The author of the mural at Cranston High West at the center of the Ahlquist case speaks out:
I read the article Feb. 26 about a fundraising campaign among atheists to build a $40,000-plus scholarship fund for Jessica Alquist of Cranston, R.I. [news, "Athiest Who Fought School Prayer Banner To Get Scholarship"]
How nice of them. Jessica was duped by her ACLU-leaning father and uncle into bringing suit against the city of Cranston over the display of a school prayer that I wrote in 1960.
Dear Jessica isn't yet old enough to know the meaning of atheism. She was used (and permanently injured) by powers and ideologies in the name of secular liberal progressivism that she can't possibly understand at her tender age.
I can't believe The Courant would dignify such an award by such a group and to such a person with a piece on its pages. The R.I. judge's ruling in this case and the subsequent headlines fly in the face of all that is decent and moral about the United States and its Constitution.
Furthermore, I'd like to think that, as the author of the moral and upstanding school prayer in question, I'd be entitled to ten or a hundred times as much money as Jessica has been awarded for having torn it down and repudiated decency and morality in our schools. Where are my donors?
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Please... I've been an atheist since I was maybe 13 years old and I was fully capable of understanding what that meant at the time. In fact, I came to stop believing that there was a higher power, completely on my own, using critical thinking and a lot of reflection on both myself and the world around me. I also had strong convictions and although I never had to stand up for my beliefs publicly, like Jessica, I did have to do so with my parents and it wasn't exactly the easiest time in my life.
So I find your notion that she's incapable of understanding ideological beliefs simply based on her age of 16, to be idiotic. Maybe you weren't capable, but then didn't you create the banner at the age of 12 and weren't your beliefs, and thus your banner, influenced by your parents?
Because Christians, who were threatening to beat up, rape, and kill her over said mural, are EVER decent and moral...
Don't flatter yourself, Bradley. By the way, thanks for revealing even more that it's all about money for you lot.
So a sixteen year old can't possibly understand atheism or liberalism, but they could understand Christianity and turn out any faith-based arglebargle they please? Because the religious kids are never brought up to blindly believe in things... But, right, atheist teens are *injured* and *used.*
This poor soul... How horrible for him that he's not swimming in money for a school prayer that "flew in the face" of separation of church and state and the constitution itself.
Has he had his head up his ass since the 60s? It certainly sounds like it.
Children can understand the concept of lying since they are 3-4 years old. It follows that they can stop believing what they are told much sooner than you think. When did you stop believing in Santa? Not believing in God works in exactly the same way.
P.s.: "Athiest" in a newspaper??? Fuck, I thought jounalists ought to know what they are writing!
Maybe you should make a new banner with "Where's my money???" written on it, and ask for it to be installed in the old one's place.
Besides, wasn't that banner offered by a whole club in that school, paid for with their collective money and designed by their collective effort? Dave has some nerve to claim it as his own!
The R.I. judge's ruling in this case and the subsequent headlines fly in the face of all that is decent and moral about the United States and its Constitution.
The Constitution is clear: the government can't promote religion. That includes posting prayers, the sole purpose of which is to promote a religious belief. You'd sing a different song if the prayer weren't in keeping with your religion.
> #1383386
Of course they can!
If you ever start wondering about anything at all, just say "Goddidit"! So easy to understand, and it works for everything!
excuse me but it was the Constitution that said the display of your prayer piece was unlawful.
No-one ordered its destruction, it would have been permitted to have it removed and stored somewhere or even donated to a group that could legally display it.
My parents were agnostic. I was an atheist by the time I was 12. Of course, that was long before the resurgence of American fundamentalism that began, in earnest, when Raygun started humping Fallwell's leg.
Uhm, you don't get any donors David, because you are, apparently, an asshole who picks on and belittles teenaged girls.
"Furthermore, I'd like to think that, as the author of the moral and upstanding school prayer in question, I'd be entitled to ten or a hundred times as much money as Jessica has been awarded for having torn it down and repudiated decency and morality in our schools. Where are my donors?"
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Everyone is BORN atheist, you condescending fuck. It's people like you using societal presssure and indoctrination on kids that changes that.
So your little banner got taken down? GOOD! That was unconstitutional and you fucking know it, you just don't want it to be so.
You want donations, huh? *digs around in pocket*
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The R.I. judge's ruling in this case and the subsequent headlines fly in the face of all that is decent and moral about the United States and its Constitution.
Perhaps "Dear Jessica" isn't old enough to understand atheism, but the judge in this case went to school to understand the U.S. Constitution and the separation of church and state.
"Dear Jessica isn't yet old enough to know the meaning of atheism."
Yet, I'll bet if a girl of the same age threw a temper tantrum because she wasn't allowed to hand out tracts or demand public morning prayers, you'd weep with joy and go on about "And a child shall lead them!"
