Thread: NBC and the "Pledge of Allegiance"

Originally Posted by lutherf

It never ceases to amaze me how the atheists have managed to get so many people so scared of repercussions for evincing a faith in God. One can only assume that someone at NBC was so concerned that using the term "under God" would be offensive to so many viewers that they edited out the phrase.

I've often wondered what drives this fear of religion.

Many atheists are the same ones clamoring on about free speech when it reality, they only want it if it doesn't offend their delicate senses. I've learned to laugh at the absurdity most of the time because they get so bent out of shape at the mere mention of God, they act like it's going to scar them for life to hear His name. All I can say is bless their lil' pea-pickin' hearts!

Originally Posted by DL-44

Unfortunately you really sum up the opinions of many liberals who would gladly see this country burn to the ground. For the life of me I can't figure out why you stay.

If the pledge is what's keeping us from burning to the ground, we have far larger issues at hand...

Originally Posted by lutherf

It never ceases to amaze me how the atheists have managed to get so many people so scared of repercussions for evincing a faith in God. One can only assume that someone at NBC was so concerned that using the term "under God" would be offensive to so many viewers that they edited out the phrase.

I've often wondered what drives this fear of religion.

What, exactly, does this have to do with atheism? As has been pointed out, the original pledge had no reference to God and it was written by a Baptist minister, which is not an atheist.

Originally Posted by Mrs. M

Many atheists are the same ones clamoring on about free speech when it reality, they only want it if it doesn't offend their delicate senses. I've learned to laugh at the absurdity most of the time because they get so bent out of shape at the mere mention of God, they act like it's going to scar them for life to hear His name. All I can say is bless their lil' pea-pickin' hearts!

I must admit to having taken some spiteful pleasure in praying for some of these dolts myself!

Originally Posted by Speakeasy

If the pledge is what's keeping us from burning to the ground, we have far larger issues at hand...

That's not what I said at all ...

Originally Posted by DL-44

That's not what I said at all ...

You related the idea of giving up on the pledge to wanting to see the country burn to the ground.

Originally Posted by Speakeasy

What, exactly, does this have to do with atheism? As has been pointed out, the original pledge had no reference to God and it was written by a Baptist minister, which is not an atheist.

I'm well aware of the original version of the pledge but that doesn't have anything to do with the issue today.

More and more I'm hearing folks crying about being "subjected to" religious speech and I'm seeing more and more institutions caving in to that blathering. As far as it being an atheist issue.....well, it isn't the Muslims or the Buddhists or the Zoroastrians that are complaining about the use of the word "God". It's the atheists who are doing the bitching and it's absolutely hilarious to see folks wanting to be protected from the pretty much universally accepted notion of the inherent right to free speech in the public domain.

I've often wondered what drives this fear of religion.

Simple answer:

It's not the belief in a higher authority that bothers us, it's how people behave in relationship to it.


Because you see, far too many theists believe that we must all be the same and must be made to believe in their deity, by any means possible.

It wouldn't be so bad if people kept it to themselves and in the Churches.

But for the most part, you get on the extreme side people like Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church (The God hates fags guy), violent pro-lifers who bomb clinics and others put prices on the head of any doctor who performs an abortion for any reason what so ever, and other extremists, and people who go violently nuts whenever their prophet is illustrated.

On the not so extremist sides, you've got people who believe that their, and only their religion, should be taught in public schools as a fact. Such as the fight to institutionalize Intelligent Design in lieu of Evolution, and people won't be voted for in an office if they aren't religious in some way, and not allowing Homosexuals to be married ebcause the Bible says so and that's good enough for them.

And in short, theists can't understand that there are people who just don't want to be theists themselves, and want to live their own lives.

But theists can't understand that. The vast majority of them are bullies and control freaks who think they are better than everybody else because they follow a higher power, and that they must make everybody the same as them. What must be true for them must be true for everybody else and if not must be made to be true.

Hence, forcing an entire country of hundreds of millions of people to take a pledge that says things like "Under God" and "In God We Trust".

