Atheist Sign Stolen from Washington State Display

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TenP

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#1 TenP
Member since 2006 • 3338 Posts

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An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene at the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, has disappeared, the co-founder of the organization sponsoring it said Friday.

"I thought it would be safe," Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor told CNN. "It's always a shock when your sign is censored or stolen or mutilated. It's not something you get used to."

The sign, which celebrated the winter solstice, had some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth.

"Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation said in part.

The sign, which was at the Legislative Building at 6:30 a.m. PT, was gone by 7:30 a.m., Gaylor said.

The incident will not stifle the group's message, Gaylor said, adding that a temporary sign with the same message would be placed in the building's Rotunda. Gaylor said a note would be attached saying, "Thou shalt not steal."

"I guess they don't follow their own commandments," Gaylor said. "There's nothing out there with the atheist point of view, and now there is such a firestorm that we have the audacity to exist. And then [whoever took the sign] stifles our speech."

Gaylor said that police are checking security cameras pointed at the building's entrances and exits to see if they can see anyone stealing the sign.

"It's probably about 50 pounds, " Gaylor said. "My brother-in-law was huffing and puffing carrying it up the stairs. It's definitely not something you can stick under your arm or conceal."

The Washington State Patrol, which is handling the incident, could not be reached for comment.

Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher and co-founder of the group, said it was important for atheists to see their viewpoints validated alongside everyone else's.

Barker said the display is especially important given that 25 percent of Washington state residents are unaffiliated with religion or do not believe in God. (A recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found 23 percent of Washingtonians said they were unaffiliated with a religion and 7 percent said they didn't believe in God.)

"It's not that we are trying to coerce anyone; in a way our sign is a signal of protest," Barker said. "If there can be a Nativity scene saying that we are all going to hell if we don't bow down to Jesus, we should be at the table to share our views."

He said if anything, it's the Nativity scene that is the intrusion.

"Most people think December is for Christians and view our signs as an intrusion, when actually it's the other way around," he said. "People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before Christmas. We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the holiday from all of us humans."

The scene in Washington state is not unfamiliar. Barker has had signs in Madison, Wisconsin, for 13 years. The placard is often turned around so the message can't be seen, and one year, someone threw acid on it, forcing the group to encase it in Plexiglas.

In Washington, D.C., the American Humanist Association began a bus ad campaign this month questioning belief in God.

"Why believe in a God?" the advertisement asks. "Just be good for goodness sake."

That ad has caused the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to field hundreds of complaints, the group said, but it has heard just as much positive feedback, said Fred Edwords, the association's spokesman.

Edwords said the ad campaign, which features a shrugging Santa Claus, was not meant to attack Christmas but rather to reach out to an untapped audience.

Edwords maintains the campaign began in December mostly because the group had extra money left over for the year. The connection to Christmas is a coincidence, he said.

"There are a lot of people out there who don't know there are organizations like ours to serve their needs," Edwords said. "The thing is, to reach a minority group, in order to be heard, everyone in the room has to hear you, even when they don't want to."

The ad campaign, Edwords said, is to make people think. He said he doesn't expect to "convert" anyone.

But the Christian Coalition of America is urging members to oppose the advertisements.

"Although a number of humanists and atheists continue to attempt to rid God and Christmas from the public square, the American people are overwhelmingly opposed to such efforts," Roberta Combs, the group's president said in a press release.

"We will ask our millions of supporters to call the city of Washington, D.C., and Congress to stop this un-Godly campaign."

As far as the criticism goes, Edwords said there are far more controversial placards in Washington.

"That's D.C. -- this is a political center," he said. "If I can see a placard with dead fetuses on it, I think someone can look at our question and just think about it."

The anger over the display in Olympia began after it was assembled Monday. The sentiment grew after some national media personalities called upon viewers to flood the phone lines of the governor's office.

The governor's office told The Seattle Times it received more than 200 calls an hour afterward.

"I happen to be a Christian, and I don't agree with the display that is up there," Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire told The Olympian newspaper. "But that doesn't mean that as governor, I have the right to deny their ability to express their free speech."

For some, the issue isn't even that the atheists are putting their thoughts on display, but rather the way in which they are doing it.

"They are shooting themselves in the foot," said iReport contributor Rich Phillips, who describes himself as an atheist. "Everyone's out there for the holidays, trying to represent their religion, their beliefs, and it's a time to be positive."

The atheist message was never intended to attack anyone, Barker said.

"When people ask us, 'Why are you hateful? Why are you putting up something critical of people's holidays? -- we respond that we kind of feel that the Christian message is the hate message," he said. "On that Nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways."

Atheist Nation

Here's another link to the same story.

Surely the winter solstice is a time that many religions celebrate, but the FfR had permission to display their sign. So what do you all think of this?

