@atheismfuckyeah / atheismfuckyeah.tumblr.com
Dear American followers, I'm sure you need no reminder, but just in case:
Not voting changes nothing. Don't be apathetic. Don't believe the propaganda that your vote is useless. It is important. If you all go vote you can and will make a change. Even if it's only a small one.
Lots of small changes pile up and become a big one.
Go and vote.
You need to deal with voting for the lesser of two evils in order to start making a change.
So go and vote.
Good luck with the midterms guys.
~M
The real reason conservatives are so determined to protect their religious freedoms? America's growing secularism
Attention civically-minded atheists: thinking of submitting a bid for office? You'll probably want to check your address first. Eight states - Arkansas, Maryland, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and North Carolina - still have provisions in place that require a belief in God to run for office.
A Missouri atheist who was denied probation because he refused to participate in a religious-based substance abuse program has won a legal victory against Western Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center (WRDCC) in St. Joseph.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that the district court that dismissed Randall Jackson’s lawsuit with prejudice erred in doing so. Jackson had sued the WRDCC because he claimed that, as an atheist, its Offenders Under Treatment Program (OUTP) violated his rights under the First Amendment.
According to Jackson, he was required to attend the OUTP in order to be eligible for early release on parole. Once there, he discovered that the program “had required meetings [and] invoked religious tenets by using the serenity prayer and religious meditations.” When he objected to this, OUTP staff suggested he “act as if,” a term of art in the program that means to “assume a role or attitude even if you don’t feel like it,” which is “[a] tool used to assist one in ‘trying on’ new patterns of thought and behavior.”
Staff further suggested that he “use ‘God’ as an acronym for ‘good orderly direction.’”
In his initial complaint, Jackson stated that he “was being coerced by and through an atmosphere designed and intended to change or alter my thinking and behavior. That it would induce conformity by adding pressure and leverage through the hope and desire of achieving a ‘Placement on Parole.’
Mississippi legislators on Tuesday took up and quickly passed a controversial religious freedom bill that could allow state residents to sue over laws they say place a substantial burden on their religious practices.
Supporters of the measure [pdf] say it would protect religious freedoms, while opponents say it could be used to discriminate against gays and lesbians. A similar bill that passed Arizona’s legislature earlier this year, but Gov. Jan Brewer (R) vetoed it after the bill drew loud protests from gay rights and civil liberties groups.
Tina Dupuy, American columnist on latest religious-affiliation survey
In what may be the first of its kind, a proposed bill in Missouri would require that parents be notified when evolution is being taught to their children at school. They could then pull them from the class. Critics say the bill would "eviscerate" the teaching of biology.
Thunderf00t on FOX on athiests
The US Supreme Court is to consider whether prayers can be offered as part of government meetings.
It'll be interesting to see how this goes.
Mooglets
' During an interview with Focus on the Family president Jim Daly, Paul Ryan reassured the anti-gay group that a Romney-Ryan administration will fiercely oppose gay rights. Focus on the Family and its founder James Dobson have a long history of promoting anti-gay policies and ex-gay therapy, and earned a shout-out from Romney earlier this week while campaigning in Colorado, where it is headquartered.' Continue article at above link. ~Mooglets
After Illinois began allowing civil unions last year, the Catholic Charities groups in the state (which handled foster children) were worried that they would have to put kdis in the homes of gay or lesbian couples (oh, the horror!). But since they received taxpayer money for their work, they had no right to discriminate. So instead of doing the right thing for the children, they opted to shut down altogether.
You don’t always see student journalists take big risks and break stories but Alex Green, the editor-in-chief of Bryan College’s student newspaper in Dayton, Tennessee, did just that on Monday and it’s really an incredible story.
Bryan College is a Christian school founded in the wake of the local Scopes Monkey Trial and David Morgan was a professor of Biblical Studies there.
Western countries have appealed for an end to violent protests targeting their embassies, sparked by a film mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
The EU urged leaders in Arab and Muslim countries to "call immediately for peace and restraint".
The US is sending marines to defend its embassy in Khartoum and has called on Sudan to protect foreign diplomats.
At least seven people died in protests in Khartoum, Tunis and Cairo on Friday and there are fears of further unrest.
Protests in Egypt have spread, with demonstrators breaking into a base holding multi-national peacekeepers in Sinai, and clashes outside the American consulate in the coastal city Alexandria.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban said their attack on the huge Camp Bastion Nato base, in which two US marines were killed, was carried out in response to the film.
'Civilised world'
US embassies have borne the brunt of the attacks after clips of the film - which was made in the US - were distributed online.
Marines were deployed to Libya on Wednesday after the attack that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans and to Yemen on Friday after violence in Sanaa.
On Friday, US Vice-President Joe Biden called his Sudanese counterpart, Ali Osman Taha, to express concern over the security of the US and other Western embassies in Khartoum.
"Vice-President Biden reaffirmed the responsibility of the government of Sudan to protect diplomatic facilities and stressed the need for the government... to ensure the protection of diplomats in Khartoum," a White House statement said.
A crowd of several thousand attacked the US embassy in Khartoum on Friday, and state radio said three protesters had been killed in clashes with security forces.
The German and UK embassies in Khartoum were also attacked, although the controversial film has no known links to either country.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso condemned the attacks as unacceptable and against "the rules of the civilised world."
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged "national authorities in all countries concerned to swiftly ensure the security of diplomatic missions and protect diplomatic staff".
