Michele Bachmann thinks that establishing a hate crime hotline is a violation of the separation of church and state. Wait, what?

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch: 

Former Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann was a guest on Jan Markell’s “Understanding The Times” radio program again last weekend, where she claimed that a hotline set up by the city of Minneapolis for reporting hate crimes was fascist and a violation of the separation of church and state. 

Last month, Minneapolis announced that a hotline had been established to allow residents to report hate crimes, which include “any crime against a person or property motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity. This includes prejudice-motivated property damage (including graffiti), stalking and assault.” 

Bachmann claimed that this hotline is really an attempt to outlaw criticism of Islam and institute Sharia law, insisting that its creation is a violation of the separation of church and state. “What we’re seeing is that hotlines are being set up by units of government for the purpose of encouraging people to call in and rat on their fellow man to report a hate crime,” she warned. 

“What they’re trying to do is implement anti-blasphemy laws. They’re trying to implement Islamic Sharia law locally in order to quiet churches and quiet anybody who would talk about what the truth is about Islam.” 

“What they want is civilization jihad,” Bachmann continued. “They want jihad through the court system to silence speech because when you take away someone’s speech rights to speak out—like we’re doing right now, to tell the truth about something—then it’s game over … There should be a lawsuit filed against the city of Minneapolis for doing this. They have violated the so-called separation of church and state that the left is so in love with because they’re preferring Islam over any other religion and, number two, they’re fascists. That’s what they are, they’re fascists; they want to shut down your right to free speech.”

For some reason Bachmann believes that the only incidents which Minneapolis will label a "hate crime" is one perpetrated against a Muslim.

However according to the government website, this is how they define a hate crime:  

A hate crime is any crime against a person or property motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity. This includes prejudice-motivated property damage (including graffiti), stalking and assault.

Look at that, not one word about Islam.

For all intents and purposes Michele Bachmann has dropped off the radar, but I just wanted to share this to remind everybody that the batshit crazy did not arrive with Donald Trump.

The batshit crazy was already in place among the Right Wing conservatives just waiting to welcome Donald Trump into the fold.

Organization trains Christian teachers to sneak their religion into public schools.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

Finn Laursen believes millions of American children are no longer learning right from wrong, in part because public schools have been stripped of religion. To repair that frayed moral fabric, Laursen and his colleagues want to bring the light of Jesus Christ into public school classrooms across the country — and they are training teachers to do just that. 

The Christian Educators Association International, an organization that sees the nation’s public schools as “the largest single mission field in America,” aims to show Christian teachers how to live their faith — and evangelize in public schools — without running afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition on the government establishing or promoting any particular religion. 

“We’re not talking about proselytizing. That would be illegal,” said Laursen, the group’s executive director. “But we’re saying you can do a lot of things. . . . It’s a mission field that you fish in differently.” 

“They appear to be encouraging teachers to cross the line,” said Daniel Mach of the American Civil Liberties Union, which fought the Christian Educators Association in a 2009 court case over Florida teachers’ religious expression at school. “Decisions about the religious upbringing of children should be left in the hands of parents and families, not public school officials.” 

Others say that there would be outrage if teachers of any other faith were being encouraged to express their beliefs in the classroom, legally or otherwise — particularly at a time when anti- Muslim sentiment is on the rise and some parents have complained that academic lessons about Islam can amount to religious indoctrination.

And that's really the crux of the issue.

These Christian educators believe that THEY are being discriminated against for their religious beliefs, when if there were another religious group using the same devious tactics they would be justifiably horrified.

THAT is why we have the separation of church and state, to protect children from proselytizing from ANY religious group or denomination.

You would think that educators might actually know that.

Apparently the "War on Christmas" is kind of real in Nebraska, and the Atheists just won.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

In Lincoln, amid the supposed “ war on Christmas ” bemoaned each year by the political right, it appears the atheists really have stolen Christmas. 

On Friday, a classic Christian nativity scene was erected in the rotunda of Nebraska’s capitol building. The state’s lieutenant governor, Mike Foley, was scheduled to attend. 

But on 18 December the nativity will have to be moved, to make way for exhibits organised by a coalition of atheist and humanist groups who last summer booked up all available exhibition space in the rotunda for the week around Christmas Day. 

From 19 to 26 December, therefore, the capitol will host an exhibition called Reason this Season, organized by Lincoln Atheists, Omaha Atheists and several other humanist associations. 

