Nebraska Atheist Groups Reserve All Available Display Space At State Capitol For Christmas, Kicking Out Christian Nativity Display

[rangerrebew]

 

December 13, 2015
Nebraska Atheist Groups Reserve All Available Display Space At State Capitol For Christmas, Kicking Out Christian Nativity Display
Nathan Francis

A number of Nebraska atheist groups are taking over Christmas at the state Capitol building, pushing out a Christian nativity and causing some controversy in the process.

The groups reserved all the available display space on the Capitol’s ground floor for the week of Christmas. That area had in past years been used for a Christian nativity scene, but this year the display will come down a week before Christmas.

Martin Cannon, an attorney with the Thomas More Society in Omaha, said several atheist groups crowded out the Christian displays, even though the Christian group offered to share the space.

“They have proved our point that all speech is welcome, except Christian,” Cannon told the Journal Star. “We would have shared our space with them, but they are not willing to do the same.”

But the atheist group — which include seven different organizations from around the state — said they were not trying to crowd out Christians.

“We needed as much space as we could for all the groups that are interested,” said Chris Clemons, who organized the display.

The atheist groups plan to install four tables and 20 displays throughout the floor of the Capitol, calling their display “Reason This Season.” This will include a table showing a scale model of a mosque and church and other symbols of religions, with the other side showing the White House, Statue of Liberty, and U.S. Capitol building. The idea is to demonstrate the separation of church and state, organizers say.

“It’s going to be a big shindig,” Clements told the Guardian. “Our message is that it’s a secular government and religion has to stay separate from that. And it’s meant to communicate that atheists are not bad people – we can be good without God.”

The atheist groups did plenty of planning to get their display in place. Groups are only allowed one week to show a display in the capitol building, so the groups made sure they were first when the sign-up time opened.

“We would have liked to have been there over Christmas,” Christine Delgado, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, told the Guardian. “But it really doesn’t matter what week it is.”

    “It would have been nice. There are four corners and if it would have been up to us we would have reserved one corner and left the other three open to anyone else. We are not particularly pleased, but we’re not upset.”

Nebraska is not the only state where atheist Christmas displays are causing a stir. The group American Atheists put up billboards in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, encouraging Christians to “skip church” on Christmas this year.

The billboard, which told them to “just be good for goodness’ sake,” was meant to show Christmas as an inclusive holiday not just for Christians, the group said. Randy Gotovich, spokesman for American Atheists, said it’s perfectly fine to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at the season but added that it has a secular appeal as well — spending time with family, exchanging gifts, and having a meal together.

The message did not go over well with everyone. FOX 21 reported that many Colorado Springs residents were upset at the atheist billboard, with some even calling it offensive. Some groups have even lobbied to have the billboards taken down.

But the atheist display at the Nebraska Capitol building is still set to go on, with just one week left before the Christian nativity display gives way to “Reason This Season.”

http://www.inquisitr.com/2629797/nebraska-atheist-groups-reserve-all-available-display-space-at-state-capitol-for-christmas-kicking-out-christian-nativity-display/

[flowers]

Where is the outrage anymore?

[Sanguine]

I was going to say "God will find a way", but perhaps He expect us to find that way.

[sinkspur]

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't worth much outrage.

Maybe next year Thomas More Society will sign up first.

[aligncare]

Our message is that it’s a secular government and religion has to stay separate from that.

A simplistic and deceptive statement. Atheists never have understood the First Amendment's religious liberty clause.

if you as an individual are religious and you participate in any aspect of public life--private or government work, teachers included--the first Amendment does not compell you to remain silent on the religious aspects of who you are. Government agencies, schools and teachers just cannot proselytize. The Christ word can be uttered in school--or, drawings done of Mohammed--without everyone scurrying to a safe space.

[mountaineer]

The sad thing about atheists is that they really seem to believe they can eliminate God just by holding their collective breath and turning blue. God's still here, still loving these misguided people - and there's nothing they can do about it.

[Sanguine]

Freedom OF religion, not freedom from religion.

[rangerrebew]

Where is the outrage anymore?

In muslim communities, BLM, black panthers, colleges, college students; anywhere Christianity is hated.

[ABX]

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't worth much outrage.

Maybe next year Thomas More Society will sign up first.

It isn't like the Atheist group did anything wrong. They applied for the space all above board. Their freedom to do this is the same freedom that grants anyone else the right to apply for a space.

[aligncare]

It isn't like the Atheist group did anything wrong. They applied for the space all above board. Their freedom to do this is the same freedom that grants anyone else the right to apply for a space.

No one said they did. But if they were truly normal, neighborly folks why not commit to an act of kindness and share the space, why crowd out Christmas?

