Mayor Margie Rice: Knowing Atheists Exist Makes Me Sick

[cleanhippie]

The Orange County Coalition for Reason has put up a billboard in Orange County and it's one of the more innocuous ones: "Don't Believe in God? You are not alone." As we have seen elsewhere, though, even the mildest expression of atheism or support for atheists is too much for some Christians. Mayor Margie Rice, for example, is only grudgingly willing to let the billboard exist and is actually made ill at the thought of atheists advertising in her community.

--snip--

"That billboard is going to turn my stomach every time I drive by," she said. "But there is not much I can do about it. I guess it's fine to make a statement, but if I could help it, I would not allow it."

--snip--

So Margie Rice gets ill every time she is confronted with the knowledge that there are atheists in her community and, what's more, that these atheists don't have the decency to stay in the closet! What a wonderful political and community leader she is -- just the sort of Christian who helps give all Christians a bad name. She's basically saying that atheists aren't welcome in Orange County and that she doesn't regard them as equal citizens. Neither atheists nor secularists nor anyone who truly cares about equality should ever vote for or support Margie Rice.

http://atheism.about.com/b/2011/05/16/mayor-margie-rice-knowing-atheists-exist-makes-me-sick.htm


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[Odin2005]

1. Proof that they are offended by our very existance.

[Warpy]

3. You mean you didn't know that already?

We live without binkies. They're terrified we'll take their binkies away. The fact that we don't want binkies, not even theirs, is completely lost on them because they can't conceive of being able to cope with life without a binkie.

That's why they get all twisted up when reminded there are atheists in the world. It's emotional, on a visceral level, and we threaten their security in the most basic way.

[elocs]

8. "They"? Which "they" in particular might this be? n/t

[Odin2005]

28. The Religious Right.

[The Wielding Truth]

2. Everyone in America has the right to believe what and how they wish.

If she does not continue to respect that she should lose her right to represent any American.

[Scuba]

4. Zero tolerance. For anyone not "just like me".

[Odin2005]

5. Oops, wrong thread.

[and-justice-for-all]

6. Well how unamerican is that?? very theocratic too

knowing that there are 'adults' who believe they have invisible friends turns my stomach too, but I would not say that their rights should be revoked.

[MineralMan]

7. "Pleased to meet you Mayor Rice. "

"I'm an atheist and this is a barf bag. Can I watch?"

[humblebum]

9. When an atheist says something like this its called enlightenment, but

if a religious person says the same about atheism, it's discrimination. Give me a break!

[darkstar3]

11. Oh really?

And where did an atheist say that knowing Christians exist turns their stomach? Atheists have a problem with believers treading on their rights, and are sickened when they see the Constitution pissed upon by believers, but I have yet to see an atheist post a message or say something in public that told everyone they were sickened by the mere existence of Christians.

[laconicsax]

14. More positivism, I see.

Clearly you believe that those claims don't exist if they can't be tasted, touched, smelled, heard, seen, or sensed. Why can't you understand that logical empiricism is just a failed epistemology.

:hi:

[humblebum]

15. "Why can't you understand that logical empiricism is just a failed epistemology."

Um? I have been saying that it is a "failed epistemology" for a very long time and so have most scholars, but it is that epistemology that continues to be used by many atheists and others i.e. Dawkins, Hawking, etc. It has a place, but it also has built in limitations that make its usage not applicable to all situations.

Do you understand that Logical Positivism is the same thing as Logical Empiricism?

[laconicsax]

17. I never said you did.

You might want to do something about that paranoia. First you were seeing "militant atheists" in emoticons, now you're imagining accusations.

[humblebum]

21. Excuse me, but I believe that was your statement.

Must have been a nothing that looked like a something.

[laconicsax]

24. I wasn't talking to you or about you.

My comment read:

More positivism, I see. Clearly you believe that those claims don't exist if they can't be tasted, touched, smelled, heard, seen, or sensed. Why can't you understand that logical empiricism is just a failed epistemology.

Seems that you imagined yourself into my comment.

Oh no! Here come a bunch of militant atheists!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[humblebum]

25. Yeh, Right. nt

[LeftishBrit]

12. If an atheist mayor of a town went around saying that Christians made them sick, I would also say t

that was discriminatory. If you hold political office, it's your job to represent *everyone* and not act as though some people are beyond the pale just because of their religious beliefs or nonbeliefs.

[cleanhippie]

13. You forget, IOKIYAC.

Its OK if you're a christian.

[humblebum]

16. I never said it was right, but it is very common, especially here on DU,

to give total ascent or applause when someone recognized as a public personality openly ridicules religion and religious people.

[LeftishBrit]

18. There's a difference between a 'public personality'...

and someone holding political office. People have the right to publicly ridicule or condemn all kinds of views and behaviour, and one may agree with them or not, but it's their right. But a public *official* needs to treat all their citizens impartially, when acting in their official capacity. Indeed, if a politician stated that a group that constituted a large proportion of their electorate 'made them sick', they probably would not get re-elected. Therefore it is cowardly for them to do so with regard to a small minority group.

[humblebum]

19. So you are saying then that public officials cannot voice personal opinions?

Actually that would probably be a first.

[darkstar3]

20. Public officials cannot endorse religion.

Therefore, as is usual with nearly every topic tackled by a public official, they must take care in what they say.

