atheism

One Apology Down, 303,829,130 To Go

jacob3 Comments

Atheist-hater extraordinaire Monique Davis has finally issued an excuse apology to atheist extraordinaire Rob Sherman:

Yesterday, State Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago) called me from the Floor of the Illinois House of Representatives to apologize for what she had said to me at last Wednesday’s hearing of the House State Government Administration Committee.

[snip]

Rep. Davis said that she had been upset, earlier in the day, to learn that a twenty-second and twenty-third Chicago Public School student this school year had been shot to death that morning. She said that it was wrong for her to take out her anger, frustrations and emotions on me, and that she apologized to me.

Rob reports that he forgave her, which proves he’s a kinder human being than I.

I think this is a sad fucking excuse for an apology, and I shall now count the ways.

1. It took being named Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” before she even bothered to offer an apology that should have been profuse and immediate.

2. It was issued privately, which is wonderful – except that while her statements were aimed at Rob, they hit us all. Christians, atheists, et al deserve a very public mea culpa. This wasn’t a private matter. The offense happened when she was acting in her official capacity. It’s ridiculous that she seems to think she can then apologize as a private individual.

3. This wasn’t even an apology. It was a fucking pathetic excuse followed by “I apologize” and it does nothing to solve the latent problems that led to her outburst in the first place.

The phrasing in this so-called apology tells me she’s only sorry she let her feelings out in public, not that she’s sorry for the underlying prejudice. Note the key words “anger, frustrations and emotions.” That so-called apology offers no understanding of or remedy for her (b)latent motivations. It’s just damage control. It’s spin. It’s pure fucking bullshit. But I’m sure she thinks this solves everything.

It doesn’t.

Oh, I grant you she fulfilled the letter of an apology:

1. An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense.

2.

a. A formal justification or defense.
b. An explanation or excuse…

But she sure as shit didn’t manage the spirit:

[A]pology usually applies to an expression of regret for a mistake or wrong with implied admission of guilt or fault and with or without reference to mitigating or extenuating circumstances. [emphasis added]

Without that pesky little implied admission of guilt or fault, her apology means nothing. It’s ass-covering. She’s just trying to make people stop giving her a well-deserved spanking. She’s not going to take anything to heart. She’s not going to rethink her attitudes toward atheists. She’s not going to take a step back and realize that such attitudes have no place in public service. She’s not going to face what her outburst says about the meaning of the Constitution with its Establishment Clause and prohibitions on religious tests for public office.

She doesn’t see how damaging her outburst is to the dignity of her office. She doesn’t understand the damage done to her church. All of this is manifestly obvious by that half-assed excuse for an apology offered to Rob Sherman and no one else.

And she can get away with this because Christianity has a stranglehold on this country, and atheists are god-haters with no morals, no PAC, and no impact. Everybody can feel just fine hating on atheists. It’s a total non-story.

If she had said “You have no right to be here” to a Muslim, there would have been an outcry. If she’d said it to a Jew, the media would have been screaming it 24-7. Same thing for a gay, a welfare mom, a drug addict, or any number of reviled minorities who still get defended when some complete assclown of a Democrat slips up. Even Republicans are forced to backpedal furiously when they let their prejudices slip that badly. Her apology would have had to be profuse, and extremely fucking public.

But she shouted down an atheist, and so there’s nothing.

That, more than her lack of insight, apalls me. It shouldn’t matter what shade of citizen was the subject of that tirade. You could have sat a serial killer, a child molester, or a Republicon in that same chair, subjected him to that same abuse, and I’d say the same thing I’m saying now: “Twasn’t right, and you need to apologize to us all.”

There’s that pesky Constitution again, you see.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It’s the right of the people to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Constitution never, not once, adds “unless they are atheists, or another despised group, or unless the Representative is having a bad day, or if the theoneocons get in power and decide who does and does not deserve these rights.”

The right to petition is even in their very own Illinois State Constitution, in case you were wondering:

SECTION 5. RIGHT TO ASSEMBLE AND PETITION

The people have the right to assemble in a peaceable manner, to consult for the common good, to make known their opinions to their representatives and to apply for redress of grievances.

