[extropy-chat] Atheists launch inquisition...

Samantha Atkins samantha at objectent.com
Thu Nov 25 08:07:53 UTC 2004


I really don't think so.    I receive literature from the main US 
atheist groups and none report anywhere near such power (or ambitions) 
as this article claims.  I think it smacks of hyperbole.


On Nov 24, 2004, at 3:55 PM, Mike Lorrey wrote:

> Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
> Wed Nov 24, 2004 04:12 PM ET
>
>
> By Dan Whitcomb
> LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his
> school from giving students documents from American history that refer
> to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.
>
> Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the
> San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on
> Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal
> Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.
>
> "It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men,
> and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political
> correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry
> Thompson.
>

That is actually not so true.  Many were deists.  Some were out and out 
agnostics or atheist in their leanings.

> "Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country,"
> he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S.
> Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the
> Declaration of Independence."
>

If it is being taught as prove for some already assumed heavy religious 
basis for America then it is a twisted teaching.

> Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed
> on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of
> Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.
>
> Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School
> District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She
> declined to comment further.
>
> Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to
> submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for
> approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that
> contain references to God or Christianity.
>

Now that seems a bit odd and if true heavy handed.  But it hardly 
should be labeled and atheist inquisition.  It looks like Williams got 
exactly what he careful crafted the precursors for.

> Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are
> excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's
> journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists"
> and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania."
>
> "He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to
> God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said
> Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for
> religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring
> material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination."
>
> In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a
> California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the
> Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court
> in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of
> church and state separation.
>

There is ample reason for such a position.

- samantha




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