishment does not mean the belief in no religion, which would be Atheism. The absence of religion does not favor any theistic beliefs, and it does not favor the lack of theistic beliefs either. It is such a simple concept that I find it hard to believe, from my viewpoint, why it is such difficult to grasp. Given any other topic or word besides religion, it would make crystal clear sense. The absence of a firearm from someone's home does not mean that they believe no one should own a rifle, pistol, or shotgun. Yet, it does not favor rifles, pistols, or shotguns. That homestead favors neither freedom from firearms, or any particular type of firearm. It is quite simply, (and elegantly) neutral. As far as the Constitution goes, do people honestly think so little of our Founding Fathers to think that, while drafting up the most important document of our nation, forget to insert numerous situations or lexicon involving God/god/Goddess/goddess/gods/goddesses/smorgasboard of deities into the US Consitution, but they really, really meant to...but it was too late since everyone already signed it?
Pasting famous quotes by Founding Fathers or famous politicians and leaders during that era can be inspirational, but it can be abused and absurd when lifted out of context. I can counter with a list of anti-religious or secular quotes by founding fathers and famous early leaders of our country that state the exact opposite of those listed in an earlier post, but I would not be proving a point because arguments cannot be won by pasting quotes (especially both pro/con quotes coming from the same famous individual!). The following demonstration is equally fruitless and shows that quotes to not win an argument.
- "I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth." Thomas Jefferson
- "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia.
- "Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effects of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia.
- "I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another." Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Elbridge Gerry.
- "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper. 1814
- "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." Thomas Paine
- "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good." Thomas Paine
- "Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law." Thomas Paine
- "Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days? John Adams
- "The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity." John Adams
- "The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." John Adams
- "[T]here remains in others a strong bias towards the old error, that without some sort of alliance or coalition between Government & Religion neither can be duly supported.... the danger cannot be too carefully guarded against. Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance.... [R]eligion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together....We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts. do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without then with the aid of Govt." James Madison
- "Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." George Washington
- ". . . I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution." George Washington
- "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;...Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripolo 1797
With that brief quotational interlude, it is to my knowledge that many Founding Fathers were considered Christian, and many also fit into the deist philosophy (which could be equivalent to modern day spirituality) which was rather commonplace at that time. However, it was NO accident that the Constitution took on a secular note. If someone claims all our Founding Fathers to be Atheists and that is why the US Constitution takes on a secular stance, then one could claim it was a biased piece of documentation and it would make sense. Yes, most every major poltitical document like the Declaration of Independance and others leading up to the Consitution has mentioned religion but these religious and spiritual Founding Fathers felt unanimously compelled to instill total secularism in the US Consitution....to legally bind and form a country around a secular US Consitution and hold back the temptation of filling it with their personal religious beliefs.
...doesn't that strike anyone as amazing at all? Does that not show an incredible restraint of putting the future and security of "we the people" (not "we the majority", or "we the ruling minority") before one's personal beliefs, not to mention almost clairvoyant foresight?" (ignoring the many modern-day bastardizations in our government which weren't the intentions of the Founding Fathers)
Again, the actions of one man (an Atheist in this case) does not define everyone with that belief. We could start throwing logical fallacies and stating every American is as bumbling a public speaker as George Bush, every gun owner is a creepy old man that shoots up schools, every Muslim is a suicide bomber, every Christian is an abortion clinic bomber, and every soccer mom in an SUV is prone to run you off the road...actually scratch the last example
