TurboFool (Neither, really)

So a few weeks back, one of our local City Council members, Bob Kellar (ex-mayor, if I’m not mistaken), shocked the room by proposing we add “In God We Trust” to the city seal. His feeling was that it’s somehow raised morale in other cities that have done it, and in these trying times, we all need a little more… what, exactly? What is it that a few words on a sign that reference something a large percentage of the population have no belief in is expected to do?

Either way, it was agreed to table it and discuss a vote at a future meeting. That meeting was held last night.

According to SCVTalk.com, that discussing didn’t go quite as was expected. Seems the council felt it completely unnecessary to have the fair citizens of this city vote on the subject. “I strongly believe we are a representative government,” Mayor Frank Ferry said, according to The Signal [warning, link full of incredibly ignorant comments]. “We are elected to represent the people.” And so, with that understanding, they went ahead and made the decision without us.

Apparently these people are unaware that their view of God is not the only one that exists. Not only that, but apparently it never crossed their minds that the people who voted them into office didn’t do so with any remote expectation that they would be representing not only their interests in managing the city, but also their religious affiliation. While I didn’t vote for any of the people who make up the current council, I also didn’t vote for the people I did based on their likelihood to vote against combining church and state. That was never discussed in campaign speeches or mailings. But then again, with comments like “What I don’t want through a city election is for this to become a religious issue; where it’s atheist verse Christian, Atheist verse Catholic or Christian verse Jew” by Mayor Frank Ferry, maybe I give them too much credit. Apparently they were aware we exist, and were aware we would be upset by this. So, as opposed to recognizing it’s a controversial subject and skipping it, or as opposed to allowing us to be adults and have those arguments, they simply made the decision for us to approve one of those viewpoints over all the rest.

I’m unbelievably frustrated, saddened, angered, and disenfranchised by this. I am not the only atheist in this valley, nor are atheists the only people given the finger by this decision. In God I don’t trust, but I was under the impression that I could trust the people who were elected to manage this city to make decisions in the best interest of its people, and their personal freedoms. Deciding their religion needs to be displayed all over our city in an official capacity does not protect those interests.

Santa Clarita is not in the middle of nowhere. We’re not in the bible belt, we’re not a small town with nothing but churchgoers. We’re in Southern California, not that far from the coast, right outside of the big city, and our town’s made up of people who commute to those coast cities. We’re therefore a melting pot of beliefs and opinions. Yes, this city tends to lean right-wing, and therefore religious, but I never had the impression that it was this close-minded and foolish as to forget such a large percentage of its citizens in exchange for what? Simple platitudes on a wall? Something that will make a few religious people smile when it happens, and then forget about it within days, but will stand as a silent, yet blaring reminder to the rest of us that our city thinks we’re irrelevant?

I don’t know what else to say. I’ve never felt this directly persecuted before for not going with the status quo and pretending to believe in something for which I see no reason to believe. I would never, and will never, begrudge these people their beliefs. And I would never decide, if elected, to modify the city seal to represent something that I believe that others do not share. I would, instead, leave well enough alone and choose to keep the city seal the simple, non-denominational, non-controversial seal it was, and leave the personal beliefs to our homes, churches, temples, synagogues, libraries, strip clubs, movie theaters, and wherever else we feel comfortable expressing interest in things others don’t necessarily share.

I don’t know what, if anything, can be done. But if there’s anyone else out there who’s as pissed off as I am who wants to do it, please join me. Let’s make a difference and remind these people that their entire citizenship matters.

EDIT: A friend of mine recommended the following revision to the seal. Seems just as fair:

A hastily-drawn alternative

EDIT 2: Dave Nichols does a great job addressing this issue, and its overall implications, from a much broader level. Check it out here.

Today I came across this article on newsday.com which talks about a soldier suing the military over their unfair treatment of his Atheist views.

According to the article, and the suit, this soldier tried to hold a meeting for fellow Atheists and other non-Christians, presumably as a way of garnering a similar level of support and community that the prayer and religious groups have. Despite having his fliers approved, the soldier’s actual meeting was barred by his superior, and he was threatened with military charges and the blocking of his re-enlistment.

Spec. Jeremy Hall is now suing the military over this and other encroachment on his rights to free speech and freedom of (and from) religion. He has cited other incidents, including being forced to submit to religious tests as qualification for his post.

This situation is a perfect example for me of why my Atheism has become so important to me in recent years. As I’ve noted in my About Me page, the lack of a belief in something really shouldn’t be an issue that I care so much about. I have no belief in Godzilla, either, but you don’t see me dedicating sections of my site to proving there’s no Godzilla. This is, I think, true of the vast majority of Atheists. Why waste effort on something we don’t believe exists? But Christians (I point out only Christians because I rarely come across members of any other religion who give a crap) continually go on about how they’re being persecuted (oh how hard it is to be in the majority and in control of the government) by Atheists, and how it seems like we’re at war with them, trying to take away their faith.

Bullshit.

I don’t give a crap what you believe. Believe in God, Allah, Buddha, a giant tortoise, Zeus, Karma, Ra, or any God, Goddess, spirit, universal “truth,” or other mindset you may please. Seriously. I don’t care. But get it out of my face. And no, by saying that, I don’t mean hide your beliefs; I just mean not to try to force your beliefs onto me, whether by constantly reminding me I’m going to Hell for not believing, or by making your religion’s rules into LAWS (and I’m sorry, but if people are to have free will to choose whether or not to sin, and this is one of God’s tests for them, aren’t you fucking up God’s process by outlawing sins?). Your religion is yours, not mine. You think you know better, so live smugly in that knowledge while I live smugly in mine. But you are not making the world a better place by forcing all the infidels and heathens to live by your religion’s rules. You’re just creating a bunch of angry, oppressed people, and history shows that those groups may get over that anger eventually, but usually after they’ve licked that oppression issue… at least until their founding principles are far enough in the past that the rulers can start convincing people they don’t matter anymore.

And that’s where we stand now. We’re sick of watching you erode our rights because your several-thousand-year-old holy book of choice tells you you can’t do certain fun things that the rest of us enjoy. We’re sick of seeing your interests get preferential treatment over ours because your people are in power, when those interests benefit ONLY you and hurt the rest of us. And less and less of us are willing to take it. We’re not at war with you, but we are beginning to fight, and we didn’t start it.

AlterNet, from whom I found this article (via StumbleUpon), noted the irony of how so many religious people, usually in an effort to prove some sort of point (I never do get quite what point they’re trying to prove), try to claim that Atheism is actually a religion (which, of course, it’s not, just like the big blank screen in a theater at 4:00 in the morning isn’t a movie), yet are completely unwilling to provide it the same rights as one. Make a choice, people. Call it (incorrectly) a religion, and give Atheist groups the same tax breaks and other benefits of churches, or shut up.

I wish this soldier the best of luck with his lawsuit. I don’t expect it to work out well in his favor, considering the might of our military and the backing they have in Washington, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed, which is of course the Atheist equivalent of prayer.