“It’s going to be a big shindig,” Chris Clements of Lincoln Atheists told the Guardian. “Our message is that it’s a secular government and religion has to stay separate from that. And it’s meant to communicate that atheists are not bad people – we can be good without God.” 

One of the main exhibits will be a table holding a miniature church, a miniature mosque and symbols from other religions including Judaism and Buddhism, separated from a miniature White House, Statue of Liberty and US Capitol by a model wall – a stark reminder of the separation of church and state that is enshrined in the first amendment to the constitution.

Man is this going to burn a lot of Fundamentalist asses in Nebraska. 

You know typically I am not this publicly confrontational about Atheism, preferring instead to have discussions here on IM about religion and non-belief, but I have to admit that this made me chuckle.

Ultimately it is important that non-deists get the conversation out into the public so that there can be an open dialogue.

I imagine there will be a lot of shouting at first, but ultimately allowing people to see that Atheists are not goat horned, child eating, demons can really only help in the long run.

Here's a sight that puts a smile on my face this morning. Worker remove Ten Commandments monument from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds.

Courtesy of the AP: 

A granite monument of the Ten Commandments that has sparked controversy since its installation on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds was being removed late Monday and will be transported to a private conservative think tank for storage. 

A contractor the state hired began removing the monument shortly after 10:30 p.m. The works comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision in June that the display violates a state constitutional prohibition on the use of public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion." 

The state is paying the contractor about $4,700 to remove the monument and take it to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs' offices a few blocks away, Office of Management and Enterprise Services spokesman John Estus said. 

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had increased security around the monument earlier Monday, and barriers were erected to keep visitors from getting close to it. Estus said the decision to remove the monument under the cover of darkness was made to avoid disturbing workers at the Capitol and to keep protesters from demonstrating while heavy equipment was being used to detach the two-ton monument from its base.

Don;t care what people believe.

Don't care where they worship.

Just so long as their faith, and our government are kept separate at all times.

Until that happens across the board we will never be the country our Founders intended us to be.

Presidential candidate, and neurosurgeon, Ben Carson does not know if the Bible has authority over the Constitution.

If you're convoluted response to this question is that you have to know which passage of the bible is addressing which specific portion of the Constitution then your answer is "Yes the Bible has authority over the Constitution."

Which translates to the American people as "No I should not be running for President of the United States."

500 Alabama Christians protest the removal of a "Christian flag" from the local police department.

Courtesy of Christian Post:

Over 500 Christians rallied in support of religious freedom in Alabama on Saturday after a Christian flag that once flew over a local police department was forcibly removed amid threats of legal action from the nation's largest atheist organization. 

The mayor of Glenco said he had no choice but to remove the Christian flag from outside the police department after the city received a complaint letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. 

"That would just about ruin us. … That's what they do, they pick on these smaller towns that can't defend ourselves," said Mayor Charles Gilchrist to WBRC Fox 6, noting the decision was made to remove the flag last month to avoid the costs of a potentially lengthy litigation. 

Samuel Lowe, founder and Etowah County director of First Responders for Christ, which helped organize the religious freedom rally called "United We Stand," told The Christian Post on Monday that "sin" is what led to the flag's removal. 

"On the surface the flag removal appears to be a battle over the fictitious separation of church and state," he said, "but the underlying reason the flag was removed was due to the separation between God and man because of the sin that's in man's heart."

So the flag was not removed because of the "fictitious" separation of church and state? But rather because of the sin in man's heart?

Yeah okay.

Well if there is no separation between church and state, and it is perfectly okay to fly a flag promoting a certain religion then I suppose this group would have no problem flying a Muslim flag, or Hindu flag, or a Jewish flag right?

Hell what about a flag celebrating Jainism.

I mean there's a conversation starter for you.

No these idiots only want religious freedom when it is THEIR religion that is free to insinuate itself into local governments and school districts.

If this were the flag of another religion they would be rioting in the streets to have it removed. Bet on it.

Rather than comply with a court ruling that finds a Ten Commandments monument in violation of the state's constitution Oklahoma lawmakers want to change that part of their constitution.

Courtesy of Tulsa World:  

Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday said the Ten Commandments monument will stay at the Capitol despite a court ruling that said it violated the state Constitution and must be removed. 

Fallin said Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider its 7-2 decision, which was handed down last week after a challenge by the ACLU of Oklahoma on behalf of three plaintiffs. 