But of course, they can never see that. People have a bad habit of never seeing what they do to other people, even if it's pointed out to them. People only see what other people do. And they will never see the harm in what they're doing and will always believe that they are right and only they are justified in forcing people to conform to their beliefs.

Originally Posted by Mrs. M

Many atheists are the same ones clamoring on about free speech when it reality, they only want it if it doesn't offend their delicate senses. I've learned to laugh at the absurdity most of the time because they get so bent out of shape at the mere mention of God, they act like it's going to scar them for life to hear His name. All I can say is bless their lil' pea-pickin' hearts!

It's worse when people who should know better choose not to for ideological reasons. I don't care if the Shultz's want to keep their son home from his high school graduation because they're terrified he could hear a prayer or someone make allusion to prayer but it's reprehensible when Judge Fred Biery orders a ban on saying a prayer or prayer-like words because the Shultzs would suffer irreparable harm if someone said the word "amen".

Kind of like that saying the word fuck should be banned because it causes people irreparable harm as well.

Funny, that.

Originally Posted by Golden Cabal

But of course, they can never see that. People have a bad habit of never seeing what they do to other people, even if it's pointed out to them.

And what, exactly, are we doing to you?

Originally Posted by Golden Cabal

Simple answer:

It's not the belief in a higher authority that bothers us, it's how people behave in relationship to it.


Because you see, far too many theists believe that we must all be the same and must be made to believe in their deity, by any means possible.

It wouldn't be so bad if people kept it to themselves and in the Churches.

But for the most part, you get on the extreme side people like Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church (The God hates fags guy), violent pro-lifers who bomb clinics and others put prices on the head of any doctor who performs an abortion for any reason what so ever, and other extremists, and people who go violently nuts whenever their prophet is illustrated.

On the not so extremist sides, you've got people who believe that their, and only their religion, should be taught in public schools as a fact. Such as the fight to institutionalize Intelligent Design in lieu of Evolution, and people won't be voted for in an office if they aren't religious in some way, and not allowing Homosexuals to be married ebcause the Bible says so and that's good enough for them.

And in short, theists can't understand that there are people who just don't want to be theists themselves, and want to live their own lives.

But theists can't understand that. The vast majority of them are bullies and control freaks who think they are better than everybody else because they follow a higher power, and that they must make everybody the same as them. What must be true for them must be true for everybody else and if not must be made to be true.

Hence, forcing an entire country of hundreds of millions of people to take a pledge that says things like "Under God" and "In God We Trust".

But of course, they can never see that. People have a bad habit of never seeing what they do to other people, even if it's pointed out to them. People only see what other people do. And they will never see the harm in what they're doing and will always believe that they are right and only they are justified in forcing people to conform to their beliefs.

First of all, nobody is "forced" to say anything or pledge anything. There isn't some "political officer" in the back of a classroom taking names of people who don't recite the pledge and no names are being collected to turn over to the "reeducation corps".

Second, you're concerned that people want their point of view to be expressed? Tough shit. Everyone wants their point of view expressed and if you line up 100 people you'll get 100 different points of view even from a relatively homogeneous group. Why should the POV of an atheist get any kind of preemption over that of a theist?

Third, I can list screwballs all day long too. Fred Phelps doesn't represent anyone other than Fred Phelps and a few others who choose to let him represent them. Osama bin Laden is the same in that respect and so was Stalin who was willing to put a bullet in your head for believing in an organized religion. Crazy is crazy and doesn't have a whole lot to do with any expressed ideology. In those cases the ideology is merely a conveyance for the crazy and if it wasn't "god" as the vehicle then it might well be cold tuna salad in wheat bread.

Originally Posted by DL-44

Unfortunately you really sum up the opinions of many liberals who would gladly see this country burn to the ground. For the life of me I can't figure out why you stay.

I would leave but there is not a single country on Earth that allows American immigrants. I am trapped here. Therefore, I will work to make this country more civilized which starts by putting the religious right in it's place.