Atheists Take Offense at 9/11 Memorial for Fallen Firefighters

[Clement]

(This happened a while ago but it details some of the tactics of atheism's "search for truth".)

Antagonists of religious belief will go to extraordinary lengths to drive out any mention of the spiritual from the public square. A few weeks ago, the streets of Brooklyn were witness to such extreme secularism. There a new commemorative street sign has created a stir among local and national atheist groups, who claim the sign’s reference to “heaven” is offensive and unconstitutional.

On September 11, 2001, seven firefighters from a Brooklyn firehouse rushed into the World Trade Center after the first tower was hit to help victims of the terrorist attacks, ultimately sacrificing their own lives to save others. Almost 10 years to the day after the seven men died, a street in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, near the men’s fire company, has been ceremonially named “Seven in Heaven Way.”

As the seven firefighters’ friends, widows, and fellow service members stood at Richards Street a few weeks ago to commemorate the fallen, a group of atheists were insisting that the sign offended their beliefs and violated the First Amendment. New York City Atheists’ president Kenneth Bronstein told reporters, “There should be no signage or displays of religious nature in the public domain,” adding that it was “insulting” to use the word heaven in the street sign. “We’ve concluded as atheists there is no heaven and there’s no hell,” Bronstein explained.

Some atheists have decided that naming a street with a religious connotation is tantamount to "state sponsored religion", but as I pointed out in another thread, the first Amendment clearly states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".

That's a far cry from "There should be no signage or displays of religious nature in the public domain". Bronsein forgot the second half of that sentence which states: "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

Atheists insists that public property is property of the "State", forgetting that public property should belong to ALL people, not just atheists. I have faced these arguments for years on other subjects, for example, the Sierra Club was trying to get a mountain bike racing club I was part of thrown off of public land saying that the "trails belonged to everybody" ignoring the fact that the bicycle club was also included in the set of people known as "everybody".

I would argue that if the fire department wants to put a creche in front of the fire station at Christmas time, the fire fighters are also included in the set of people known as "everybody"and have as much right to practice their religion as they see fit without interference from the government, as the first amendment states. There is no reason why accomodation cannot be made to the satisfaction of all concerned, unless some will not be satisfied.

Atheists Take Offense at 9/11 Memorial for Fallen Firefighters | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News from The Heritage Foundation

Atheists Take Offense at 9/11 Memorial for Fallen Firefighters | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News from The Heritage Foundation

 

[Chuckt]

It is kind of selfish when all of America has to believe as they do.

 

[bodecea]

I remember at the ecumenical service at Ground Zero, the Missouri Synod Lutheran minister was suspended for participating with other religions.