Can you imagine what they'd say if someone said "Dear Cassie Bernall wasn't yet old enough to know the meaning of Christianity."? (BTW, she didn't say 'yes' after all.)
@ Robespierre:
P.s.: "Athiest" in a newspaper??? Fuck, I thought jounalists ought to know what they are writing!
It's a letter to the editor, which means Bradley misspelled it. Newspapers don't edit letters as strictly as they do their staff's work.
"Dear Jessica isn't yet old enough to know the meaning of atheism. She was used (and permanently injured) by powers and ideologies in the name of secular liberal progressivism that she can't possibly understand at her tender age."
Mr Bradley, having lived quite longer than dear Jessica doesn't seem to be old enough yet to know the meaning of atheism either.
As for his donors, I don't think he'll get anywhere asking atheists for money to compensate for that prayer. He's certainly welcome to try, of course.
[Dear Jessica isn't yet old enough to know the meaning of atheism. She was used (and permanently injured) by powers and ideologies in the name of secular liberal progressivism that she can't possibly understand at her tender age.]
You wrote that banner as a teenager, you didn't understand your beliefs either because the way you think was dictated to you by your parents and your church. And sadly, unlike Jessica, that's still the case to day.
[The R.I. judge's ruling in this case and the subsequent headlines fly in the face of all that is decent and moral about the United States and its Constitution. ]
Would that be the same constitution that states that government cannot establish a religion? Thus, a government funded school cannot display a prayer banner.
[Furthermore, I'd like to think that, as the author of the moral and upstanding school prayer in question, I'd be entitled to ten or a hundred times as much money as Jessica has been awarded for having torn it down and repudiated decency and morality in our schools. Where are my donors?]
So, how many people are threating to rape, beat, and kill you? Do you have to live in fear of your very life?
I'm an atheist, and I've been one since I was fifteen or sixteen. I am neither a Democrat nor a liberal, and no campaigns, right or left, are worthy of receiving a cent of my money or an ounce of my support. Our Constitution does not protect religion from just restrictions. You have no right to display prayer banners from a specific cult. In fact, if this prayer banner had been a Muslim one, or Hindu, I'd bet cold cash that you and all of the other arrogant fundy Christian cunts out there wouldn't give a fuck. If this country wasn't secular like the Founders wanted it to be, it would be a theocratic shit-hole, just like Europe was in the Middle Ages. There was a time when your religion controlled the state and society; that time was called the Dark Ages.
Gtfo with your ageism. Jessica Alquist knew perfectly well what she was doing, she wasn't "used". She's a high schooler, not a preschooler. Fuck your crusty ass and bray about DECENCY!!1! to someone who gives a shit.
As for where your donors are, I hope you are desperately poor for the rest of your days.
I suppose when you were 16 you weren't able to think for yourself? What makes you think that other teenagers can't be genuinely atheist and offended by a religious mural? And even if she was "used" by the ACLU, it doesn't mean that it's OK to have religious displays in public tax-supported schools.
Where are my donors?
They're probably sending all that money to yet another megachurch which is going into bankruptcy.
"the display of a school prayer that I wrote in 1960."
"as the author of the moral and upstanding school prayer in question,"
So, you admit it was a prayer after all... in which case it was illegal to put it up in the first place.
"fly in the face of all that is decent and moral"
It's moral to break the law in the US? Why the fuck do you have so many people in prison then?!?
Where are your donors? Oh well, if people thought it important to get your banner up there, you'd have them. If you don't have them, it's because no-one thinks that you or your prayer are important enough to donate money to.
From Wikipedia:"Religious leaders from the Rhode Island State Council of Churches rallied to condemn the language used to describe Ahlquist.[18] The organization's executive minister, Rev. Dr. Donald Anderson attended Cranston West when the banner went up; he supported Judge Lagueux’s decision."
@Brendan Rizzo: You're right, in Europe the discussion probably wouldn't be taking place, but perhaps not quite for the reasons you think.
Here in the UK, if someone were to hang a prayer banner in a school or other public location, odds are nobody would care. Atheists and religious people alike would probably just glance at it and think nothing of it. Probably the majority of people here aren't practising any religion and a sizeable number are out-and-out atheists, but they don't tend to make a fuss about it. They just wouldn't regard some religious banner as being significant enough to get excited about, and would just dismiss it as a trivial piece of hogwash, if they bothered to notice it at all. Religion or the lack of it just doesn't tend to be a political issue here (except for a few minority groups, for example the sectarian camps in Northern Ireland or a small section of the Muslim population).
Not old enough to know the meaning of atheism? I was about SIX when I realized the God Hypothesis didn't make sense. Admittedly, I did not know the meaning of atheism back then, but that had more to do with never having heard the word "atheism" before.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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