That’s right below the section on freedom of religion, mind.

To sum up: No public official has a right under either the United States Constitution nor those of the states to tell any citizen of this country that they have no right to come before the government and testify. And this is what I think Monique Davis needs to realize, and make abundantly clear, in a very public apology.

I’ll even draft a sample one for her:

“I want to extend my sincerest apologies to Rob Sherman, to the people of this great State of Illinois, and to all Americans, for the remarks I made to Rob Sherman during his testimony before the House State Government Administration Committee. My outburst was inexcusable. I apologize to those I hurt. I reaffirm the rights of all citizens to petition their government, whether they profess a faith or no faith. And I pray that I can understand and overcome the fear that led to this regrettable outburst. Let this incident give us the opportunity to reach out to each other in understanding and in hope, and strengthen our commitment to the principles of freedom this country was founded upon. Thank you.”

See? That’s not so hard. And it’s a fuck of a lot better than a snivelly excuse and a quick dodge.

Lessee… it’s been two hours since I started this. Let’s see how many people Monique Davis needs to apologize to now:

303,829,771

I’d hurry before that number hits 400,000,000, myself.

One Apology Down, 303,829,130 To Go
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News Flash for Monique Davis: It'll Only Get Worse

jacob

As the citizens of the United States still await her apology, Keith Olbermann sits up and takes notice:

It’s not every day that a Democrat earns the dreaded “Worst Person in the World” top honors on Countdown. Muchos gracias, Keith!

Illinois Rep. Davis’s antics have even earned her immortality in song. And a good song it is, although she can’t carry much of a tune.

Your own dear Dana has jumped on the email bandwagon, as a full week without an apology is seven days too many:

Dear Rep. Davis:

You do not represent me, but you have affected me as a citizen of this country.

On April 3rd, you told atheist Rob Sherman, “You have no right to be here!”

You launched a tirade against him for not believing in God. You did this not as a private citizen, but in your official capacity as an elected representative of the citizens of Chicago. Your behavior was utterly outrageous for one of our democratically elected leaders. And yet you’ve shown no shame.

No apology. No explanation. Not a single word.

You should be deeply ashamed, as an American, as a Christian, and as a human being.

I feel sympathy for you. I truly do. I can only imagine that your vitriol came from a deep-rooted fear of atheists. It must be a terrible thing to live with so much fear. But that doesn’t excuse your ignorance or your actions.

Atheists are part of your constituency. You represent them. You cannot do so effectively when you scream at one of them that he has no right to be testifying before his own government.

Atheists are human beings. We have a moral compass, just as you do. We live, we love, we feel. Our lack of belief in a deity does not in any way minimize our humanity, or make us dangerous to you. Do not mistake a desire to see church and state safely separated for the desire to destroy all religion. The vast majority of us have no issue with what others choose to believe. We do take issue with those who would force their faith on us. We most certainly take issue with those who would tell us we have no right to petition our own government.

I want you to reflect, and pray, and consider what happens when a population is dehumanized, ostracized, and condemned by virtue of their creed. I’m sure you have a basis for comparison. Christianity, after all, was once a reviled faith until it grew strong enough to oppress in its turn.

You owe your city, your state, and your country an apology, but you owe one to your savior most of all. From what I
understand of him, he preferred compassion to condemnation.

Sincerely,
Dana Hunter

In my copious amounts of spare time tomorrow, I will be compiling a list of news outlets and writing up a nice little email we can all send along demanding attention. Such outrageous attacks from elected officials shall not pass unnoticed and unanswered.

And if many more days go by without a heartfelt mea culpa, I won’t be in such an indulgent mood, either.

News Flash for Monique Davis: It'll Only Get Worse

"I am Fear! I am Evil! They Call Me… Peaches"

jacob2 Comments

I’ve spent years wondering why some Christians are so damned scared. I mean, from my brief excursion into the church, I thought it was supposed to be “God-fearing,” not “God, fearing.” Then again, fearing God didn’t make any sense to me either, so what the fuck do I know?

