Rhode Island Teen Gets $42K Scholarship From Atheist Organization After Religious Backlash

Nifty.  :)

::face palms at religious right-wing nut jobs::

An entire town of adults picking on a bright young kid and calling her an “evil little thing.” Not very Christian of them.

Sweet.

Nice story, but I think you mean ABC News at the bottom (not CBS News).

Please know not all Christians are nasty and cruel like them.  Most, I believe in my heart of hearts at least, are reasonable and kind people, just like everyone else.  And would admire this young girl standing up for herself and others.

EXACTLY. Ugh. I’m a Christian myself, and seeing the flagrant hypocrisy of the Religious Right- those who have claimed the moniker for themselves and themselves alone- drives me nuts. 
And good for her, for standing up for religious and nonreligious equality.

I saw in at least one post on her blog, self-reference to her atheism.

Oops! I’ll fix this. Thanks for the heads up!

I’m so proud of her, and I’m really happy to see so many people supporting her.  I live in CT, but I go to school in RI and I’m really familiar with the area she lives in.  The reactions of the locals given the culture of the area is disgusting, but not entirely unexpected.  I hope we end up seeing more people her age standing up for what’s right and being vocal about it.

So what?  When I was a teenager, I referred to myself as an atheist, an agnostic, or just a non-religious humanist at various times, depending on what I had been reading or thinking recently.  Are you saying she isn’t allowed to change her mind?  The beauty of not being religious is that you are allowed to recognize that life and opinions and ideas are not static.  There is no dogma for nonbelievers.

Such a ridiculous story.  If a Christian did something like this, they would be labeled as an extreme right-wing propaganda pusher. There’s such a double standard in today’s society.

You mean, if a Christian stood up for and applied the laws of the nation to his or her situation?  The story here is: a young girl stood up to her school district for violating the law and adults in her community persecuted her for it.  If you read something else, you – like the state representative – are misguided.

It’s really sad when one of the reasons people settled here was for religious equality. Meaning that your beliefs aren’t absolute and above all others, and that other people have the right to believe what they choose. Adults picking on her like that is just pathetic. This was the sort of thing they were trying to avoid. 

I’m so happy for her.  She’s seen the ugly side of tribalism at a young age and stood firm for a religiously neutral environment in her public school.  Keeping government entities and religion separate protects the rights of all.  

Exodus 20:4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any
thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or
that [is] in the water under the earth:

So yeah, she was just following the Ten Commandments.
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them

Bullying is not encouraged by Paul the Apostle. And that’s what the town’s people did.

Romans 2:1

ESV / Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.
For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you,
the judge, practice the very same things.

Romans 12:18
ESV / If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Also the school should be obeying the laws:
Titus 3:1

ESV /
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

It’s true.  Fundamentalist secularists go nuts every time some kid tries to get the Atheist Mural at their high school taken down.

Total double standard.

An entire town of superstitious people oppress and threaten a minor girl over her desire for Constitutional equality.  Later, a judge rules that her interpretation of our founding document is correct, and the townspeople’s is wrong.  As a result, the townspeople are infuriated.  I guess there’s no fixing “stupid.”

*lol*

Yeah, because calling everyone and everything “evil” every five minutes isn’t a fundamental feature of Christianity. Burn the witch! (OK, not a very funny joke when people still do that sort of thing in some parts.)

Assuming she adheres to that particular set of Ten Commandments, yes.

 But if you’re going by Paul, she shouldn’t have been speaking out or disobeying men telling her differently.

incorrect

Ugh.  So what, we’re all supposed to adhere to Atheists’ rules now?  Because that’s where this country is headed.  None of us are going to be able to even say the word “religion” or “God” in this country soon if it keeps going this way… and I hate religion, but that’s where this is going.

 This “article” is extremely biased.

The school just had  a stupid tapestry I don’t see how that harmed anyone or alienated anyone it’s not like anyone was forcing her to be a christian although judging by the very unchristian reaction maybe they all were just jerks and this is just a grand F U to the whole theocracy they set up.I dunno it’s  highschool its a fictional world that serves as boot camp for a desk joke so who cares about a tapestry really? couldn’t she just ask for them to hang up an atom symbol or some such thing?

…like 80 percent of America in Christian, dude. This is about having that 80 percent not completely overrun the 20% minority.

1 Timothy 2:12 - I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

1 Corinthians 14:35-36 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

You can spin it any way you want, but Paul wasn’t exactly an equal rights kind of guy.

Well not exactly. Those early Puritans weren’t for religious freedom. They fled persecution in England simply to do the same thing to others here.

Actually it’s constitutional rules, not atheist rules. 

Some have higher expectations for their schools, their careers, their lives and their country than you. That’s why. 

