New York Atheists Angry Over 'Heaven' Street Sign Honoring Sept. 11 Victims

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, on April 6th of this year, the President of the United States traveled halfway around the globe, and in the nation of Turkey, essentially proclaimed that the United States was not a Judeo-Christian nation.

I don’t challenge his right to do that or dispute the fact that it is what he believes, but I wish he had asked and answered two questions when he did that. The first question was whether or not we ever considered ourselves a Judeo-Christian nation, and the second one was, if we did, what was the moment in time where we ceased to be so? If asked the first question, Mr. Speaker, you would find that the very first act of the first congress in the United States was to bring in a minister and have congress led in prayer, and afterwards read four chapters out of the bible. A few years later, when we unanimously declared our independence, we made certain that the rights in there were given to us by our creator. When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, it ended the revolutionary war and birthed this nation. The signers of that document made clear that it began with this phrase, “in the name of the most holy and undivided trinity.”



When our constitution was signed, the signers made sure that they punctuated the end of it by saying, “in the year of our lord, 1787”, and 100 years later in the supreme court case of Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, the Supreme Court indicated, after recounting the long history of faith in this country, that we were a Christian nation. President George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, all disagreed with the President’s comments, and indicated how the bible and Judeo-Christian principles were so important to this nation. Franklin Roosevelt even led this nation in a six-minute prayer before the invasion of perhaps the greatest battle in history, in the Invasion of Normandy, and asked for God’s protection. After that war, congress came together and said, “Where are we going to put our trust?” It wasn’t in our weapons systems, or our economy, or our great decisions here. It was in God we trust, which is emboldened directly behind you. So, if in fact we were a nation that was birthed on those Judeo-Christian principles, what was that moment in time when we ceased to so be?





It wasn’t when a small group of people succeeded in taking prayer out of our schools, or when they tried to cover up the word referencing God on the Washington Monument. Or, when they tried to stop our veterans from having flag-folding ceremonies at their funerals on a voluntary basis because they mentioned God, or even when they tried in the new visitor’s center to change the national motto, and to refuse to put “in God we trust” in there. No, Mr. Speaker, it wasn’t any of those times because they can rip that word off of all of our buildings and still those Judeo-Christian principles are so interwoven in a tapestry of freedom and liberty, that to begin to unravel one is to unravel the other.





That’s why we have filed the Spiritual Heritage Resolution, to help reaffirm that great history of faith that we have in this nation and to say to those individual’s who have yielded to the temptation of concluding that we are no longer a Judeo-Christian nation, to come back. To come back and look at those great principles that birthed this nation, and sustain us today. We believe if they do, they will conclude as President Eisenhower did and later Gerald Ford repeated, that “without God, there could be no American form of government. Nor, an American way of life.” Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America sought and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.

The body of the Constitution makes no reference to God. The Constitution honors the Christian Sabbath. The President was given 10 days to sign a bill into law. The counting of the 10 days does not include the Sabbath. This is found in Article 1, Section 7, and Clause 2 which in part follows:
“If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,”
When the Constitution was completed on September 17, 1787, it was signed by the delegates then to be ratified by the states. The delegates signed the Constitution in the “Year of our Lord.” This is a direct reference to Christianity. This is found in Article 7 which in part follows:
“Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names

Originally posted by milkyway12
reply to post by Annee

 

Did you read my quotes because i take it you didnt.

NO - and I have no intention of reading anything you've posted.

Do you have cramps in your fingers from all that typing?

reply to post by Annee


Nope , just shows how foolish you are.

IMO this is much ado about nothing; the people who would most have the right to complain about it or have it removed would be family members of those firefighters who are referred to on the sign. If one or more of the deceased had been an atheist then it would be up to the family to object to it, and apparently that isn't the case. A memorial of any kind is largely for the benefit of the deceased person's loved ones and relatives, whether it be something on a head stone or a sign attached to a pole.

The other thing is that people see and hear things everyday that many find to be objectionable, whether those things are on private or public property. If the goal is to offend no one, then at some point you would have to get rid of practically everything that someone might find objectionable, and that leaves you with very little. Someone will always be in some sort of a minority at some point in life and feel left out or perhaps discriminated against, whether it be something one can choose such as faith (or lack of) or something one cannot, like skin color or sexual orientation. I see this sign as something that's meant to honor people who have died, not something that's insulting, provocative and designed to step on someone else's toes.

reply to post by Schrecken Licht


It is not a personal issue.

It is an issue of misappropriated funds - - in government paying for something with a religious message.

Originally posted by technical difficulties

Originally posted by felonius

Originally posted by InfaRedMan

Originally posted by felonius
reply to post by Ancient Champion

 

Its interesting that you only hear the atheist batchin about subjects dealing with christianity.
hmmm.
hate god much?

It's a simple concept really. I'll type slowly... so you have a greater chance of understanding...

Atheists cannot hate something they don't believe exists.

IRM

Mighty brave behind your keyboard son.

Yeah. I got the memo. I understand the basics of atheism. I also take note of peoples actions. From a purely psychological viewpoint, I know that some folks will rail against what ever authority (usually the highest available) when their life turns to crap.

These folks that are raising hell about a street named for 7 fireman (the ":seven in heaven") are prime examples of low class. If someone wants to be an athiest, hey. Thats fine. Dont screw with me or mine. I'd put money on this dirtbag Silverman being a marxist.

That is one jew that AINT Kosher!

Execpt no one's screwing with you. This street sign is publicly funded. I really don't see why the people in this thread seem to have a hard time understanding that. If it were privately funded, then you would have a valid case for calling them low class, but it isn't, so you don't (especially if you actually read the story in the OP, which you probably didn't). Stop being ignorant.

edit on 23-6-2011 by technical difficulties because: (no reason given)

Obviously we are not going to change each others minds.

You keep being a pissed off atheist and I'll be a happily questioning gnostic.

The funny thing about Atheists is...at the end of their lives when they are on their deathbeds, they will cry out in fear of the unknown to God. I have personally seen atheists get saved before they took their last breaths...Atheism is an excuse to allow people to do as they please without being held accountable by God (in their minds), but they are going to be held accountable anyways, just because you dont believe in God, doesnt mean he doesnt believe in you or that he doesnt exist.

They ask for proof? The proof is Jesus Christ. God put down his Godhood for 33 years, and came to earth to be born of a virgin, and live a perfect life so he could be the sacrifice we could never provide, to cover our sins. No other in history has raised men from the dead, fed thousands of people from a few loaves of bread and a few fish. he performed miracles because he knew they would resound through history and ripple across time so that no one would ever forget what he did for us. Truly the greatest gift anyone could ever recieve.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
The funny thing about Atheists is...at the end of their lives when they are on their deathbeds, they will cry out in fear of the unknown to God.

I get so sick of hearing that.

That is nothing but wishful thinking of God believers.

Or you've been watching to many movies.

reply to post by Annee


You aparantly havnt experienced the fear of the moment you think your about to lose your life.