No, of course not.

But it seems that some people persist in thinking otherwise.

Here are three recent cases that reminded me of this:

Indianapolis Schools Block Atheist Sites (Ed Brayton/Dispatches From The Culture Wars; Nov 17)

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has written a letter to the Indianapolis Public Schools superintendent demanding that they change a written policy that requires all “alternative spirituality” websites to be blocked from computers in their schools. The policy includes a list of sites that must be blocked, including this:

Sites that promote and provide information on religions such as Wicca, Witchcraft or Satanism. Occult practices, atheistic views, vodoo rituals or any form of mysticism are represented here. Includes sites that endorse or offer methods, means of instruction, or other resources to affect or influence real events through the use of spells, incantations, curses and magic powers. This category includes sites which discuss or deal with paranormal or unexplained events.

What a bizarre amalgamation of unrelated things that is. What in the world is atheism doing lumped together with witchcraft in the first place? It’s not as if atheists believe in witchcraft any more than they do in Christianity. Oh, that’s right – to the fundamentalist mind, there is no distinction; anything non-Christian is evil and all in exactly the same way. And of course, praying to God to affect or influence real events is totally different from casting a spell or sprinkling chicken blood on the ground.

This policy is doomed. I can’t imagine a court upholding it. It is doomed both on grounds of vagueness and on grounds of viewpoint discrimination. If the school district is smart, they will immediately change the policy. If they’re dumb — or they get really bad advice from their lawyers — they’ll end up losing a court battle and having to pay out a lot of money in attorneys’ fees.

Atheist Tree Of Knowledge Under Attack (Staks Rosch/Philadelphia Atheist Examiner; Dec 3)

WEST CHESTER, Pennsylvania: For the last three years, a local group of atheists, skeptics, rationalists, humanists, freethinkers, etc. have joined in the winter festivities by putting up a display representing their values along side other displays in front of the Chester County Courthouse in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The display, designed by the Margaret Downey, president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia (FSGP) is an evergreen tree decorated with laminated book covers from varying subject matters. The Tree of Knowledge is a symbol of humanist values. It represents knowledge, education, science, philosophy, morality, diversity, and of course curiosity….

The Bible (also represented as an ornament on the Tree of Knowledge) references a tree of the knowledge of the fruit of good and evil. According to the Genesis story, Eve ate from the fruit out of curiosity and temptation and thus damned all of humankind with the original sin punishable by eternal torture in Hell. The FSGP Tree of Knowledge of course does play into that symbolism, but it doesn’t rely solely on it. While there are multiple books with morality, ethics, and the nature of good & evil represented on the Tree, it also represents our humanist values and our break from the Abrahamic tradition. It is not an attack on religion, but rather an expression of an alternative set of values (i.e. knowledge and reason).

Ever since the Tree of Knowledge first joined the Christmas Tree, The Crèche, and the Menorah, this display has been the center of controversy. Many Christians have claimed that the inclusion of humanist values next to the Jesus Crèche is an attempt to “steal” Christmas. It seems that many Christians are of the opinion that Christians own the winter season. They do not.

Winter is a time of year in which the days get shorter and significantly colder. People are prone to depression during this time of year and as a result, the idea of bright colorful celebrations and gift giving started long before Christianity. Atheists aren’t trying to “steal” Christmas any more than Christians stole Saturnalia… oh wait, never mind.

Over the last two years, the Tree of Knowledge has been vandalized by loving Christians and demonized in the local newspapers and blogs in some of the most hateful ways. This year, the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia had to fight new regulations designed to bully their display off of the courthouse lawn. One new restriction was on the height of the display. No display can be higher then 10 feet tall… except for the Christmas Tree. Clearly the County endorses one religion over all other religious viewpoints. So instead of the 18 foot Tree of Knowledge, FSGP had to get a smaller 10 foot tree.

Another regulation on when the displays could go up was apparently changed at the last minute so that the Crèche could get the ‘first come first serve’ space preference and push the now smaller Tree of Knowledge to a less visible spot under the branch of a larger nearby tree.

It now seems that a Christian call campaign has begun asking believers to contact the County Commissioners office to complain about the Tree of Knowledge and demand its immediate removal.

It seems that atheists, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics, etc. have to fight for every inch of ground. Non-theists now make up 15% of all Americans and yet we are being bullied out of the public square because Christians believe they have the Monopoly on the entire month of December. No serious argument can be made claiming that the Tree of Knowledge is in any way offensive or purposefully confrontational or provocative.

The Tree of Knowledge isn’t an attack on religion it is a symbol of humanist values. But at a time in which the inclusive greeting of ‘Happy Holiday’s’ is seen as offensive to some Christians (Bill O’Reilly), we shouldn’t be surprised that so many Christians will attack the inclusion of a Tree of Knowledge.

You can learn more about this controversy here.

To learn more about last year’s Tree of Knowledge, see the entry I posted on Dec 11, 2008.

State Constitution Cited By Those Who Would Bar Atheist From Holding Public Office (Jordan Schrader & Dale Neal/Citizens-Times.com; Dec 7)

The way critics of Cecil Bothwell read the North Carolina constitution, Bothwell has no business serving on Asheville City Council.

Bothwell, whom voters elected to the council last month, is an avowed atheist.

“I’m not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he’s an atheist, he’s not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president.

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

But the federal courts have found that religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. constitution.

A challenge based on the clause wouldn’t hold up “since the U.S. Constitution trumps the North Carolina Constitution,” said Bob Orr, executive director of the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law.

“I think there’s any number of federal cases that would view this as an imposition of a religious qualification and violate separation of church and state,” said Orr, a former state Supreme Court justice.

Edgerton – known for his years of promoting “Southern heritage” by standing on streets decked out in a Confederate soldier’s uniform and holding a Confederate flag – maintains that City Council should hold off swearing Bothwell into office until the constitutional question can be resolved.

“If they go ahead, then the city of Asheville and the board of elections could be liable for a lawsuit,” Edgerton said.

Bothwell did not immediately reply to requests for comment, but he has said his spiritual beliefs focus on “the golden rule” as opposed to a deity.

Other state constitutions have similar provisions that specifically bar atheists from holding public office. To learn more about one of them, see the entry I posted on June 16.