Sunday, May 31, 2015

This ain’t right

In Arizona, Atheist and Christian nutballs organized a protest outside of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. The protesters, some visibly armed with guns, used graphic language, signs and flags to express their hatred for Islam and its adherents. The protesters, numbering in the hundreds, were there to make a point, but I’m not sure it is the point they wanted to make. American “patriots” are assholes. America is based on the principle that its citizens can worship who and what they please. How can one be a patriot and miss that?

A counter-protester, an atheist named Alex Lofgren, said it best, “Nobody deserves to be to scared to pray in this country. Even as an atheist I support peoples right to pray freely…”

Local Christians held signs reading “Love your neighbor” (Mark 12:31)

"The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
- via biblehub.com

As I watched the news, I yelled at the TV. This event is wrong for the same reason that I don’t protest the folly of belief in front of Christian churches. What people believe is none of my business. What people do, like attempting to stop me from drawing Muhammed or tying to stop me from buying booze on Sunday, is another matter. I’ll protest the hell out of that, but you won’t catch me standing outside your church with an assault rifle yelling, “Fuck Christianity!”

Edit: I just found out that the organizer, Jon Ritzheimer, is an atheist. I think I’m even more upset know. He reminds me of a few anti-religion nutballs I know.

Comments (7)

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The reporting I've seen suggests that the primary organizer, Jon Ritzheimer, is an atheist. It does appear that he was joined by several Christians, but we can't dismiss the possibility that some present were atheists.
1 reply · active 518 weeks ago
That’s horrible. Thanks. I’ll have to look into it. I feel more posts coming.
I agree with most of what you are saying. However, I will say that people are protesting against Islam as they see it as a threat and that thought is absolutely justified.
4 replies · active 517 weeks ago
It always comes down to how you do it. An armed presence outside of a place of worship does not send the right message. It threatens the people inside. Plus the whole point of the protest was to provoke violence, which itself seems counter productive. How does that help.

I’ll join a peaceful protest with a sign saying my right to free speech trumps your right to limit my speech, but “Fuck Islam”… not so much.
I cannot fault that. As I was saying over at AthiestRev, why even bring a gun as the cops were there so guns were accounted for.
Really bad optics: angry White guys with guns. It is hard to blame the people inside for being afraid.
I know myself well. Even given where I am on free speech issues, I would have stood against the protesters. They were bullies.

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