"Recurrent vandalism scars atheists' display" - What lovely "Christians" we have in Pennsylvania.

[bbernardini]

PLEASE note that I put the word Christians in quotes. The people that did this probably claim to be Christian, but we know better, don't we? ;)

Full story is at the link. Some highlights are below.

http://snipurl.com/1w9za

WEST CHESTER — The “Tree of Knowledge” in front of the county courthouse was vandalized Saturday night, marking the fourth time in the last month someone has defaced this monument to atheism.

Members of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia put up the 15-foot evergreen just before the Christmas season and have been monitoring it ever since. They found on Sunday morning that its lights had been cut off and its ornaments — laminated covers of holy books like the Quran and atheist tomes like “Ethics Without God” — had been torn.

<snip>

County Commissioner Pat O’Donnell said many people have called the county to point out that the purpose of the display in front of the courthouse is to celebrate holiday traditions. Because atheists do not have religiously oriented holiday traditions, these people wondered why the atheists were allowed to have a display.

After Dec. 1, members of the Freethought Society have thrice reported to police that the tree had been tampered with. Lights had been unplugged and ornaments torn, but Saturday night was the first instance of extensive, costly damage to the display.

[EFerrari]

1. We've got to start calling these people totalitarians, not Christians.

Because the Christian part isn't the problem, it's just the venue.

[Red Zelda]

2. These Xtians are enemies of free thought

as they have been for two millenia.

[malaise]

5. Bingo n/t

[NC_Nurse]

3. They are just jerks.

Jerks first, Christians at least second...if not last among their personal qualities.

[Canuckistanian]

27. Yeah, but they're growing in number

These "jerks" are getting bolder and bolder because they're constantly being told that their "religion" is under attack.

Never mind that their idea of religion is a perverted shell of a belief system that bears little resemblance to Jesus' message.

I wouldn't be so quick to write them off as just random "jerks". They're a whole movement - and they're not likely to go away soon.

[papau]

4. push back?

[Blarch]

6. All Christians are radical.

This seems par for the course.

[shadowknows69]

13. That's definitely not true

My Aunt is a good Christian woman that exhibits none of these radical and childish tendencies.

[Blarch]

20. I disagree.

Make no mistake, the bible is radical , the bible defines the religion.

They are radical by default, just read the bible sometime. :evilgrin:

[shadowknows69]

23. I've read the bible cover to cover a couple times thanks

and it is open to any number of interpretations. The theory is that Christians follow the teachings of Christ which were radical for the time in light of the Old Testament laws because he brought the new covenant with his teachings; and they were sound philosophies of peace, love and tolerance. It's the clergy that twisted it into a method of control. Being a Christian does not automatically make you a radical. Like everything its how you use your beliefs for the betterment or detriment of humanity.

[LanternWaste]

19. Always thought I was a bit of a moderate. Glad you cleared that up for me.

Always thought I was a bit of a moderate. Glad you cleared that up for me. :eyes:

As a radical, should I buy new clothes? Is there a particular diet radiacal's use? How about my car? Is a Sorento good for radicals, or should I trade it in and get a something with decorative hubcaps? Do I need to dispose of my Che Guevera t-shirt and my birckenstocks and replace them with something a bit more indicative of this neo-radicalism you allude to? :sarcasm:


Broadbrush accusations illustrate quite a bit more about the person making the accusation than they do the actual target itself...

[Blarch]

22. It's not an observation about any single person

The bible IS radical, the bible defines their religion.

[H2O Man]

28. Jane.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Just a question: how do we know the perps are Christian?

Nativity scenes get defaced and stolen and ruined all the time. Our city had a nice ice skating rink downtown last year that had to get shut down because people kept ruining it (digging holes in the ice for kids to trip on, breaking the fence, etc.). How do we know that a tree downtown was defaced solely and only because it was put up by the Freethought Society? :shrug:

Methinks someone was bored and/or drunk and saw a chance to act out aggression and not get caught.

[Blarch]

9. don't fool yourself.

[knitter4democracy]

15. So, I should blame our old town's nativity defacement on atheists?

Don't be ridiculous. Since we don't know who did it, let's not jump to conclusions. My money's on bored kids who wanted to see what would happen if they snuck up to the tree in the middle of the night and messed with it, just like the ones who attacked Kalamazoo's nativity a few years back.

[Blarch]

16. Was your town recieving many calls about the scene ?

Thats what I thought.

[knitter4democracy]

17. Actually, they were. It was on city-owned property.

This is a Dem town (though the outskirts and town to the south are all heavily Republican), and people were upset that there was an overtly religious display at Christmas. The nativity had been donated, though, and the city made sure to have other celebrations honored in the same park.

[Blarch]

18. OK, You win.

:hi:

[knitter4democracy]

29. Yay! Do I get a cookie?

:D

:hug: It's so nice to come and hang out here with cool people. :)

[bbernardini]

25. Well, they've been threatened by so-called Christians before.

According to another article, there's been a few people who call themselves Christians who have threated to deface or otherwise harm the atheist display.

[knitter4democracy]

30. That's horrible!

How much do you want to bet the cops won't take any of it seriously? *sigh* That's just plain awful. One of the churches in the area should help pay for the damage, just to help heal the town.

[SidDithers]

8. There's no such thing as a "Christian", just a Christian...

they might be asshole Christians, but they're still Christians.

Sid

[Marr]

10. We technically celebrate the solstice in my house, and oddly enough,

I feel the opposite of the man paraphrased in the article. I feel like anyone celebrating the solstice in late December is honoring a truly ancient human tradition that spans the globe-- much older and widespread than Christmas. Still, the trappings of Christmas are fun, and we celebrate with that symbology. We've got a tree with a sun on the top and lots of little spring-themed ornaments, from flowers to grasshoppers.

So what I mean to say is, why are these people stuffing their religion into my ancient solstice celebration?! Maybe I should vandalize their stuff.

[shadowknows69]

11. Christians would you please confront some of these abberations of your religion

and smack the shit out of them. They make your God look like a cosmic wimp.

[knitter4democracy]

14. I do what I can.

:)

[LanternWaste]

21. If we're supposwed to keep our religions to ourselves

If we're supposwed to keep our religions to ourselves-- only in our homes and churches, and refrain from alluding to it in public (for fear of ramming it down people's throats and all that rubbish), just how are we supposed to do this?

[shadowknows69]

24. Umm, you still talk to other Christians no?

Like any community it has to police itself to a certain extent. When something that you would consider a radical concept pops up in a sermon don't be afraid to engage it and encourage discussion and examination of it.

[Warren Stupidity]

12. atheists do not have religiously oriented holiday traditions

That is right, we have atheist oriented holiday traditions rather than theist ones. Oddly, in my house, our winter atheist holiday happens to coincide with and overlap the christian winter holiday. Why, we even use the same name for it: 'christmas'. But since it isn't religiously oriented I guess it doesn't count.

[MadMaddie]

26. Let's call a spade a spade these particular Christians (not all)

are as volatile as the Taliban and any other radical movement.

Don't fall prey to the fact they are American makes them less dangerous. Case in point Timothy McVeigh was one of these Christians...

Until America wakes up and acknowledges these groups as cults and radical movements the country is in danger. First it starts with damaging property, then it moves to private property and then it moves to threatening and harming individuals.

Wake up my friends...do not underestimate the hate that comes from these people.