Don't those meanie atheist care about the sad little faces of neighborhood Christian children searching, searching in vain for their celebratory display? 

[Carling]

It isn't like the Atheist group did anything wrong. They applied for the space all above board. Their freedom to do this is the same freedom that grants anyone else the right to apply for a space.

As is their freedom to be prejudiced against Christians.  I don't see how this helps their cause.  They seem like bigoted jerks to me, and I'm not religious.  I do see that the Christians offered their space to the jerks, and targeting the week of Christmas makes it obvious that this is more anti-Christian than anything else.

[flowers]

In muslim communities, BLM, black panthers, colleges, college students; anywhere Christianity is hated.

Correct. Oh you forgot 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  And most of capital hill too.

[sinkspur]

If the Thomas More Society hadn't gone to the press about this, I bet nobody would have noticed the atheist displays.  State Capitols aren't bustling with activity the week of Christmas.

[jmyrlefuller]

No one said they did. But if they were truly normal, neighborly folks why not commit to an act of kindness and share the space, why crowd out Christmas?

Don't those meanie atheist care about the sad little faces of neighborhood Christian children searching, searching in vain for their celebratory display? 

No, they don't. Actually, they truly believe that those children are brainwashed.

I personally know one of these hardcore atheists (let's put it this way: he's so far atheist he doesn't even acknowledge that Jesus existed as a person, something almost all historians, even the secular ones, believe is likely). His constant bitterness, smarmy assertion of moral and intellecual superiority and general misery give me every reason to have confidence in my faith and the knowledge that whatever the secrets to the universe are, he has no clue of them.

[Fishrrman]

flowers asks:
"Where is the outrage anymore?"

Indeed.
All the more shocking considering this is happening in the Nebraska capitol -- right in the heartland of America.

There's no outrage because I fear that here -- as in Western Europe -- Christians are simply "losing their faith". By the millions.

And as faith fades into darkness, so too does the courage to fight for it.
So does the outrage to call evil for what it is.

Without the underpinnings of faith -- faith in one's God, faith in the future, faith in one's traditional culture, faith in one's racial heritage -- the moral courage to defend such beliefs dissolves.

We lose our resolve to be willing to protect such constructs in the face of withering assault from the left, and now from islam, which intends to eventually devour us all.

This is the greatest reason why The West is in mortal danger.

By the time islam has gathered enough strength to deliver blows upon us that will make The World Trade Center seem pale by comparison, there will be "nothing left inside us" from which to spark the outrage and seek overwhelming vengeance upon the muslim world.

After being struck, we will just sit there, dumbfounded. There will arise calls for "accomodation" with islam. What that means, of course, is submission.

Fight back?
How?

It's not a matter of having the tools, the weapons with which to wage war.
It's having the faith -- yes, FAITH (in ourselves and the righteousness of our cause) to use them.

Will we still be able to see that?
What will we do?

(sigh... drifted off-topic again...)

[Free Vulcan]

No, they don't. Actually, they truly believe that those children are brainwashed.

I personally know one of these hardcore atheists (let's put it this way: he's so far atheist he doesn't even acknowledge that Jesus existed as a person, something almost all historians, even the secular ones, believe is likely). His constant bitterness, smarmy assertion of moral and intellecual superiority and general misery give me every reason to have confidence in my faith and the knowledge that whatever the secrets to the universe are, he has no clue of them.

And it's such irony to watch people like that. They are so absolutist against any religious expression that their belief system effectively becomes it's own religion. Especially since many of them are basically communist and more or less worship the State as the Supreme Being of all reality anyway.

[sinkspur]

It's not as if the Christians didn't have their displays up.

They'll have had them up for THREE WEEKS when Xmas week gets here.

I don't imagine there'll be boatloads of people hanging around the lobby of the Nebraska State Capitol the week of Xmas.

Civilization is not at stake if atheists put up a bunch of stuff that nobody sees.

[Carling]

It's not as if the Christians didn't have their displays up.

They'll have had them up for THREE WEEKS when Xmas week gets here.

I don't imagine there'll be boatloads of people hanging around the lobby of the Nebraska State Capitol the week of Xmas.

Civilization is not at stake if atheists put up a bunch of stuff that nobody sees.

Do you know if nobody visits the state capitol when all the kids are out of school?  How do you know that "nobody" sees it?  What if Christian families have a tradition of going to see that Nativity scene while their kids are out of school? 

Or, are you just defending bigoted atheists as some sort of shtick?  I'd love to see these cowards try to shut down a Muslim Ramadan display, but we all know they would never do that simply because Christians don't respond by lopping of your head.