 

 

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deactivated-5a79221380856

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#2 deactivated-5a79221380856
Member since 2007 • 13125 Posts
First off, I'm surprised that FfR had the permission to display their sign. Secondly, I think it's silly to be "atheistic evangelists". Thirdly, if they had the permission, which still shocks me, I do think that it shouldn't have been stolen. I'm still shocked that they had the permission though.
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TenP

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#3 TenP
Member since 2006 • 3338 Posts

First off, I'm surprised that FfR had the permission to display their sign. Secondly, I think it's silly to be "atheistic evangelists". Thirdly, if they had the permission, which still shocks me, I do think that it shouldn't have been stolen. I'm still shocked that they had the permission though.Genetic_Code

The state is bound to, by law, permit them to displaying their display. If one religion may display a manger, another may display a menorah and so on.  So either everyone is permitted or no one.

I agree with your second point.

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123625

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#4 123625
Member since 2006 • 9035 Posts
That sign speaks as if it were fact, but then again so does my bible.
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deactivated-5a79221380856

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#5 deactivated-5a79221380856
Member since 2007 • 13125 Posts
I just notice that it says "Religion is but myth and superstition". Wouldn't that mean it's not myth and superstition? :o
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7guns

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#6 7guns
Member since 2006 • 1449 Posts
Seems like what some punk kid will do!
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felixlynch777

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#7 felixlynch777
Member since 2008 • 1787 Posts
I'm glad it was taken away. FFR is an underhanded organisation and the sign is just plain trolling. Sometimes I worry atheists are turning into what they hate most.
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Funky_Llama

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#8 Funky_Llama
Member since 2006 • 18428 Posts
First off, I'm surprised that FfR had the permission to display their sign. Secondly, I think it's silly to be "atheistic evangelists". Thirdly, if they had the permission, which still shocks me, I do think that it shouldn't have been stolen. I'm still shocked that they had the permission though.Genetic_Code

[QUOTE="Genetic_Code"]First off, I'm surprised that FfR had the permission to display their sign. Secondly, I think it's silly to be "atheistic evangelists". Thirdly, if they had the permission, which still shocks me, I do think that it shouldn't have been stolen. I'm still shocked that they had the permission though.TenP

The state is bound to, by law, permit them to displaying their display. If one religion may display a manger, another may display a menorah and so on.  So either everyone is permitted or no one.

I agree with your second point.

Pfft, I was wearing Christmas hats before it was cool. You're just posers. :P
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#9 SimpJee
Member since 2002 • 18309 Posts
That'd be a cool sign to hang in my room ... I live in washington .... :| hmmmm *runs*
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Rekunta

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#10 Rekunta
Member since 2002 • 8275 Posts
While I don't object to the fact that they were allowed permission to place the sign where they did, I think putting it there was in bad taste. What's the point?
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Lonelynight

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#11 Lonelynight
Member since 2006 • 30051 Posts
I don't get why the people even bother to steal it, wouldn't it be better if they just ignore it and use that time to glorify God instead of going against His word and steal?
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#12 SimpJee
Member since 2002 • 18309 Posts

While I don't object to the fact that they were allowed permission to place the sign where they did, I think putting it there was in bad taste. What's the point? Rekunta

Expressing a counter-opinion to Jesus being born from a virgin, rising from the grave, etc.   

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Rekunta

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#13 Rekunta
Member since 2002 • 8275 Posts

[QUOTE="Rekunta"]While I don't object to the fact that they were allowed permission to place the sign where they did, I think putting it there was in bad taste. What's the point? SimpJee

Expressing a counter-opinion to Jesus being born from a virgin, rising from the grave, etc.

Yea, I know, but it's a festive time of year. People are aware that others hold differing opinions. I think there's a better time and place for it. It just comes off to me as an attempt simply to spite them.

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#14 Sitri_
Member since 2008 • 731 Posts

Yea, I know, but it's a festive time of year. People are aware that others hold differing opinions. I think there's a better time and place for it. It just comes off to me as an attempt simply to spite them.

Rekunta

 

I was never really aware of it as a child.  I was the first open atheist I ever knew.

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Funky_Llama

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#15 Funky_Llama
Member since 2006 • 18428 Posts
[QUOTE="SimpJee"]

[QUOTE="Rekunta"]While I don't object to the fact that they were allowed permission to place the sign where they did, I think putting it there was in bad taste. What's the point? Rekunta

Expressing a counter-opinion to Jesus being born from a virgin, rising from the grave, etc.

Yea, I know, but it's a festive time of year. People are aware that others hold differing opinions. I think there's a better time and place for it. It just comes off to me as an attempt simply to spite them.

Indeed. It kind of puts a damper on things.
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Theokhoth

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#16 Theokhoth
Member since 2008 • 36799 Posts

I don't understand how the freedom of religious expression applies to what isn't a religion (atheism), but if the FFRF (a bunch of idiots) had permission to set it up. . . .

That still doesn't mean I can't hate that message. "Never intended to attack anyone" my ass. If I called atheism an amoral philosophy centered around the eating of children and the foot-licking of Satan then you can bet there'd be some offended atheists.

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#17 SimpJee
Member since 2002 • 18309 Posts
Yeah I think people have in general lost site of what Christmas means for themselves as Christians, so I can see how some feel this message comes off as spiteful.