Assumption:

[disEnchanted]

I live in the bible belt and it's amazing to me how many people think that everyone around them is a christian. I was attending a seminar recently and while on a break, I overheard a young woman loudly say, "It's not like I was an atheist or anything." As I listened more closely, I realized she was telling a story about her former christian college. It seems that they'd become very strict about something and the atheist comment was her answer.

 

Now, would she have made that comment if she knew there was an atheist standing just inches away? I don't know. I didn't say anything but now I wish I had. She, like most everyone I know, honestly doesn't realize that saying "atheist" that way is just like uttering any other type of slur.

 

Okay, just wanted to rant. Thanks.

[AgnosticBob AtheistPants]

I live in the bible belt and it's amazing to me how many people think that everyone around them is a christian. I was attending a seminar recently and while on a break, I overheard a young woman loudly say, "It's not like I was an atheist or anything." As I listened more closely, I realized she was telling a story about her former christian college. It seems that they'd become very strict about something and the atheist comment was her answer.

 

Now, would she have made that comment if she knew there was an atheist standing just inches away? I don't know. I didn't say anything but now I wish I had. She, like most everyone I know, honestly doesn't realize that saying "atheist" that way is just like uttering any other type of slur.

 

Okay, just wanted to rant. Thanks.

 

I feel your pain. I only escaped the bible belt about three years ago. Prior to that, I was there for ten long years. Of course about seven of those were spent under the reigns of "the almighty".

 

If you had said anything about being an atheist, they would most likely have just demurred any further conversation on the subject until you were out of earshot. There no doubt would then have been some "under the breath" mutterings about things like "I didn't come from no monkey!"

 

[godlessgrrl]

What always threw me whenever I visited the Bible Belt was that the third question out of anyone's mouth, whenever they were getting to know you, was always "What church do you attend?" (After "what's your name" and "what do you do for a living".)

 

Out this way, a question like that would be unspeakably rude. Elsewhere, it's a matter of course.

[Lycorth]

It's understandable; they're Xians and so is everyone they know, and they're generally not knowledgeable about other beliefs or positions, so naturally they expect everyone else to be of like disposition. They're just wee little humans, after all.

 

Sure, though, it's annoying. Living on the edge of the Babble Belt, I am a little more aware of that now than I used to be, but people generally don't ask me about religious things.

[R. S. Martin]

What always threw me whenever I visited the Bible Belt was that the third question out of anyone's mouth, whenever they were getting to know you, was always "What church do you attend?" (After "what's your name" and "what do you do for a living".)

 

Out this way, a question like that would be unspeakably rude. Elsewhere, it's a matter of course.

 

Boy of boy do I know! When you said the third question--I knew it would be "What church do you go to?"

 

There was a time between my last regular church attendance and deconversion. I would say, "I haven't been to church in a long time." There would be an uncomfortable silence and then things would move on. Here is the city.

 

A major exception was when I was talking with a former friend from a small town. I didn't give it a thought but when she heard my standard answer the conversation nearly ended. It never got back to what it was before. It was as though I had blatantly stated that I am an atheist. And I wasn't. I tried explaining my problems with theology and nothing made any difference. Some months later she and several other former friends visited me. They had changed churches in the meantime and I REALLY wanted to hear about their experience.

 

They would give stunted answers to my questions but no more than they absolutely had to say not to appear rude. We ate in a park next to some water where geese and ducks with their babies were moving about. They focused completely on the concrete--the ducks, the geese, the other beauties of spring in the park. It took me a long time to figure out why the stunted answers and finally I remembered that conversation six months earlier. I guess they had written me off. Not going to church equalled being an unbeliever. Oh the assumptions!

[Eccles]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

[Jun]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

 

"Beware Christians With Guns."

[Robbobrob]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

I think Massachusetts would be one of the first states to leave if it ever gets to that. We are not going to become Suspenders to the Bible Belt.

[Japedo]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

 

Please don't confuse the Buybull belt with the rest of the country. 'Godless' New England, and the 'liberal' left coast is vastly different then Alabama and Mississippi. The terms Godless and Liberal are names the buybull belt has labeled us.

[Lycorth]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

 

Please don't confuse the Buybull belt with the rest of the country. 'Godless' New England, and the 'liberal' left coast is vastly different then Alabama and Mississippi. The terms Godless and Liberal are names the buybull belt has labeled us.

 

Very true. Only certain sections of the US are still obsessed with Xianity. In many others, Xianity is either nominal or nonexistent, and having lived most of my life in the northeast portion of the US (New Jersey and Massachusetts mostly), I can verify that those regions are about as Xian as a bag of potting soil.

[Purple]

What a sick country you Americans live in. Trouble is that you wont do anything about it and if you tried you would suffer the same fate the Confederacy suffered. The USA should be called the UCSA: United Christian States of America.

 

Please don't confuse the Buybull belt with the rest of the country. 'Godless' New England, and the 'liberal' left coast is vastly different then Alabama and Mississippi. The terms Godless and Liberal are names the buybull belt has labeled us.

 

Very true. Only certain sections of the US are still obsessed with Xianity. In many others, Xianity is either nominal or nonexistent, and having lived most of my life in the northeast portion of the US (New Jersey and Massachusetts mostly), I can verify that those regions are about as Xian as a bag of potting soil.

