Another Look at the ‘War on Religion’

Inspired by some ridiculous Ben Stein meme containing more of the popular “I’m a poor repressed religious person in America” crap, I decided to do some quick research. It took all of two minutes to see if, in fact, religions were being scarce in the US.  If you look at the chart in this link, (the source of which is Wikipedia) America is still mostly religious people, mostly still Abrahamic…the religions have just shifted. The number who identify with no religion have grown, but are still only 16% of the total US population.   So really if I hear one more repressed [Christian/religious person] whine I might. Just. Explode.

You know, Ben, I was with you on the Christmas tree thing.  Who cares what they call them? I am an atheist, however if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I quite heartily wish them the same.  We still celebrate the love and family and spirit of Christmas season and put up a Christmas tree in our home.  (Did you know the Christmas tree was actually a pagan symbol of Yule anyway?)  I don’t care who erects a nativity scene or who has a Menorah on display.

What I take issue with is the assertion that you are “pushed around” because of your religion; it sounds kind of like so many sour grapes that religion is no longer top dog in public arenas (schools, etc) in America.  That’s about as bad as saying white people are tired of being “pushed around” by affirmative action. They just hate that the status quo is changing and it’s no longer acceptable to force others to conform to their way of life.

Stein allegedly claims:

” I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country.”

As to the  “decline (1)” in Christianity in the past few years, it has dropped from 78% to a “paltry” 71% .  *sniff*  My heart breaks for your plight.

The United States still remains home to more Christians than any other nation, with roughly seven-in-ten continuing to identify with some branch of Christianity.

The fact that the majority of Americans still identify as Christian does not, however, negate the idea that the church is not supposed to have a role in government. What I would tell Ben is, this whole country is neither atheist NOR Christian. It’s SUPPOSED to be free.

Not even gonna touch the idea that disasters happen because we “took God out of schools.” That is utter, baseless tripe. There have always been natural disasters. Used to be “God had a plan” or “the devil” caused the disasters. There always WILL be disasters, only you want to tell me now it’s because not everyone wants to have to pray to your God in school?

As to in very transparent inference that kids have no morals without religion, that is also so much bullshit. You don’t “need” God for morals. You need compassion and empathy, and plenty of people have God and still no morals, just a fear of the “consequences” of afterlife. If you ask me, THAT is what’s missing in todays’s society. CONSEQUENCES.

Okay, anyway, I know I’ve written about this before, but I guess it always gets me stoked up again to see people passing this shit around, all like:

images (1)

No!  And even a billion people “liking” it won’t make it true.   

This article could be so much longer, but I will end with this:

Can you pray in peace?  Can you worship in public? Do you have to worry about being arrested or killed or harmed by identifying yourself as religious?

Okay, so stop whining.

Oh, and hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. 😉