In addition, lawmakers have filed legislation to let people vote on whether to remove a portion of the state Constitution cited in the ruling. Article II, Section 5 of the constitution reads: 

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such,” according to the Oklahoma Constitution. 

The court said the monument was obviously religious in nature and an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The constitution bans the state from using public money or property for the benefit of any religious purpose, according to the opinion.

So to be clear these lawmakers are actually willing to change their state's constitution in order to be allowed to put up a display of the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds.

Thereby placing Christianity as more important than the laws of the state as determined by their founders.

Yeah, nothing troubling about that.

Remind me, this is the 21st Century, right?

Oklahoma Supreme Court orders the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the state capitol.

Courtesy of News OK: 

The Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the grounds of the state Capitol, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. 

Justices ruled 7-2 the monument must go because the state constitution prohibits the use of public property to directly or indirectly benefit a “church denomination or system of religion.” 

The decision touched off a furor at the Capitol with several lawmakers calling for impeachment of the seven justices who voted in the majority. 

Attorney General Scott Pruitt said he believes the court "got it wrong" and filed a petition for rehearing — a move that will at least delay removal of the monument. 

If that fails, Pruitt called for changing the state constitution.

Boy religious zealots can certainly get all....zealotry now can't they? (Did I use that word right?)

In my opinion this is just part of the new direction this country is going which includes embracing the idea of gay marriage, rejecting hateful icons like the Confederate battle flag, and eschewing any co-mingling of religion and government.

And may I just say it is all about damn time.

Sometimes Ronald Reagan got it just right.

Source

And yet there are numerous religious conservatives today who simply cannot accept this simple truth.

Sometimes I think certain people treat Ronald Reagan like they do the Bible. Pick and choose the portions they like, use that to defend their personal prejudices, and ignore anything that might undermine their faith in the sources  inerrancy.

Teacher files lawsuit in response to the promotion of Christian beliefs in the public school where he is employed. Here's the kicker, the teacher is NOT an Atheist.

Courtesy of the Denver Post: 

A Colorado teacher is suing his school district claiming the district's only high school "operates largely to promote the evangelical Christian ideals" of a local church that operates in the school.

The pastor of that evangelical church, Randy Pfaff, does not seem to disagree with the teacher's accusation, but doesn't think it matters because: 

"I don't believe the Constitution was meant to keep God out of the schools. That's absolutely absurd," Pfaff told The Denver Post on Tuesday in a phone interview. "This nation was founded on Christianity."

Well gee, at least he's being reasonable.

After all how could a teacher possibly be expected to understand what the Constitution says?

Pastor Randy Pfaff.

Of course it's not as if the teacher, Randy Basevitz, did not attempt to work this out ahead of filing a lawsuit either:

Basevitz raised concerns to his school and district officials before preparing to file suit. But after filing a formal complaint with the district, officials transferred him to work at an elementary school. 

The lawsuit alleges that Superintendent Rhonda Vendetti "has publicly supported Pastor Pfaff and Principal (Brian) Schipper's religious activities despite complaints of their illegality."

According to the teacher there are up to five school sponsored religious events a day. Which as most of us realize is a "no no."

Here is perhaps my favorite part: 

Basevitz's attorney, Paul Maxon, said the school's involvement with the church created an environment where Basevitz, who is Jewish, felt excluded. According to the lawsuit, students have singled him out for being Jewish.

So for once it's not an Atheist filing a complaint about overtly religious materials in a school. This time it is simply coming from a person who feels that they are being discriminated against for having a different religious belief than the one being promoted on public school property.

Which of course is WHY we need the protection provided by the separation of church and state.

Oklahoma lawmakers overwhelmingly vote to do away with an Advanced Placement History course because they fear it teaches the wrong facts.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

An Oklahoma legislative committee overwhelmingly voted to ban Advanced Placement U.S. History class, persuaded by the argument that it only teaches students “what is bad about America.” Other lawmakers are seeking a court ruling that would effectively prohibit the teaching of all AP courses in public schools. 

Oklahoma Rep. Dan Fisher (R) has introduced “emergency” legislation “prohibiting the expenditure of funds on the Advanced Placement United States History course.” Fisher is part of a group called the “Black Robe Regiment” which argues “the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists.” The group attacks the “false wall of separation of church and state.” The Black Robe Regiment claims that a “growing tide of special interest groups indoctrinating our youth at the exclusion of the Christian perspective.” 

