Long Overdue Repairs

There’s a hole in the wall, where the wind can get in
And it’s been there for fifty-some years
It’s down near the floor, where it hardly gets noticed
Till a chase, when a mouse disappears

When wintertime comes, we can feel the cold air
And remember, that hole is the reason
But then something comes up; it’s forgotten again
And the hole sticks around one more season

So now, fifty years later, I finally thought
I might seal up that hole in my house
But while taking some measurements, strangely enough
I was stopped in my tracks—by a mouse!

“For fifty-some years”, he defiantly squeaked,
“We’ve been using this hole as our door!
Generations of mice have made trips through this hole
And we’re planning a great many more!”

“By leaving this hole as it is for so long
You have ceded all rights to repair it!
To you, it’s a hole, but to us it’s much more,
So the fact is, you’ll just have to share it!”

“This hole you’ve neglected is my hole as well;
Man and mouse have to just get along!”
I listened (astonished a mouse had just talked)
And I quietly told him “You’re wrong.”

A hole in my house is a hole in my house—
Fifty years doesn’t matter at all.
So I picked up my hammer, some nails and some wood
And proceeded to patch up the wall.

There’s a hole in the wall ‘tween the church an the state
And it’s been there for fifty-some years…
[Read more…]

Yeah, But Fundamentalist Atheists Are Just As Bad!

The fundamental atheist—the fire-breathing kind—
Is as radical an entity as any that you’ll find.
He or she’s the mirror image of the faithful they despise
Though they’ll claim they’re vastly different—just another of their lies

An example of the power of the god-belief they lack?
Though we changed the pledge to put in God, they want to change it back!
We put God on all our money, but they want it taken off!
And they never say “God bless you” on the chance you sneeze or cough.

They complain about religion, which itself is quite a shame,
But they never see, their own demands are really just the same!
When we pledge “one nation, under God”, and they refuse to stand
It’s the same as forced compliance, under law, across the land

It’s a crystal-clear agenda, and it’s radical and brash
Like the lunatics who spend their time de-Godding all their cash
Fixing money in a workshop, twenty quarters at a stint
Is the same as printing millions with the power of the mint

You can see, they’re all extremists—fundamentalists, in fact—
Driven solely by beliefs they held, or those they claim they lacked;
But you never will convince them all (and Lord God knows I’ve tried)
That the atheists and faithful are the same on either side!

Over on NPR’s Cosmos and Culture blog, Adam Frank writes about Religion, Science, and Easy Answers (although, strangely enough, the URL says “religion-science-and-no-easy-answers”, and the headline bar says “Religion, Science And Magic Fairy Cellphones”; I guess there was some toying around with different possibilities). Immediately, in the comments, came the predictions, and realities, of what commenters would say.

So today’s verse comes courtesy of those who see atheists as just as extreme as fundamentalists. Even the small percentage of us who actually do cross out “God” in our money’s “In God We Trust” (as I’ve said before, I sometimes go a bit further and use my engraver to remove God from my coins as well) could not possibly be the equivalent of a the system that imposed that God on an entire population. Refusing to say the pledge cannot possibly the equivalent of requiring the nation’s schoolchildren to recite it. If the act of removing God from something is seen as radical, surely (equal and opposite, and all that) the act of putting God there in the first place must be seen as radical as well, and on a far grander scale.

Do They Never Learn? Elmhurst, Meet Cranston.

We like to tell you “character counts”
In big displays, and small amounts,
With that in mind, I’m proud to announce
The speaker for this year
This speaker stood up for your rights
In one of many legal fights;
She’s one of freedom’s shining lights
Oh, yes—and she’s your peer.

A student, just like one of you
Who saw a task she had to do
And bravely, boldly, saw it through
Despite some daunting odds.
This student knew that what she saw—
That banner—was against the law.
The school board’s thinking had a flaw:
They thought their view was God’s

But Jessica’s an atheist—
A point the people haven’t missed—
And she was right; the laws insist
The town must heed the wall…
The wall the locals seem to hate
That separates the church and state
A bruised and battered wall, of late,
But one that serves us all

When church and state are intertwined
Best hope your faith’s the favored kind;
God help your faithful, should you find
You bet against the king.
But when your faith and his collides,
Or privileged status somehow slides,
Then thank your stars that on your side’s
An Evil Little Thing. [Read more…]

In God We MUST

There is God along my drive to work—the church upon the hill
There is God in every pocket; He’s on every dollar bill
But I saw an empty courthouse wall—it nearly made me ill!
So you know, I’m only doing what I must!

