After a lawsuit to remove a slab of the Ten Commandments parked in front of a Florida courthouse was withdrawn, a 'compromise' was drawn up allowing atheists to erect their own monument. Yesterday a granite bench with quotes from Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Madalyn O'Hair was unveiled, right next to the Commandment slab.
American Atheists sued to try to have the stone slab with the Ten Commandments taken away from the courthouse lawn in this rural, conservative north Florida town best known for the prison that confines death row inmates. The Community Men's Fellowship erected the monument in what's described as a free speech zone. During mediation on the case, the atheist group was told it could have its own monument, too.
Ha! So there are T-shirts after all!
That's Pastor Greg Wilson holding the Confederate flag and talking to atheist Ian Goldberg.
It's ironic that such a 'compromise' was reached, forcing atheists to erect in a very Seinfeld-ian fashion a monument to 'nothing', where the objection is to having something in the first place.
According to Wikipedia a free speech zone is an area set aside to exercise one's right of free speech, so it is not clear why an area in front of a courthouse would be thus designated. It seems to me the issue would be one of separation of church and state, but according to David Silverman, American Atheists President, this is a trick used by Christians to get their wishes.
"I will back them because it will be their right," he said. "This is one of the tricks that Christians have used, because they go up and call it a free-speech zone and then they're unopposed. They get their government legitimization because nobody else calls their bluff and puts something in."
Chandler Allen was the first person to sit on the bench
But probably what's most telling and unfortunate is the community's reactions to 'outsiders' coming down to Florida and forcing their views upon them. Protesters carried signs saying 'Yankees Go Home" and someone actually threw a toilet seat cover and toilet paper at the assembled group. (From his car. Imagine the planning for that move). Listen to this code-loaded message from a spokesman:
"We reject outsiders coming to Florida — especially from outside what we refer to as the Bible Belt — and trying to remake us in their own image," said Michael Tubbs, state chairman of the Florida League of the South. "We do feel like it's a stick in the eye to the Christian people of Florida to have these outsiders come down here with their money and their leadership and promote their outside values here."
With 'their money' and 'their leadership', the very thought. Because Americans from America are outsiders in the part of America that was 'founded on Christian principles'. And I've always thought 'Bible Belt' was a pejorative but hey, what do I know? And why is somebody's innocuous bench a stick in a Christian's eye, but your Ten Commandments aren't a stick in anyone else who's not a Christian's eye? Obviously,
everyone in Florida is a Christian, right?
In the arbitration and during the unveiling, everyone goes to great pains to point out that atheists have just as much of a right to express their views, their only recourse being a 'monument' to non-religion (requiring adoption of the religionists' frame) and yet that is the first thing out of his mouth. As Silverman said, it's not about Christianity by Christian privilege. The hypocrisy burns.
6:54 AM PT: Thanks to Dallasdoc who found more information about who was doing the talking and referring to 'outsiders':
The League of the South describes itself as a Southern nationalist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic." The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy. It claims to be also a religious and social movement, advocating a return to a more traditionally conservative, Christian-oriented Southern culture. It advocates a "natural societal order of superiors and subordinates", using as an example, "Christ is the head of His Church; husbands are the heads of their families; parents are placed over their children; employers rank above their employees; the teacher is superior to his students, etc." The organization has personal ties to the Padania, Italy based political group Lega Nord.
The League of the South is considered by many observers to be a white supremacist and white nationalist organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the League of the South as a Neo-Confederate hate group.