FFRF Sues Rick Perry Over Prayer Rally

Good news! There is an organization willing to stand up to Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) and his dangerous entanglement of his official office with religious extremist, heterosexual supremacist organizations like the American Family Association. It's called the Freedom from Religion Foundation and they are suing the governor over Perry's proposed prayer rally called "The Response" where he has invited all the nation's governors to join him in praying to Jesus to help our country.

USA Today has the details:

The Freedom from Religion Foundation argues in its lawsuit filed in Houston that Republican Gov. Rick Perry's day of prayer and fasting would violate the constitutional ban on the government endorsing a religion. The event, which is called The Response and is billed as Christian-only, is scheduled for Aug. 6 at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

The complaint alleges Perry violated the First Amendment's establishment clause by organizing, promoting and participating in the event.

"The answers for America's problems won't be found on our knees or in heaven, but by using our brains, our reason and in compassionate action," said Dan Barker, a co-director of the foundation. "Gov. Perry's distasteful use of his civil office to plan and dictate a religious course of action to 'all citizens' is deeply offensive to many citizens, as well as to our secular form of government."

There are some complicated issues here. Clearly, Rick Perry has the right to pray (or not) to who or what ever he wants to. The question is, can he, in his official capacity as Governor of a state, issue a call to prayer without overstepping the bounds of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. If he was doing so as a private citizen there would be no constitutional question. Then the question would be a political one: is it possible for a governor (or any high elected official) to act in a whole private capacity?

As an atheist/agnostic myself anything that challenges the arrogance of believers that everyone has to believe the way they do I will support. I immediately donated money to FFRF upon hearing their lawsuit, which they will inevitably lose, but their point is an important one. Not everyone believes in Rick Perry's god and it is hubris to declare that all citizens must join him on our knees to find solutions to our nation's problems.

WATCH: Conservative Republicans' Ayn Rand Problem

I hope lots and lots of Republican primary voters watch this video of Ayn Rand spouting her views on religion (which I agree with). It will be interesting to see how they agree with everything he says about capitalism but reject everything she says about "God."

I have no difficulty in saying I reject everything she says about capitalism but agree with what she says about "faith."

Word of the Day: LAODICEAN

Today's word of the day is one of my favorites, since it describes my agnostic attitude towards the existence of "God."

laodicean

PRONUNCIATION:
(lay-ah-duh-SEE-uhn)

MEANING:

adjective: Lukewarm or indifferent, especially regarding religion.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Laodicea, a city in Asia Minor, whose Christians were rebuked for their indifference to religion in Revelation 3:16 in the New Testament. Earliest documented use: 1633.

USAGE:

"How can we expect such vital realism from our pathologically Laodicean political class?"
Kevin Myers; An Irishman's Diary; Irish Times (Dublin); Jul 19, 2005.

Americans United Sends Letter To Perry Over Prayer Event

The organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State has sent a letter to Governor Rick Perry complaining about his official participation in a religious event with the American Family Association on August 6, 2011 which purports to pray for America.

Letter to Gov Perry From Americans United

Rick Perry Invites All Governors To Pray

Rick Perry, Republican Governor of Texas

The Governor of Texas has issued an invitation to the governors of every state in the Union to come to Texas and pray with him on August 6, 2011 in Houston. He is collaborating with notorious hate-group American Family Association to put on something called "The Response USA".

The Friendly Atheist reports:

As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles, and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy.Some problems are beyond our power to solve, and according to the Book of Joel, Chapter 2, this historic hour demands a historic response. Therefore, on August 6, thousands will gather to pray for a historic breakthrough for our country and a renewed sense of moral purpose.
I sincerely hope you’ll join me in Houston on August 6th and take your place in Reliant Stadium with praying people asking God’s forgiveness, wisdom and provision for our state and nation. There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.

Earlier this year Gov. Perry made headlines when he called on all Texans to pray with him for rain, since there is a fierce drought going on leading to historic wildfires. The Governor went as far to issue an official proclamation:

WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life.

This is clearly a politician who does not believe in a separation between church and state, and who will use a political office to promote a particular religious-based ideology. And now he is thinking of running for President of the United States. He has never lost an election. Beware this man!

Religion Is Like A Penis...

Religion is like a penis.


It's fine to have one.

It's fine to be proud of it.

But please don't whip it out in public and start waving it around.

And PLEASE don't try to shove it down my throat.

Hat/tip to Sara Whitman.

GSS Shows Support Exceeds Opposition To Marriage Equality

University of Illinois Sociologist Darren Sherkat has crunched the numbers of the 2010 General Social Survey to reveal that for the first time, more Americans support marriage equality than oppose the idea.

Sherkat says on his blog:

For the first time, a legitimate scientific survey is showing very clearly that the proportion of Americans who agree or strongly agree that same sex marriage should be legal exceeds the proportion who either oppose or strongly oppose marital rights.  46% of Americans favor civil rights, while 40% oppose civil rights, and the remainder just can’t seem to decide. Of course, this is an incredible shift from the first time the question was asked in 1988–when 73% of Americans opposed marital rights, but it is also a seismic change from 2004, when only 30% of Americans supported marriage rights for same sex couples, and 56% opposed civil rights.

Sherkat has analyzed the differences in support of and opposition to marriage equality by a number of different identifying characteristics such as race, religion, political affiliation.