Fisher said the Advanced Placement history class fails to teach “American exceptionalism.” The bill passed the Oklahoma House Education committee on Monday on a vote of 11-4. 

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you keep the voters ignorant and voting Republican. 

It seems that more and more Republican political tactics are beginning to mimic fundamentalist religious tactics.

Keep the sheep from learning any truths that you don't spoon feed them yourself, and they will be all that much easier to manipulate.

Sarah Palin uses debunked story about middle school boy being denied right to read his Bible in order to complain about Atheists, being sued, and of course to pimp her book.

Palin starts off telling the story of poor Loyal Grandstaff, a middle school student who complained that while he was quietly reading his book of fables, you know the Bible, a teacher told him he was not allowed to do that.

Well of course this caused the Right Wing to marshal their forces and start writing blog posts and sending nasty tweets and e-mails at the school.

Only thing is, that is not really what happened: 

A public school principal in Missouri pushed back against a middle school student’s claim that a teacher banned him from reading the Bible in school, claiming that the incident did not unfold as was alleged and that students are more than welcome to read their Bibles in school. 

Lance Tobin, principal of Bueker Middle School in Marshall, Missouri, told TheBlaze on Friday that claims made by Loyal Grandstaff, a 7th grader at the school, had not been substantiated when a local outlet published them and that the situation has since been resolved.

Of course Palin does not seem to care that this has been debunked, after all it's not like Brian Williams was the one caught in a lie of anything, and she continues to blow it out of proportion, before suddenly turning it around and making it all about her.

"Normal people don't want to go through the hassle of litigation. I've been through it how many times now? People suing me over stupid things? It's not fun. It's expensive. It's ah such a waste of resources. But normal people then understanding that litigation is a hassle, don't like going through it."

"So angry Atheists know that, so they use their inflamed rhetoric to coerce teachers, and principals, their forcing them, to take away the religious freedom of their students."

Yeah, didn't happen and doesn't happen.

Reading your Bible, Koran, the Vedas, at school is not a problem. And the only time it would be is if the teacher, or another authority figure were to try to teach lessons from any of those religious texts on school grounds.

And that did not happen in this case. So no, there are no "angry" Atheists "coercing" teachers and principals by threatening a lawsuit. 

Palin goes on to say that the principal stated that the "teacher acted against school policy" though if you read the link up above you will see that what the principal actually said was, “There is no teacher involved whatsoever.”

But in Palin's eyes the truth can never stand in the way of a good anecdote, and besides she has a reason for going after this like a dog with a bone.

"In my book 'Good Tidings and Great Joy' I talk about  how our religious freedom is being eroded by angry Atheists with attorneys."

So you see this was just another opportunity for Palin to once again plug a book that her ghostwriter wrote a freaking year ago. And plug it by the way to a group of subscribers that have undoubtedly already purchased at least one of the books already.

Good marketing that.

But hey I guess we cannot blame her too much because apparently it is a family trait, as her brother is now using the Brian Williams kerfuffle to pimp HIS stupid ass book: 

After these new revelations show that Williams has a history of not only embellishing stories, but flat out lying (in detail)... I understand why he didn't want our book to get any national exposure. In 2008, Williams lied about Sarah on air, accusing her of banning library books when she was mayor of Wasilla. We pointed out lies like this in our book. No wonder he didn't want to help us out.

Yeah, THAT'S why he did not want to help promote the book. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it was full of falsehoods and revisionist history designed to refute facts uncovered about the family and to make a fast buck off of a person whose fame was rapidly dwindling.

So I guess to the Palin family it is not so much about WHAT lies are being told, but more about WHO is telling them. And of course WHO can profit by telling them.

(H/T to Wonkette.)

For those on Fox News trying to convince us that the idea of separation of church and state is a recent invention, yeah not so much.

As you can see there is no date on the comic to tell us when it was printed, however a quick Google search of the cartoonist Watson Heston tells us that he died in 1905.

So that should provide insight into how long this debate has been raging.

Especially considering the fact that it was not until 1870 that all of the states at that time even had public schools.

If we are to continue to provide our students with a well rounded education job one should be keeping religion as far away from our schools as humanly possible.

Ohio Republican Governor forcing public schools to partner with faith based organizations in order to qualify for tax dollars set aside for mentoring program.

Courtesy of Cleveland.com:  

Gov. John Kasich's $10 million plan to bring mentors into Ohio's schools for students now has a surprise religious requirement – one that goes beyond what is spelled out in the legislation authorizing it. 

