Via Larry Moran, comes this story from Pennsylvania about dueling billboards regarding atheism and religion.

This billboard was recently put up in response to one sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation which had the line from the John Lennon song "Imagine No Religion."



So why do atheists hate America? Excellent question. I can't speak for all atheists, but I'll give you my answer.

I could start out by trying to relate what I'm thinking about when I wake up each morning and engage in my own 5-minute hate, ala 1984 (although in the book they did a 3-minute hate, and that's just not enough), against America. I have a little American montage on my wall that includes stuff like an American flag, pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, baseball, apple pie, and of course, Jesus and Ronald Reagan. I just stare at all that stuff I hate and scream at the top of my lungs for the full five minutes. Sometimes a string together sounds that might be obscenities, but usually it's just formless, incoherent screaming.

So what am I thinking about while I do this? To be honest, not a whole lot, so it doesn't really help answer the question, does it?

In my more lucid moments, when I'm not just a ball of nebulous anti-American rage, I guess I hate the fact that anybody is allowed to believe anything different from me. Just who do they think they are?

Bishop Council Nedd, chairman of the board that sponsored the billboard above, put it well:

Bishop Council Nedd, chairman of IGWT's board of directors, said in a press statement that FFRF has "embarked on a national campaign to denigrate religion and convince Americans that their country's religious heritage is somehow wrong."

Nedd said that FFRF's "offensive billboards insult the millions and millions of Americans of varying faiths who believe that religion has been, and still is, a force for good."

...

When asked about the question, "Why do atheists hate America?" Nedd gave a quick reply: "That's what we're trying to figure out. We don't know the answer."

He said his group is not saying the atheists are anti-American. However, they appear to be, he said. Still, he said, "this is a free country and everyone is free to believe what he or she chooses."

See, that's the problem right there. I'm not saying that Bishop Council Nedd is a douchebag. However, he appears to be.

We atheists aren't interested in actually protecting the First Amendment. We really want to do away with it completely, and force everyone to burn their Bibles at gunpoint.

That's what drives (at least me) nuts: religious plurality, this idea that anyone can believe whatever they want and choose to disagree with others and that the government would not treat any particular views on religion preferentially but would guarantee the rights of everyone to hold whatever views they please. Those miserable goat-lovers, the Founding Fathers, came up with that nonsense and THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS FUCKING HORRIBLE COUNTRY THAT ARR-GACKA-BRACKA-FURGLE-PLEEKA-GAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR...



Okay, I'm back. Sorry about that. It's just that when I start thinking about all that I just go into a frenzy. So I just went and wiped my butt with an American flag, put it through a shredder, and then lit the remains on fire. That calmed me down.

Anyway, to summarize: I hate America because it allows people to think differently, and I will not rest until everyone thinks exactly like me and nobody in this country has any more freedoms.

Nedd can stop with the billboards now.