My Christian friends are of no help to me, because they’re practically fearless. They’re not scared of gays, lesbians, liberals, pagans, atheists, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Christians from the church down the street, evolution, epithets, the ACLU, sex, magic, rock n’ roll, video games, or any of the 10,452,867,983 other things that many other Christians seem to fear. So I doubt they’ll be able to explain what I sensed from Rep. Davis’s little tirade.

It wasn’t just contempt. It wasn’t just anger. It wasn’t just disgust. All of those things were there, but above all, filling my nose like a nosegay dipped in raw sewage, was naked, shitting-herself terror.

I’ve got theories. Maybe it’s to do with the fact that someone’s getting along just fine without God propping him/her up like the U.S. of A. supporting a useful dictatorship. That can’t be comfortable. Here you are, letting go and letting God, and there’s some schmo frolicking happily in the meadows of free thought. Manifestly not suffering. Suspicious lack of bursting into flames, or getting struck by lightning, even. Blessings abounding, despite the fact said atheist has poked ye olde middle finger straight up God’s nose. You toil and sweat and suffer through those gawd-awful hymns sung off-key at church on a Sunday morning, while the atheist lolls abed or plays in the park, and yet you both get an equal share in the blessed and the cursed.

No fair, eh? Makes one wonder, don’t it?

So yes, I suspect it has a lot to do with atheists giving the lie to sacred teachings, just by dint of living human lives like everybody else. But is that really all that leads to that vicious fear?

I mean, come on, ye faithful. God might just be biding His time, giving said atheist just enough rope for a good self-hanging, right? Hellfire and damnation to come, no? You’ll be laughing all the way to Heaven while Satan’s asking that dirty atheist “Would you like your damnation spitted or flayed?” What’s to worry?

Here’s a clue: “It’s dangerous for our children to even know your philosophy exists!”

Except… no. It’s not. Kids are indoctrinated brainwashed taught how to resist the siren call of those Christ-denying Jews and those Johnny-come-lately-to-behead-you Muslims and the they’re-not-following-the-Bible Baptists down the road. There’s less fear and a lot more sneer in those cases. So why are they terrified of pagans and shit-scared of atheists?

And they really are that scared. There’s a subset of Christians who just can’t handle the presence of one of said pagans or atheists.

It’s anecdote time. Settle in and grab your drink.

So this one time, at the library, a few years after I’d given up Christianity for a bad job, I was sitting on the floor in the stacks. Doing research, you see. Had a story featuring a Native American character, didn’t I, and I knew bugger-all about the Kiowa. So I had a bunch of books on the Plains tribes spread out around me. Books with titles like Red Power and Native American Myth and Legends. Which maybe should’ve been the first clue to the willowy young woman who came mincing her way between the shelves. But she had me dead in her sights, she did, and that cross was sparkling on her chest, and she was going to bring me to Jesus, oh, yes.

“Hi,” she said in this bright, quavery voice. “I’d just like to invite you to our Bible study class.”

Back in those days, I wore an ankh from Vampire: the Masquerade. Maybe that’s what made her ignore the fact I was wearing all black and sitting cross-legged among all those Native American books: to the untrained eye, that ankh looks something like a loopy cross. Regardless, I slowly looked up at her eager little face and thought, awshit. I had to think fast. My first instinct was the truth: I’m agnostic. Only, if you say something like that to a prostelytizing Christian, they hear I’m wishy-washy on the whole God thing, tell me more! I didn’t have time for ten hours of argument on the subject, and I had fresh in my mind the incident wherein one of my friends told some Jehovah’s Witnesses he’s a witch and got to watch them run away. So, in an inspired moment, I said in my most forboding tones, “I’m pagan.”

She turned sheet-white, stammered out “I’m sorry!” and ran away. Literally. Ran away.

I couldn’t fucking believe it.