Any school district that wants a piece of that state money must partner with both a church and a business – or a faith-based organization and a non-profit set up by a business to do community service. 

No business and no faith-based partner means no state dollars. 

"You must include a faith-based partner," United Way of Greater Cleveland President Bill Kitson, told potential applicants at an information session the United Way hosted Thursday here in Cleveland. 

Asked why the governor is mixing religion with a state program - items usually required to be kept separate - Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said: "The governor believes faith-based organizations play an important role in the lives of young people." 

And Kasich's recorded video welcoming the applicants made the importance he places on faith in this effort clear. 

"The Good Lord has a purpose for each and every one of them (students) and you're helping them to find it," Kasich said on the video.

Yes the Governor believes that "faith based organizations play an important role in the lives of young people" and that "the good lord has a purpose for each and every one of them" because he is an Evangelical. And Evangelicals simply cannot accept that others will be offended by the inclusion of religion into a public school that is supposed to serve students of all faiths, or not faiths.

That is why the separation of church and state is so vital. And why people like Governor Kasich refuse to accept that it even exists.

Class...class...class...SHUT UP! Thank you. Now listen as Rick Santorum educates you on the fact that the separation of church and state is a communist idea, not an American one.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

In a conference call with members of right-wing pastor E.W. Jackson’s STAND America that was posted online today, former senator Rick Santorum disputed the existence of the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution, dismissing it as a Communist idea that has no place in America. 

A listener on the call told Santorum that “a number of the things that the far left, a.k.a. the Democrat [sic] Party, and the president is pushing for and accomplishing actually accomplishes a number of the tenets of ‘The Communist Manifesto,’ including the amnesty, the elevation of pornography, homosexuality, gay marriage, voter fraud, open borders, mass self-importation of illegal immigrants and things of that nature.” The likely presidential candidate replied that “the words ‘separation of church and state’ is not in the U.S. Constitution, but it was in the constitution of the former Soviet Union. That’s where it very, very comfortably sat, not in ours.” 

Wow! And here I thought there were limits to how Christian revisionists could rewrite American history.

Of course as Right Wing Watch points out Thomas Jefferson himself referred to the separation of church and state in an 1802 letter:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

The intention of the founding fathers seems fairly clear. That is unless you are Rick Santorum of course, and you refuse to accept facts which will not support your hypothesis. Or your faith.

Very accurate depiction of how this works in America.

Just one of the reasons that I support Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers' bill to remove the tax exempt status from churches.

If they won't stay out of our politics and public education then they can damn sure pay for the privilege of participating.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia does not think the that the separation of church and state means the government cannot favor religion over nonreligion. Did I mention that he is on the Supreme Court?

So here are a few things that Justice Scalia said to the audience of the Colorado Christian University on Wednesday courtesy of the Washington Times:  

“I think the main fight is to dissuade Americans from what the secularists are trying to persuade them to be true: that the separation of church and state means that the government cannot favor religion over nonreligion,” Justice Scalia said. 

Okay for those who may not know, the 1st Amendment says the following:  

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

So my question would be IF the Congress were to favor a religion, which religion would it be, since the first amendment clearly states that they cannot favor one over another?

If the laws support Christianity then it steps on the rights of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, practitioners of Jainism, Taoists, Rastafarians, Wiccans, etc., etc., etc..

Which is kind of the reason that the amendment is usually interpreted to avoid favoring any religion over another, or over the nonreligious. And wouldn't you hope that a Supreme Court Justice might know that?

But wait, there's more:  

“We do him [God] honor in our pledge of allegiance, in all our public ceremonies,” Justice Scalia said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It is in the best of American traditions, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. I think we have to fight that tendency of the secularists to impose it on all of us through the Constitution.” 

Yes, when we were a less educated, and less homogenized society, it may have seemed reasonable to allow certain religious groups to dominate the public arena. But we are far removed from those bygone days, and thankfully our founding fathers provided us with a blueprint of how to right the wrongs of past myopic leaders, and to finally have the all inclusive paradise that the authors of the Constitution always imagined.  

Again you would think a Supreme Court Justice might understand that.

“Our [the court‘s] latest take on the subject, which is quite different from previous takes, is that the state must be neutral, not only between religions, but between religion and nonreligion,” Justice Scalia said. “That’s just a lie. Where do you get the notion that this is all unconstitutional? You can only believe that if you believe in a morphing Constitution.”