[humblebum]

26. So how was she endorsing religion? NT

[jeff47]

27. You really don't see it?

I have trouble believing that you are literate enough to post, but dense enough to not understand.

She is claiming atheists make her ill. How, exactly, is that not endorsing religion?

[humblebum]

30. Raw oysters make me ill, but that doesn't meam I'm endorsing

McDonald's.

[jeff47]

35. You are endorsing not eating oysters.

Please, stop digging. You're just making yourself look foolish.

[LeftishBrit]

31. Endorsing religion wasn't even the half of it

It was her expressing revulsion (not disagreement, but physical revulsion) against atheists that was the problem.

[LeftishBrit]

29. No, that is totally twisting my words

Public officials can say that they believe in Christianity, or Islam, or Judaism or atheism, or any other religion. They can say that society would be better if religion played more of a part (much as I disagree) or if it were more secular (with which I agree).

What is unprofessional here is her stating that the sentiment (which was simply that atheists aren't alone) *made her feel ill*. It was not just a disagreement; it was a *condemnation* of a group of people. It's like a politician saying that black people, or Asians, or white people, or immigrants, or gays, or Catholics, or Protestants, or Jews, or Muslims *make her feel ill*.

[Silent3]

33. Criticism IS NOT CENSORSHIP

Criticizing what someone says IS NOT THE SAME THING as saying someone CAN'T say it.

When will this f*cking stupid meme die? If people really don't understand this difference, they're idiots. If they do understand the difference, but continue to speak as if they don't, they're dishonest.

As for what a mayor or any other public official SHOULD or SHOULD NOT say (with absolutely no bearing on what they are PERMITTED to say or have a RIGHT to say), they should remember that when they speak they don't speak only for themselves but for the office they represent. Some personal opinions SHOULD be kept personal.

It's well accepted, for example, that Republicans aren't crazy about Democrats and vice versa. That's not nearly as touchy an issue as religious differences. Yet it would still be stupid and rude for a Democratic politician to say that every time he saw a Republican billboard it made him sick, especially if that Republican billboard did nothing more than remind people that Republicans exist.

[Taitertots]

34. You should have no problem finding an example of this n/t

[mzteris]

10. Well, margie

all those delusional people running things makes ME sick, ya know?

[dimbear]

22. She finally settles the silly question whether atheism is a religion.

If atheism were a religion, even an unpopular one, she would be down on her knees begging for forgiveness for her bigotry.

That won't happen.


(edited to use the correct pedantic subjunctive)

[onager]

23. A-A-A-R-R-R-G-H! Xers want to MARKET to us because of this...

I was curious about where Margie Rice reigns. She's the mayor of Westminster, one of those O.C. bedroom communities nearly indistinguishable from its surrounding neighbors - Garbage Garden Grove, Stanton, Buena Park, etc. etc.

Every once in a while I go down to that 'hood. Weirdly, you can tell you're in Westminster because most of the street signs are written in a heavy "Germanic" Gothic script. You might think the place houses a lot of either bikers or Nazis, and you may be right. But nearly half the residents of Westminster are Asian, mostly Vietnamese. The city's local nickname is "Little Saigon."

Oh yes, the rant topic...sorry...

John Furman, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, which is just blocks from where the billboard will be situated, called it a "foolish" move because The Bible says, "The fool says in his heart there is no God."

John, you god-addled dope, what that verse REALLY says is - even back in the Bronze Age, we atheists already existed and were pissing off the believers. I suspect the verse originated after some dusty ignoramus of a prophet staggered into town after 40 days of praying in the desert. And Gawd didn't show up, as usual.

But one of the first people he saw in town was a smiling, relaxed, bathed and well-fed non-believer. And the prophet spake, and said: "I'll show that mofo. I'll write a Bible verse and it will become a Universal Truth and everybody will believe it. Just like that stuff about the talking snake, the big flood, and pi equaling three."

"My first reaction to it is, yes, I'm offended," he said. "But I do support tolerance for what others believe in. I hope it will give us an opportunity to reach out to people who don't believe in God. I see it as an evangelical opportunity."

Pfft! You're selling a tired, shop-worn old product that's 2000 years past its shelf-life. But there is a bright side - you may hook a few of us if you hand out guaranteed million-dollar-winning lottery tickets. For a million bucks, I'd probably let Ted Haggard baptize me nekkid in a vat of honey.

From the original Orange County Register article: http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-05-04/news/29514343_1_billboard-atheists-mayor-margie-rice

BTW, the OC Register was founded by a real old-timey conservative, Raymond Hoiles. During the Sixties, Hoiles horrified his right-wing readers in O.C. by taking his conservatism to its logical conclusions - at the height of the Vietnam War he called the military draft "slavery." He also thought the government had no business outlawing any drug, since the citizens have an inalienable right to self-medication.

[tavalon]

32. Small, small mind

I'm a pagan. I don't give a flying fuck whether one believes in a sky daddy or a sky mommy or thor or the great nothingness. It's their life and therefore their choices. To be anything else but that would just be asinine.

[Taitertots]

36. A Christian that is a bigot against Atheists and a community of so-called christians supporting them

If/when they reelect her it will be obvious that they are all bigots for supporting her.