For example, Sherkat has written a paper debunking the "zombie meme" that Black people were responsible for Proposition 8's passage (and the subsequent implication that African-Americans are more homophobic than white people). He demonstrates he racial gap in opposition to marriage equality in the following graph:

The reason for the racial gap in opposition to marriage equality, Sherkat explains in "Race, Religion, and Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage," is primarily explained in the different rates of religiosity among Black Americans and white Americans. Even so, in the last 6 years since same-sex marriage has been a reality in Massachusetts and beyond, opposition in the Black community has fallen faster (17 percentage points) than opposition in the White community (15.4 percentage points).

Sherkat's most interesting result is in his analysis of how religious beliefs and partisan affiliation impact opposition to marriage equality .

As Sherkat (somewhat irreverently) explains:

Notice that among fundies, who believe the bible is the inerrant word of god, support is very low even if you are a strong Democrat–but it’s twice as high as it is among Republican fundies. Among moderates and seculars, the effect of political party is quite dramatic—67% of strong Democrats who think the Bible  was inspired by god support same sex marriage, while among Republicans with the same beliefs support is 18%. Among people who think the bible is bunk, 82% of strong democrats support same sex marriage, while only a third of republican non-believers support civil rights. Party matters.

I wonder what the Log Cabin Republicans have to say about these results?

VIDEO: Living Without Religion

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God.

British Homophobes Lose Another Religious-Based Lawsuit

Eunice and Owen Johns are a British couple who went to court to seek the right to foster
children and indoctrinate them with their homophobic (allegedly faith-based) views

There is a cause célèbre legal case which is exciting religious heterosexual supremacists on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It pits religious belief versus non-discrimination based upon sexual orientation. The Johns are a couple of Pentecostal Christians from Derby, England who wanted to become foster parents to young children but also felt that they were not willing to "tell a small child that the practice of homosexuality was a good thing."

The Johns sued the Derby City Council and lost.

Andrew Brown in The Guardian ("The law of England is not Christian") quotes Lord Munby's decision:

"We are simply not here concerned with the grant or denial of State 'benefits' to the claimants. No one is asserting that Christians (or, for that matter, Jews or Muslims) are not 'fit and proper' persons to foster or adopt. No one is contending for a blanket ban. No one is seeking to de-legitimise Christianity or any other faith or belief. No one is seeking to force Christians or adherents of other faiths into the closet. No one is asserting that the claimants are bigots. No one is seeking to give Christians, Jews or Muslims or, indeed, peoples of any faith, a second class status. On the contrary, it is fundamental to our law, to our polity and to our way of life, that everyone is equal: equal before the law and equal as a human being endowed with reason and entitled to dignity and respect."

Additionally, the Johns case quotes an earlier decision written by Lord Laws regarding whether religious belief could exempt clerks from performing same-sex civil partnerships:

"The promulgation of law for the protection of a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified; it is irrational, as preferring the subjective over the objective, but it is also divisive, capricious and arbitrary. We do not live in a society where all the people share uniform religious beliefs. The precepts of any one religion, any belief system, cannot, by force of their religious origins, sound any louder in the general law than the precepts of any other. If they did, those out in the cold would be less than citizens and our constitution would be on the way to a theocracy, which is of necessity autocratic. The law of a theocracy is dictated without option to the people, not made by their judges and governments. The individual conscience is free to accept such dictated law, but the State, if its people are to be free, has the burdensome duty of thinking for itself."


"So it is that the law must firmly safeguard the right to hold and express religious beliefs. Equally firmly, it must eschew any protection of such a belief's content in the name only of its religious credentials. Both principles are necessary conditions of a free and rational regime."

It would be incredible if we could get such a strong judicial opinion about the separation of church and state from our Highest Court. Andrew Brown finished with a statement which has immediate implications for the kulturkampf (culture war) about homosexuality we are currently engaged in:

Obviously, these judgments will have a considerable effect on evangelical protestantism in this country, which has always taken the view that we are, or should be, a Christian nation. But I think the greatest effect will not be on pentecostalists like the Johnses. They can adjust quite easily to the idea that they live under a heathen or godless regime. It is the old-fashioned evangelical wing of the Church of England which will be most upset and confused by these clear statements of principle.

Repeat after me: America is NOT a Christian nation.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God.

Creationism Is "Superstitious Nonsense" Lawsuit Heard

OMG this lawsuit makes me wanna holla! A public school teacher names James Corbett previously lost a federal lawsuit at the district court level for remarks he made in class that student Chad Farnan claimed violated his first amendment religious rights. Now that decision has been appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:

A Santa Ana federal judge ruled in 2009 that Corbett violated the First Amendment's establishment clause when he referred to Creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense" during a classroom lecture.

But the judge – noting Corbett would not have necessarily known he was violating student Chad Farnan's constitutional rights – also barred the teacher from having to pay attorney fees and damages under a "qualified immunity" defense. Qualified immunity is a form of federal protection for government employees who have violated an individual's constitutional rights.

Both sides appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit. Corbett is seeking to be vindicated; Farnan is seeking a stronger ruling against Corbett, and for Corbett's qualified immunity to be tossed out.

The 9th Circuit court, which did not make any decisions Friday, has wide discretion with this case. It can rule on any or all of the arguments presented, declare portions to be moot, and/or send the case back to the trial court.

Corbett remains in his teaching position; Farnan, who brought the lawsuit as a sophomore at Capistrano Valley High in December 2007, is now a freshman at Pepperdine University in Malibu.

The teacher also said "When you pray for divine intervention, you're hoping that the spaghetti monster will help you get what you want." This is a reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, an "alternative" religion. Bizarrely, Erwin Chemerinksy, who I greatly admire and is serving as the attorney for Corbett, had to argue these statements "had legitimate teaching purposes that did not promote hostility toward religion."