Atheists win fight over high school football team’s religious monument

[vlyons]

9. There's a lot to be said about this.

I was deeply moved by the reported comments of Theresa Gordon:

We are not here as haters, we are here to love all,” she said. “It seems as if these (atheist) groups are here as haters, willing to spend millions to remove God from (our society), which means they are antichrists by definition – they must have hatred in their hearts to fight so hard to remove Him from this small object that was placed for others to enjoy.

They (Fundie Christians) really don't get us. They think we are haters. And truth to tell, there are a lot of non-Christians, who do hate them. That's why I keep telling DU and KOS folks not to hate them, even tho' they are bigoted and ignorant. This woman is so encased in her Christian belief system, that her sense of self is totally identified, attached, solidified with everything Jesus. She's like a fish in water that doesn't know what water is until it's hauled into the boat. Anything that challenges her religion being everywhere, including over my personal boundaries, is a threat not to her religion, but to her sense of self. BTW: I'm a Buddhist.

The supposed citations on the monument are really quite offensive.

If God be for us, who can be against us?” from Romans 8:31, and, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” from Philippians 4:13.

Of all the Bible quotes to be had, wouldn't you know it would be their rather supremacist sounding ones. Well for starters, the people, who are offended by having somebody else's religion shoved in their face everyday are agin ya. And no, Jesus isn't even going to overcome the County School Board to keep the plaque up. It just seems to me that if the purpose of the monument was to inspire students to measure up to challenges and achieve goals, which is what those scriptures are supposed to mean, there are a hell of a lot of other quotes that would not offend people. But not offending non-Christians never occurs to them because our religions/non-religions are simply not valid in their world view. We don't count, except for bragging rights if they bring somebody to Jesus.

Religious art does not belong in public schools. But ... if I had to choose one religious thingy to put up in a public school, it would definitely be Mark Twain's The War Prayer.