Or in reading it.

“If I had the other view of the Constitution — that it was an empty bottle, which was to be filed by my court, and it was my responsibility to decide … all these massive ethical questions — if they were all my call, I couldn’t sleep at night,” Mr. Scalia said. “And some of my colleagues have said, ‘Oh, we agonize a lot.’ I don’t agonize at all. I look at the text, I look at the history of the text. That’s the answer. It’s not my call.” 

So what we have learned is that Justice Scalia really does not completely understand the document that he is sworn to uphold,  clearly panders to the religious right, and that his ignorance allows him to sleep like a baby.

Well great, now that I know all of that, how am I going to be able to sleep?

Pennsylvania teenager might get two years for face raping a statue of Jesus.

Courtesy of Mother Jones: 

Teenagers are prone to dumb, tasteless pranks, but one 14-year-old is facing prison time for his latest stunt. The teen, from Everett, Pennsylvania, hopped on top of a statue of a kneeling Jesus—in front of an organization called "Love in the Name of Christ"—and simulated oral sex with the statue's face. Naturally, he posted the pictures to Facebook, which made their way to authorities. 

Officials in Bedford County charged the teen (whose name hasn't been released) with desecration of a venerated object, invoking a 1972 Pennsylvania statute that criminalizes "defacing, damaging, polluting or otherwise physically mistreating in a way that the actor knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the action." You'd think an appropriate punishment for a kid violating this seldom-invoked law might be picking up trash or, at worst, paying a fine. If convicted, he faces much worse: two years in juvenile detention.

Seriously? Two years for rubbing his adolescent trouser snake on an inanimate object. 

That is completely ridiculous.

And not only ridiculous, but possibly unconstitutional as well.

That is unless Pennsylvania were willing to give this person two years as well.

Federal judge rules that controversial Ten Commandments monument in New Mexico must go.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lawn in front of Bloomfield City Hall. 

Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker said in his ruling in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that the monument amounts to government speech and has the "principal effect of endorsing religion." 

Because of the context and history surrounding the granite monument, Parker said Bloomfield clearly violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. 

He gave a Sept. 10 deadline for its removal. The suit was filed in 2012 on behalf of two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion.

Well at least the Wiccans will take the heat for this one instead of the Atheists. 

The Bloomfield mayor claimed that he considered it a monument to an historical document. However I am not sure how the Ten Commandments could be considered part of New Mexico's history.

Not only that but of course the actual tablets themselves never existed which sort of undermines the idea that they have a place in reality based history.

If one were to follow that line of logic one could put up a statue representing the Tortoise and the Hare from Aesop's Fables, Humpty Dumpty from Mother Goose, or even Rapunzel from Grimm's Fairy Tales.

On this date in 1948 the Supreme Court officially banned religious instruction in public schools. Somebody might want to remind the Republicans of that.

Vashti McCollum and her son James.

Courtesy of the Freedom from Religion Foundation:  

On this date in 1948, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, McCollum v. Board of Education, barring religious instruction in public schools, was handed down, with a vote of 8 to 1. The dramatic case was brought by Vashti McCollum, a mother in Champaign, Ill., on behalf of her son, Jim. In her enduring book about the challenge, One Woman's Fight, Vashti described how Jim was punished by teachers and teased by students for not taking part in religious instruction illegally taught in his public school. Although she lost at the first two court levels and was treated as "a very unpopular woman," Vashti did not give up. Her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in a stunning victory for separation of church and state, which is still the prevailing precedent in public school law today. Vashti was an Honorary Officer of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. She died at age 93 in 2006. 

“Separation means separation, not something less. Jefferson's metaphor in describing the relation between Church and State speaks of a 'wall of separation,' not a fine line easily overstepped. The public school is at once the symbol of our democracy and the most pervasive means for promoting our common destiny. In no activity of the State is it more vital to keep out divisive forces than in its schools, to avoid confusing, not to say fusing, what the Constitution sought to keep strictly apart. 'The great American principle of eternal separation' — Elihu Root's phrase bears repetition — is one of the vital reliances of our Constitutional system for assuring unities among our people stronger than our diversities. It is the Court's duty to enforce this principle in its full integrity.” 

—Justice Frankfurter, concurrence, McCollum v. Board of Education

Everybody has the right to beelive whatever they need to in order to help them get through this life.

However they have NO right to teach it as fact to a classroom full of  trusting children.