I’ve mulled that little scene over for years. I don’t understand it. I have no idea why they can’t abide the mere presence of an avowed pagan. They’ll run from those, but atheists are a different story: we godless sorts make them act like cornered animals, shaking in fear and loathing and fighting for their lives. It’s incredible. Rational Christians, like my friends, just sort of roll their eyes when I proclaim my lack of belief, but Christians like Rep. Davis just go apeshit. And if you were really secure in your faith, if God’s really with you, why should that be so?

Is it because atheists are better with Bible quotes? Satan can quote Scripture to his own ends, right, so maybe that’s it: we’re literally Satan. But if you read your Bible, if you understand what it means, you’ll know that, Satan started out as just an adversary, and he and God liked to have a bit of fun at the expense of people named Job. Job clung to his faith with his fingernails and all was well. Did he run? No.

Did Christ run away screaming when Satan came a-tempting? No. They had a debate, and Jesus won. That simple.

So that’s why I don’t get this “I must run away before I’m destroyed by this atheist” mindset. We’re not so dangerous to people of faith. Even the atheists who like to try to talk sense into Christians can’t make a dent in strong faith. We do have fun trying, sometimes, but I’ve talked to many Christians who find it just as fun to turn the tables. I respect them. Those who are truly secure in their faith also tend to be warm-hearted toward infidels such as myself, and that’s returned in kind.

So perhaps that’s what it really comes down to. The most homophobic are often closet homosexuals. The most anti-atheist could just be closet atheists. We scare them because we resonate.

Interesting thought, no?

I wish I had a useful summation here. It would be nice to have the solution to all of the fear and loathing and bigotry. But I’m afraid all I can do is show a bit of understanding: yes, you’re terrified of atheists, and you lash out from that fear. That’s what frightened animals do. Rise above that or get the fuck out of public office, right?

In the end, we atheists may just have to revel in our status as a scourge worse than Islamofascisthomobabykilling freaks until time proves that the entire world isn’t going to descend into hedonistic chaos because we gave up gods. After all, it gives us the chance to quote Rocko’s Modern Life:

“I am fear! I am evil! They call me… Peaches.”

…and I think you’ll agree that’s pretty fucking awesome.

"I am Fear! I am Evil! They Call Me… Peaches"

Rep. Monique Davis to Atheists: "You Have No Right to be Here!"

jacob1 Comment
And in reply, madam, I say, “Wrong answer, but thank you for proving my point, as well as giving me an unexpected dose of hope.”

I believe I mentioned somewhere before that I left the church not because science made me an atheist, but because other Christians did. Rep. Monique Davis (D?!-Chicago) is a shining example of the kind of narrow-minded, venom-spewing hate monger masquerading under the costume of God-Fearing Christian who sent me fleeing for the peaceful hills of atheism.

Here is what she had to say to Rob Sherman, active atheist and concerned community member, who was testifying before the House State Government Administration Committee in Illinois:

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure
that if this matter does go to court—

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.


And here is a complete list of the news organizations carrying the story as of 4:24am Pacific:


That’s right. One (1) (Un, uno, ein). Six days later, we have precisely one (1) news source all over this story.

If she’d been hating on gays, Jews, Catholics, single moms, drug addicts, lepers, Rush Limbaugh, or just about anybody else, this would have been nonstop news. Of course it would have been: she’s a Democrat (?!). A black Democrat, no less. Who attends Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church. Doesn’t this just seem like a right-wing mouth-breather’s dream? But she’s hating on atheists, so it’s all okay. Everybody hates atheists. QED.

As it turns out, she’s wrong about that. And that’s why I’m not sitting here cussing up a blue streak, outraged beyond belief, calling her a bigoted God-blind fuckwit with the IQ of a small piece of asparagus (apologies to asparagus). That’s why, although I’m horrified by the idea that an elected official can tell a citizen of the United States of America that he has no right to be here without the media ripping her to shreds, I’m not calling her a dangerous fucking fanatic who is a disgrace to the Democratic Party and should be summarily removed from office. And it’s why I’m not focusing this post on the fact that she’s so fucking ignorant about Lincoln’s religious beliefs that it would be funny if it wasn’t so bloody pathetic.