There was godless empty space there, so I had to take a stand,
And in similar locations all across our blessed land
Every courthouse in the country, if they meet with my demand
Will display, for all to see, “In God We Trust”

It reminds us all that, really, it was God who gave us rights
So we’ll put His name upon the walls, in everybody’s sights
And never mind the atheists—they always lose these fights—
There’s no reason we should hear them out at all

Now, in near 300 counties, there’s a useful little perk:
Every councilman and woman, every jurist, every clerk
Has the right to be a Christian, and to spend the day at work
With “In God We Trust” emblazoned on the wall

Via the Tulare County Atheists, a report on In God We Trust–America, whose mission is

“To Promote Patriotism
By Encouraging Elected Officials
To Legally Display Our National Motto,
“In God We Trust”
In Every City, County and State Chamber in America”

IGWT-A is the work of Jacquie Sullivan, who expected more resistance to the idea of promoting God in a culture where only 80% of her fellow citizens are Christians:

Sullivan said she at first expected that “In God We Trust” would be challenged in court, but so far no lawsuit has targeted a city or county.
Cities frequently ignore her letters urging adoption, Sullivan said, but if the motto gets on the agenda it almost always passes.

Why on earth would anyone object?

The most common argument against it is that the “establishment” clause of the First Amendment bans the government from getting involved in religion, she said.

“It’s a misconception. I’m not a scholar, but it was referring to not having a state church,” Sullivan said. “This is a free-speech issue.”
In Kings County, Iraq War veteran Richard Leach, 29, spoke against the motto proposal at the board of supervisors meeting.
“Government should be a neutral zone for people who are believers and those who are not,” Leach said. “It alienates a certain portion of the population.”

She’s not a scholar on this, but… The proper punctuation on that sentence should be a period after “this”.

As the Tulare County Atheists report notes, the placing of the motto is (or would be) an example of “ceremonial deism”, a spin that allows clear but historic violations of the establishment clause to continue, constitutionally, under the argument that this mention of “God” does not actually refer to the Christian God, or any other particular god, but rather to some impotent bit of fluff, a cardboard cutout god that’s mostly there to add three syllables between “one nation” and “indivisible”.

Back when I was a Christian, I’d have found this offensive.

The Atheist Invocation

It’s a simple invocation
And delivered from the heart;
Just a message to the public
As the meeting’s set to start
For the welfare of all people,
Seeing dignity and worth
He invoked, not God in Heaven,
But the council, here on Earth

But the people didn’t get it—
Or they thought that it was odd—
“Why’s he praying to the council?
When you pray, you pray to God!”
It’s an unfamiliar concept
And it only goes to show
That their “normal” invocations
Are religious, and should go

Story after the jump: [Read more…]

Atheist Gestapo Bullies Another City into Removing Crosses

It’s the atheist Gestapo, and they’re coming to your town!
If you have a cross in public, they are here to tear it down!
Look at Steubenville, Ohio—they removed a cross from view,
Which was just the sort of horror that the Nazis used to do—
They defend the first amendment, through the power of the court;
Just another Nazi tactic, I am saddened to report.
It’s so typical of bullies that they have to get their way
By denying the majority the right to have a say.
The atheist Gestapo trample Christian rights with pride…
And the damnedest thing about it is… the law is on their side. [Read more…]

Look The Other Way, Redux

Via Ed, yet another establishment clause violation, and another group of privileged people helpfully telling us to look the other way so we aren’t offended by their breaking the law.

When the people face the loss of their local civic cross
They will gather in a circle and they’ll pray
Though it’s twenty-six feet tall, you can hear the common call:
“You don’t like it, then just look the other way!”… [Read more…]