Question… If you say “go to hell” to an atheist, does it have the same punch? I’m just wondering, because that is what I’d like to say to the collection of atheists who are protesting a street sign in New York City. The street sign was set up to honor seven firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. The name of the street is “Seven in Heaven Way.”
The Christian Post reports that a “group of New York atheists claims a new street sign, “Seven in Heaven Way,” honoring seven firefighters killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, violates the First Amendment and should be removed.”
American Atheists is demanding the sign be removed from Richards Street in Brooklyn because it advances the religious notions of the afterlife. David Silverman president of American Atheists said in a statement, “It’s improper for the city to endorse the view that heaven exists. It links Christianity and heroism.”
Another member of the group, Ken Bronstein, pointed out that, “The problem with the sign is that you’re assuming that you know what they felt deep down. You’re assuming they even believed in heaven.” Bronstein told Fox News Radio that the sign was “really insulting to us.” He added, “It’s irrelevant who it’s for. We think this is a very bad thing,”
Craig Hammerman, who is the district manager for the local community board in Brooklyn, notes that “there was no complaint during the approval process for the sign.” Perhaps there just wasn’t a big enough potential for media coverage at that stage??? Who knows.
The report on the Fox News web site goes more into Ken Bronstein’s comments. Bronstein runs the New York City Atheists and said, “There should be no signage or displays of religious nature in the public domain.” Bronstein added, “We’ve concluded as atheists there is no heaven and there’s no hell.”
This ranks right up there with all the other useless, time-wasting endeavors that usually result in 1) the majority (Christian) viewpoint being ignored or silenced and 2) a big waste of money in fighting legal battles.
A scan of the American Atheists web site is quite revealing, and it shows a group that is just so angry that they will say just about anything. As an example, take a look at the press release that was issued on May 3 which called for an end to government prayer.
One of the targets of the press release is Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. What was his crime? In the midst of devastating tornadoes and other serious weather, Gov. Bentley asked people to pray. Wow, imagine that!
“It’s bad enough that leading politicians are acting like superstitious, bronze-age tribal chiefs trying to appease some imagination rain god or other deity,” said Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists. “They add insult to injury by telling American citizens when to pray and how to pray. They engage in blatant unconstitutional promotion of religion.”
Blair Scott, Communications Director for American Atheists, asked: “Shouldn’t these governors be placing more emphasis on sensible emergency preparedness, and spend less time using their office for sermonizing and staging prayer services?”
“Early warning systems, good communications, better building codes and even taking steps to attenuate global warming will do more to save lives than all of the prayers these politicians can muster,” added Scott.
My question to Mr. Scott is this: Don’t you think the governors are doing exactly what you said? Do you really think they aren’t doing everything they can within their powers of office to have their states prepared for an emergency? How does Mr. Scott know that more “emphasis” is being placed on prayer?
We live in a crazy world… a world that is sometimes overwhelming. What is wrong with turning to prayer in times of need? To people like Silverman and Scott, apparently everything.
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