Please visit the new home of Majikthise at

« Why didn't Julie Amero pull the plug? | Main | Diebold key copied from pic on Diebold website »

January 24, 2007

"Attention: Lunatic Atheists & their Lawyers"

God is an American?, originally uploaded by dust....

Today's FlickrFind.

I was going to save this for the next Sunday Sermonette, but I couldn't wait.


I'm an atheist. I support the troops. I pay my taxes. In fact, I probably pay MORE taxes than the good Reverend, who likely slurps at the public trough from his taxpayer-funded home and church.

Perhaps we need to examine more of these lunatics and turn them into the IRS for crossing the boundary between politics and religion.

Why did no one tell me this earlier?

Is that a real sign? If so, as a freethinking atheist I find that very distressing. My kind is already marginalized. Maybe I should write to the good Reverend Briggs...


Jesus wept.

"Attention: Lunatic Atheists & their Lawyers"

There goes another irony meter....

I saw a sign like that (a painted barn roof, if I remember correctly) in North Dakota, in the 80s but I bet it's still there in one form or another. It denounced "DEMONCRAT SATANIST" (naming the governor at the time) for "BABY SLAUGHTER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AGAINST WHITE MEN WORSHIP MARTIN LUCIFER KKKING." I could tell I was in North Dakota, because in the South the barns are taller and they say "MARTIN LUCIFER COON."

And people say there are no regional differences any more.

The "Civil War" motif comes up a lot in the comments at wingnut sites. "Be ready to kill people that look just like you. Don't blink don't think just fire." That and the uber-secret government plans to shackle all Christians, put them in cattle cars, and ship them away. Begging questions including "To...?" "Because...?" "Under the order of...?" and "You last took your medication... when?"

No one should be surprised. For many Americans, their national identity is intertwined strongly with their adherence to "the Bible" aka fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. Separation of church and state is "bull" to them; they do so hate and fear that Jeffersonian phrase.

There is a substantial sentiment for a civil war or secession in this country among the most rural and most conservative elements of U.S. society. I share some of the non-violent, law- and constitution-abiding side of that sentiment, but from the other liberal/libertarian/secular side. They want to leave, I want to pack their bags. Perhaps we will see in the coming decades negotiations and a timetable set to allow the Christian States of America to leave and form a government, consistent with constitutional process and all applicable law, with whatever peace treaty and formula for paying U.S. Social Security equitably and fairly to their citizens, and whatever free trade rules that would be needed to satisfy Wall Street. Or a lawful division less profound but no less real. My bet: gay marriage and church-state separation will be parts of the spark.

This sounds radical and premature and cranky, perhaps, but if you had told me in July 2001 that by 2007, the World Trade Center would not exist and Rosie O'Donnell would be legally married to a woman, I'd have laughed at you for being cranky.

WELL. I'm never joining THAT church.


A man too honest to ever be President.

As Meathead said on All In The Family, "It's time like these I thank God I'm an atheist."

I'm also reminded of other examples of conservative Christian kindness and peace, as when Pat Robertson urged Our Heavenly Father to aid in the assassination of Hugo Chavez. I think this church sign adequately sums up God's response to the reverend's humble request.

Organized religion...

I hate this copout. It's not like anyone's little One Man Revelation Show is any less silly.

Last summer when I was in Wales, I bought a t-shirt with a Celtic cross on it. It's very pretty, and I've worn in from time to time. But a couple of days ago I was about to put it on, and I realized that I couldn't wear it any more. The main reason was that I didn't want to wear something that might make people think I was Christian, not because I'm anti-Christian, but because I think non-religious people need to come out of the closet and be more visible. That starts with not wearing religous symbols of any kind.

But there's a part of me that has, I'm afraid, become anti-religious, and particularly anti-Christian. Why? Because of things like the sign in this picture. I know lots of nice Christians, but I can't stand the way that religion is used as a political tool and a stick to beat people with.

The people who made that sign would probably call people like me "elitist." Hey, I'm not the one who thinks I'm going to heaven and nearly everyone else is going to hell.

From Wikipedia:
Monongah’s population as of the census 2000, is 939 people. The median income for a household in the town was $25,750, and the median income for a family was $33,000. Males had a median income of $25,417 versus $19,722 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,079. About 12.2% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 17.0% of those age 65 or over.

These folks are poor. I would think the good Rev. Briggs has more immediate concerns for God’s humble souls there in Monongah, but then perhaps it was the godless traitors who took the people’s money.

"perhaps it was the godless traitors who took the people’s money."

one of the stranger trends in the recent evangelical surge is their fixation on Israel as the seat of apocalypse. 30 years ago, it wouldn't have been the godless traitors who took their money, it would have been the jews...

as a godless traitor, I sort of resent being scapegoated for all this stuff. But then again, the jews have had more than their fair share. Guess it's my turn.

Bruce, once someone clues the fundamentalists in that separation involves cutting off the humongous aid the South gets from the North, they'll be less receptive to the idea.

Alon, although it's based on factual data, there's something fundamentally wrong with your comment. I'm betting you know exactly what it is, too. :)


For some time, I've sort of hoped California would secede. But if, say, we imagine godless New England seceding--to include Boston, MA and New York--while California secedes on the other side? When little practicalities such as the billions of dollars these states bring in are set against a Jesusland (as my Burning Man friends put it), that's an awful lot more weight for Texas to pull.

Alon, you are probably right.

As for me, I don't know what I can do to celebrate my non-fundamentalist values other than to listen to the "gay bands" that "Love God's Way" fears the most. Like the Pet Shop Boys. And David Bowie. And - I swear - Frank Sinatra, of all people!

I don't even like the Pet Shop Boys. But I will learn to like them, if it pisses off the religious right. Barry Manilow is on the list too. Sometimes you have to take a hard pitch to the face for the team. Copacabana it is. Oh, part time homophobe Eminem is on the gay bands list too. And if you have a strong stomach, you can go check out Steve Gilliard's site for something truly wrong.

Screw the Republicans who live upstate. New York City should secede, and maybe annex parts of Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester.

For a start, an independent city won't have to pretend it has a drinking age.

As long as talk about secession is going on, I'd like to remind everyone that when annexing Boston they should not leave behind the coastal New England region running from Boston up to Kennebunk Port, Maine.

We could form a contingency plan around joining New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, but this is a less desirable option than national sovereignty.

That is so beautiful.

I've often wondered how one can be anti-American? It's always seemed nonsensical to me.


We don't get in your face, is the difference. I'm an agnostic, I believe in god, but I have no interest in telling you what to do or trying to convert you to anything or even discussing it, really.

You believe what you want, I believe what I want, everybody's free.

I've been to a couple of Atheist Meetups recently.

You can probably find one near you, using the website:


That list is too funny. The Indigo Girls are so gay they're on the list twice. And Elton John is there twice as well, the second time with the parenthetical note "really gay". Who are these people and where do I laugh at them?

The comments to this entry are closed.