"It is vitally important that leaders across the affected regions should call immediately for peace and restraint, as has already been the case in many countries."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Sudanese ambassador in Berlin had been summoned on Friday and "unequivocally reminded of his government's duty to protect diplomatic missions".
'Standing fast'
Protests against the film - Innocence of Muslims - began on Tuesday in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
The film depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womaniser and leader of a group of bloodthirsty men.
However, its exact origin and the motivation behind the film's production are still unclear.
A man suspected of involvement in its making, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, is being questioned by federal probation officers in California.
Nakoula, who was jailed for bank fraud in 2010, is not allowed under the terms of his release to access the internet or to use aliases without permission.
He has denied involvement in the film.
Two people were killed in Tunisia on Friday after crowds breached the US embassy compound in Tunis and clashed with riot police.
The nearby American school was looted and set on fire. There was also one death during protests in Egypt and another in Lebanon.
On Friday, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base for the repatriation of the Americans killed in Benghazi.
Mr Obama said the US would "stand fast" against the violence at its diplomatic missions.
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As soon as this stopped being a conversation and became a mass riot, as soon as people were injured, as soon as people were killed and property damaged, I lost every single fuck I could have given about why the 'protesters' were pissed in the first place.
~Mooglets
Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
As the anti-choice crusade continues throughout GOP controlled states, Dr. Ann Neuhaus bravely took up the cause of women’s rights after Christian jihadist Scott Roeder murdered Dr. George Tiller in 2009. Now, Dr. Neuhaus may lose her license for the “sin” of not forcing a mentally ill ten year old to carry her uncle’s baby to term.
You read that correctly; there are people in Kansas who think it is proper that a 10 year should have a child. Never mind the rape, incest and mental illness; a ten year old!Ten years olds should be learning how to put on make up and giggling over pictures of Justin Bieber, not learning how to change diapers. That should tell you just how diseased the anti-choice movement has become.
It’s so bad that state officials have attempted to prosecute a Planned Parenthood clinic for falsifying documents. Documents that the prosecution destroyed so they could not be examined.
Keeping this kind of potentially illegal activity, Operation Rescue, a group that has an alarmingly high number of ties to various “isolated incidents” involving domestic Christian terrorism including Scott Roeder, must be somewhat confident.
Care2.comreports:
Operation Rescue filed a negligence complaint against Neuhaus alleging that her exams were not thorough enough to support her medical conclusions and her follow-up care was inadequate because she did not recommend counseling or hospitalization after each procedure.
Neuhaus offered a rebuttal of her own.
“To even claim that isn’t medically necessary qualifies as gross incompetence,” said Neuhaus. “Someone’s 10 years old, and they were raped by their uncle and they understand that they’ve got a baby growing in their stomach and they don’t want that. You’re going to send this girl for a brain scan and some blood work and put her in a hospital?”
The Kansas Medical Board, which includes a former lawyer for Operation Rescue, produced an “expert” that testified that abortion can never be considered to have a positive impact on a patient’s mental health. That, of course, is not the point being argued. The actual point is not whether abortion is a positive but if it is less of a negative than forcing a ten year old to give birth against her will.
This is what the fanatics of the anti-choice movement deliberately ignore: in their zeal to “protect” innocent children they would happily sacrifice other children. The “impartial” Kansas Medical Review Board has already declined to renew her license. If Dr. Neuhaus loses her appeal, she permanently loses her ability to practice medicine and that’s the only thing that matters to the morally bankrupt pro-”life” movement.
FUCK YOU anti choice assholes. FUCK. YOU. She's ten fucking years old, she's still a baby herself; I work with kids that young every day, they are not mentally or physically equipped to carry a fetus to term, birth it and raise it.
Your repulsiveness is showing, anti-choice assholes.
A clear example of why religion should be removed from politics, schools and medicine.
~Mooglets
“Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.” – Christopher Hitchens
Julea Ward, in case you are wondering, was a student at Eastern Michigan University who was kicked out of a school counseling graduate program after she refused, on religious grounds, to affirm homosexual behavior when serving clients. Judge George Caram Steeh of the U.S. District Court in Detroit dismissed the suit, saying that the university “had a right and duty to enforce compliance” with professional ethics rules that bars counselors from discrimination, and ruled in favor of the university.
We’ll Have None Of THAT…!
ThinkProgress reports that the Michigan House passed HB 5040 (Julea Ward Freedom Of Conscience Act). This bill transcends Christian colleges and will, if passed, also effect non-Christian (read: real) colleges that will allow students to refuse to provide any counseling that compromises their religious beliefs. Including those pesky gays…
According to HB 5040, this bill is,
“A public degree or certificate granting college, university, junior college, or community college of this state shall not discipline or discriminate against a student in a counseling, social work, or psychology program because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student, if the student refers the client to a counselor who will provide the counseling or services.”
Legislation should dictate ethical standards in a university setting, but this bill seeks to dodge it.
Wayne, Manners…
ThinkProgress closes their article by reporting that activist Wayne Besen said,
“Counseling should be about the client, not the self-serving needs of the therapist.”
Michigan’s distaste for their LGBT community was solidified when they banned all domestic partnerships, and again when they attempted to create a “license to bully” in schools. Their illustrious Governor, Rick Snyder (R), as expected wouldn’t even meet with anyone from the LGBT press.
The Michigan State Motto should be changed from “Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice” (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you) to “Si vos peto bigotry , vos mos reperio is hic” (If you seek bigotry, you will find it here)