Tirades like that against a person simply for being an atheist have absolutely no place in American government, State or otherwise. No American citizen should be subjected to such invective from an elected representative performing in his or her capacity. Americans would be pretty bloody stupid to cheer on this kind of foaming-at-the-mouth hate and spite and not realize what it means for their rights, too. Christians should be ashamed that another Christian – elected to represent the people – could say such things.

They should be. And they are.

I have, to paraphrase Michelle Obama, never been so damned proud of my fellow Americans in my life.

All of you. Atheists, Jews, Christians, agnostics, secular humanists, callow youth and venerable aged, one and all, you spoke out. For fuck’s sake, even the Conservative blog I stumbled across reading up on this incident shocked me – it was rational, decent, thoughtful. What the fuck, you conservatives? No sneering attacks that of course she’d say shit like that because she’s a black Democrat who attends Wright’s church? (Okay, there were a couple, but not many.) You mean you weren’t leaping to her defense because while she’s an icky black Democrat who goes to Wright’s church, you gotta admit she’s right about them thar evil, dangerous atheists? You seriously fucking sat back and looked at this and said, “It’s wrong for Americans, Christians and our Country?”

I didn’t expect this. I clicked on that link on Google because I was certain that here, here, would definitely be the attitude I expected when I first read this story (tip o’ the shot glass to PZ). Here would be the intolerance, the bigotry, the narrow-minded, gleeful “atheist got his comeuppance!” invective I’d been expecting all along. I hadn’t found it in the comments thread to the original article. I hadn’t found it on Yahoo! Answers (and that’s a place I’d given up on as hopeless a long time ago). And I didn’t find it at the Illinois Review.

Incredible.

I knew the atheists would get it: that what Rep. Davis did was utterly beyond the pale, had nothing to do with American values, and didn’t belong in our government.

But Christians got it. Conservatives got it. Joe and Jane Q. Public got it. For the first time in a long time, people seemed to understand what this separation of Church and State thing was all about. And that gives me an unbelievable degree of hope.

I spend a lot of time in this blog screaming at the stupid fucking people who want to impose their authoritarian, batshit-insane fanatical Christianity on every citizen in this land. I rip and claw and tear at neocons and theocons, agents of intolerance who are trying to burn the Constitution, revise our history, and turn this country into a farce of democracy. I do hope the rest of you realize that it’s aimed at a narrow segment. That segment turns out to be a lot narrower than I believed. And that is incredible good news.

There are true Christians left in this land. True conservatives have survived. Moderates are battered but not broken. And we liberals, we have room for the lot of you. Even the eeviiil atheists among us, we’re willing to find common ground. It’s starting to look as if there’s some good rational territory left for us to meet on where we can laugh at the fanatics together. It’s starting to look as though we can find things to build on together. Our differences can be accommodated. Sure as shit, we’ll never agree on everything, but that was never the point, was it? We just need to make enough room for each other, keep the intolerant fuckheads at bay, is all.

Remember this moment, my darlings. Remember that when you were faced with an elected official telling a citizen that he had no right to be here because of his lack of belief, you stood up and said, “Excuse me, but no. That’s not what Christianity is about. That’s not what America is about.”

Remember it the next time some complete bastard tries to persuade you that American government should do away with all that secular nonsense and open its arms wide to religion. Because if you don’t, I’ll be blogging about how some raving fundamentalist Christian was screaming at a Catholic, or a Lutheran, or a Methodist, “You have no right to be here!”

And I really don’t want to have to do that.

As for Rep. Davis: I await your abject apology, Madam. And I suggest you mean it. You have not only your atheist constituents to atone to, you have an apology to make to your Christian, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, et al ones as well.

Enormous shot glass of premium tequila raised high to Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune, who broke this story, and who has one of the most awesome comments sections evah.

Rep. Monique Davis to Atheists: "You Have No Right to be Here!"