By displaying the banner, the school was endorsing Christianity above all other religions, which, as a government entity, the school is not allowed to do.  The harm was that the school was in violation of the first amendment, and therefore setting a bad example for the students. The school was even offered the option of keeping it up but removing the phrases “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen” before this went to trial, but they refused that option. They didn’t want to keep it up because of tradition or because it promoted good values. They only wanted it up because it endorsed their chosen religion.  

 How exactly is it biased, Einstein?

 Oh hey, we’re printing money that says “There are no gods” now? Let me know where I can get some.

 ”Burn the witch!”

That would be funnier if I didn’t see someone say this completely seriously in the comments on one of the articles about this case.

 *tips hat* Thank you. We need more people like you to speak up for what they believe in, and not let the Religious Right pretend that they speak for all Christians.

 I was being facetious. The internet the giant facepalm.

It would apply if she was a Christian, but hey way to be pedantic. The “Point” was that the “Christians” here as many times wil be as oppressive as they think the “heathens” are. The “christians” in this story needed to follow the law of the land and not put up religious imagery in a public school.

 Yes you are(Titus 3:1 ESV / Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,) save if they try to force you to reject Christ. She was not forcing anybody to reject their beliefs. If your faith is shaken by the removal some “graven image” you have no faith at all.

If it is just a stupid tapestry then there should be no problem taking it down.

I believe in people like you. My mother became Christian 3 years ago. I always had a great relationship with her before that and was sincerely afraid that it would drive a wedge between us, but it didn’t. She’s the same person that I considered my hero growing up.  She loves and believes in the community of it, but has often told me, “I don’t have to agree with *everything* they say, you know.”

Congratulations to this fine young woman! Courage is not the absence of fear but the recognition that something else is more important. Bravo! You are a very fine all-American hero!

Please find me an atheist mural in any high school. Thought so 

…satire…

Thank you for the quotation marks. This was clearly not an article, but rather a random bunch of letters that happened to form words that happened to make a coherent sentence.  The 1000 monkeys got lucky this time.  Anyway, I’m so sick of this pro-bill-of-rights and all this positive talk about strong upstanding high school aged kids.  When I was a high schooler we kept to ourselves and kept our traps shut. Don’t even get me started on this anti-evil-name-calling pro-scholarship-giving bias. amiright?

“Fundamentalist secularists” should have been your first clue that Zen was being satirical.

Oh god. *shudders* I wish I hadn’t said that.

You really have no understand of what the word “secular” means, do you?

 I’m choosing to ignore most of the comments below this that have turned into some sort of flame war, and would like to commend you for your statement. Christian does not mean religious right-eous, and more people like you will hopefully help bring that truth to the front.

And kudos to this teenager for upholding the Constitution and not backing down to bullying and petty meanness.

Then they should worry about the lies in the history textbooks before they worry about religious tapestries if they truly care so damn much.

I don’t care personally I just think it’s a whole lot of insanity over nothing who cares if they kept it up or down? Who cares about what religion they like? The whole thing is nonsensical.

You realize that this particular issue was not what the first amendment was designed to protect right? It’s not even close to violating the first amendment.

 Eh, you learn to find your black humor where you can. I just wish there weren’t quite so many opportunities.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux disagrees with you. This is a first amendment issue. If read the decision, you’ll see that this does violate the first amendment. Every time issues similar to this go to court, the results are the same. Displaying that banner in a public school is a violation of the constitution. The first amendment isn’t very long, perhaps you should try reading it some time.

Actually, I think most Christians ARE like these at Cranston, except they are much more quiet about their true thoughts

Ugh. I’m absolutely disgusted to see so much support for such a , well, an “evil little thing.” She is everything wrong with atheists that makes me find them completely and utterly insufferable. Militant, demanding, insulting, the list goes on.

That prayer she demanded be taken down had hung in the school for decades without harming anyone, and it’s sickening she felt her poor little unbelieving self was SO put out by a piece of paper hung up on a wall.

It’s sick she’s getting all this praise like she’s some brave, downtrodden, poor little angel being oppressed. Fucking spare me.

(And no, I’m not Christian myself). 

Ultimately I can only really speak for myself as a Christian, and I applaud this girl.  I don’t think it’s wrong to enforce the separation of Church and State, in fact, I believe it is best for both when separated.  I am disgusted with someone who would call a child “evil” for simply asking that basic laws of our country are enforced.

Too often, on both sides, the most attention goes to whoever is yelling the loudest, at least in my view.  The majority are willing to accept others regardless of their differences.  At least, this is what I desperately hope is true, and if not, what will be true in the future.

Of course you’re not Christian – look at the venom you just spat. You’re probably Muslim, or even worse, one of those evil Buddhists.  

…Is this sarcasm, or a joke of some kind? I can’t even tell… <_<

I have actually I wrote it on my shirt when they wouldnt let me and my classmates wear anti- war patches. Also they still have “under God” in that stupid pledge and plenty of judges disagreed that it violates free speech mostly because judges can arbitrarily rule for and against things.

Whatever they were going for they failed.