A federal judge in Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit brought by atheists against a Ten Commandments monument in the state capital.
The anti-Christian group American Atheists, based in New Jersey, filed suit on behalf of an anonymous woman who claimed about the installation of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol building.
The State Capitol Preservation Commission argued that the woman had only seen the monument once and had traveled to the capitol solely for the purpose of being offended by the monument.
U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron ruled that the woman lacked standing to sue because she could not prove that she had suffered any personal injury from the display.
The monument has faced suits in the past. The ACLU sued in August 2013 claiming the presence of the display was unconstitutional.
The organization American Atheists showed their hatred toward Christians with a billboard campaign to promote their convention which was scheduled to fall on Easter weekend.
The group posted a photo of a young girl with bunny ears and text that read “An atheist convention on Easter weekend? Looks like we’re skipping church again.”
The openly hate-driven billboard was rejected by a billboard leasing company in Nashville who said the signs were “offensive” and “aggressive.”
The anti-Christian head of the atheist organization immediately ran to media outlets about being held accountable for his hate speech.
“The double standard is as ridiculous as it is discriminatory,” said American Atheists President David Silverman in a press release.
“Our billboards feature a happy little girl wearing bunny ears. Our convention is, in fact, this April 2-5, which falls on Easter weekend. Is stating this fact what Americans, champions of free speech, find ‘aggressive?’ This is exactly why we are coming to the Bible Belt — we go where we are needed; it could not be more clear that we are needed here.”
Silverman repeatedly tries to claim the billboards aren’t aimed to anger Christians.
A hostile anti-Christian organization is aiming a hate campaign toward Christians in the southern part of the U.S.
American Atheists is buying billboards across the south with a picture of a devious looking child and a message that says “Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is to skip church! I’m too old for fairy tales.”
The hostile group is pushing their agenda against Christians.
“Even children know churches spew absurdity, which is why they don’t want to attend services. Enjoy the time with your family and friends instead,” said American Atheists President David Silverman. “Today’s adults have no obligation to pretend to believe the lies their parents believed. It’s OK to admit that your parents were wrong about God, and it’s definitely OK to tell your children the truth.”
The group placed billboards in Memphis and Nashville, TN, St. Louis, MO, Fort Smith, AR and a local group in Milwaukee sponsored their city.
Billboard providers in Jackson, MS refused to sell space to the anti-Christian group.
A federal appeals court has told a group of anti-Christianists that “the cross at Ground Zero” is not an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
The group American Atheists had demanded the cross be removed because it violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
“American Atheists contend that the Port Authority and the foundation impermissibly promote Christianity in violation of the Establishment Clause and deny atheists equal protection of the laws by displaying the cross at Ground Zero in the museum unaccompanied by some item acknowledging that atheists were among the victims and rescuers on September 11,” read the opinion.
“American Atheists acknowledge that there is no historic artifact that speaks particularly to the loss of atheists’ lives or to atheists’ rescue efforts … we conclude that American Atheists’ challenge fails on the merits. Accordingly, we hereby affirm the judgment in favor of appellees.”
The president of American Atheists says it’s not fair that a cross is in the 9/11 Museum and his group can’t put up some kind of tribute to atheists, even though the “cross” wasn’t given by any Christian group but rather discovered as part of the debris of the Twin Towers.
“They’re trying to Christianize 9/11 with this cross and it’s not American and it’s not fair,” said David Silverman.
The anti-Christianist group will likely appeal the decision.
A federal court is telling a group of anti-Christianists to explain why the ground Zero cross is “offensive”, “repugnant” and a violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.
American Atheists has been filing suit to have the Ground Zero Cross removed from the National 9/11 Museum in New York. The court has taken a surprisingly skeptical view of the plaintiffs and their claims of being harmed by the mere existence and display of the cross formed when two beams fell on each other during the collapse of the Twin Towers.
“Plaintiffs’ brief should, at a minimum, clarify both the injuries alleged and legal theories relied on to support standing,” the Second Circuit Court of Appeals asked. “Further, to the extent plaintiffs allege that they have been ‘injured in consequence of having a religious tradition that is not their own imposed upon them through the power of the state,’ First Am. Compl. because individual plaintiffs view use of the challenged ‘cross, a Christian symbol, to represent all victims of the 9/11 Attacks’ as ‘offensive,’ ‘repugnant,’ and ‘insult[ing]’ to them as atheists, plaintiffs should explain how such offense states a cognizable constitutional injury.”
The anti-Christian group had claimed in their filing that the cross’s existence alienates anyone who wishes to learn about events at the museum. They also state because the cross is bigger than any other religious artifact at the memorial, it means the government is endorsing Christianity over all other religions.
A group of atheists is trying to force the 9/11 Museum to remove the “Miracle Cross” because they say its existence in the museum violates the Constitution.
The “Miracle Cross” is a 17-foot cross-shaped beam that was found in the rubble of 9/11. The cross was displayed at Ground Zero and many workers on the site considered it a source of comfort and hope in the midst of the death and destruction.
The anti-Christian group American Atheists says the cross is part of religious history, not American history, and says that its existence in the 9/11 Museum that opens in May violates the separation of church and state.
The Museum is on land owned by the Port Authority and financed by taxpayers.
The atheist group says that if the cross is displayed, that his group wants a similar item such as a plaque that reads, “atheists died here too.”
Federal Judge Reena Raggi appeared to be skeptical of the claims by the atheists.
“There are countless cases of museums including religious artifacts in their exhibits and it’s going to be described in a way that talks about the history of the object,” Judge Raggi said. “What is the problem here? An argument has been made that you’re trying to censor history.”
A ruling is expected in several months.
A Christian apologist and university professor says that the church is in desperate need of churches who will prepare their members to address the tough questions about faith and God.
Dr. William Craig of the Talbot School of Theology says that Christians should be concerned about recent studies like the Pew survey that showed nearly 20 percent of Americans consider themselves “religious” but not affiliated with any religious group.
Dr. Craig alluded to social changes in the world that have removed the stigma of being an atheist and making them bolder in working to remove Christians from society and shouting down any Christian with hate speech when they defend the faith.
“I think that many Christians are intimidated because atheists are often very aggressive,” Dr. Craig told the Christian Post. “They will attack you personally, and they will do so in the name of reason and intellectual arguments. And many Christians feel utterly unprepared to give a defense of what they believe, and feel unprepared to answer the tough questions that their unbelieving friends will put to them.”
Dr. Craig has defended the faith in many venues with atheists and noted atheist author Richard Dawkins continues to be afraid to debate Dr. Craig in a one-on-one setting. Atheist author Sam Harris said in a recent article Dr. Craig has “put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists.”
The anti-Christian organization American Atheists is threatening to sue Princeton, New Jersey if they display a 9-11 tribute that includes a beam from the World Trade Center that has a cross cut out of one side.
The group calls the beam “grossly offensive” because of the cross. Continue reading →