 

 

I think people outside the US, especialy in Europe, often, not always don't get the vast difference of culture, people and attitude state to state in the US. Seriously saying Kentucky's culture and people are the same as the culture and people of the New England states would be like saying Germans and the English are pretty much the same.

[disEnchanted]

Lucky!!! (that you don't live in a christian majority area) It's so hard to hear about christianity EVERY DAY! It wreaks havoc on my nerves!

[centauri]

Only certain sections of the US are still obsessed with Xianity. In many others, Xianity is either nominal or nonexistent, and having lived most of my life in the northeast portion of the US (New Jersey and Massachusetts mostly), I can verify that those regions are about as Xian as a bag of potting soil.

 

You might this interesting because it's a blasphemy law that's still on the books in Massachusetts.

This law can be dusted off and enforced in the future, and I won't be surprised if it is.

Christian zealots are always looking for ways to expand their kingdom.

 

CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER

 

Chapter 272: Section 36. Blasphemy

 

Section 36. Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

 

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/272-36.htm

[centauri]

Prior post should read:

You might find this interesting because it's a blasphemy law that's still on the books in Massachusetts.

[junkpoet]

maybe i am just drunk, but i am really optimistic about changes in the bible belt. no, seriously. i was raised a preachers boy in oklahoma and i deconverted through reading biblical textual criticisim, mythology, and biology. i have many friends, most my age or younger, who are also atheists and were raised in a church here in oklahoma. i think there are many sceptics in the pews every sunday, and a few in the pulpit. we just have to keep having conversations. it is obviously an individual choice, but i believe that athesits should be open about their non-theistic beliefs; not to the point of being evangelical about it maybe, but close. the world would be a better place...fundy christians are real close to the muslims when it comes to extremism, and folks that are willing to die and go to heavan make for lots of wars and annoying singing. when ever a conversation turns to religion or even comes close, i am quick to mention that i am an atheist. the frustrating part is that many folks here where i live are so busy working 60 plus hours a week and worrying about health care and such that they dont have time to read and enrich their understanding of the world they live in. damn we (the u.s.) need to change some things. i know, im off topic, but we work too much, we need universal health care, maybe if people had a little hope here in the bible belt, a little time and an easier life, they would not be so fundy. extremist religion/poverty/violence and crime. they all go together.

[AgnosticBob AtheistPants]

What always threw me whenever I visited the Bible Belt was that the third question out of anyone's mouth, whenever they were getting to know you, was always "What church do you attend?" (After "what's your name" and "what do you do for a living".)

 

Out this way, a question like that would be unspeakably rude. Elsewhere, it's a matter of course.

 

Thought you might like to read this when I saw it.

 

http://atheistrevolution.blogspot.com/2007...-you-go-to.html

 

[Everglaze]

Lucky!!! (that you don't live in a christian majority area) It's so hard to hear about christianity EVERY DAY! It wreaks havoc on my nerves!

 

Tell me about it. I'm so sick of hearing it and I'm surrounded by it everywhere. It's always the same thing over and over again. Even when I was a Christian, I was hearing the same tiring crap over and over again. Somebody shoot me in the head.

[disEnchanted]

Just this morning while checking out of a store, the cashier handed me the receipt along with, "Have a bless-ed day." Why do they do this? Do they really think everyone around them are christians or are they trying to evangelize to everyone or what? Do they really think that their "bless-ed day" comments are counted as "nice" by everyone they say it to? Sooooo irksome!

[Warrior_of_god]

I think Massachusetts would be one of the first states to leave if it ever gets to that. We are not going to become Suspenders to the Bible Belt.

I think that we (Massachusetts) is more progressive and socailly ahead of most of the US, were more like Europe that the rest of the US.

[Mankey]

maybe i am just drunk, but i am really optimistic about changes in the bible belt. no, seriously. i was raised a preachers boy in oklahoma and i deconverted through reading biblical textual criticisim, mythology, and biology. i have many friends, most my age or younger, who are also atheists and were raised in a church here in oklahoma. i think there are many sceptics in the pews every sunday, and a few in the pulpit. we just have to keep having conversations. it is obviously an individual choice, but i believe that athesits should be open about their non-theistic beliefs; not to the point of being evangelical about it maybe, but close. the world would be a better place...fundy christians are real close to the muslims when it comes to extremism, and folks that are willing to die and go to heavan make for lots of wars and annoying singing. when ever a conversation turns to religion or even comes close, i am quick to mention that i am an atheist. the frustrating part is that many folks here where i live are so busy working 60 plus hours a week and worrying about health care and such that they dont have time to read and enrich their understanding of the world they live in. damn we (the u.s.) need to change some things. i know, im off topic, but we work too much, we need universal health care, maybe if people had a little hope here in the bible belt, a little time and an easier life, they would not be so fundy. extremist religion/poverty/violence and crime. they all go together.

WTF?

 

I need more tinfoil so people can't read my mind and broadcast my thoughts...

 

 

I still think superstition is time wasted when science is more deserving. I also feel that religion is a tool for keeping the people under the thumb of "authority" Other than that...wow. Agreed.

[Japedo]

You might this interesting because it's a blasphemy law that's still on the books in Massachusetts.

This law can be dusted off and enforced in the future, and I won't be surprised if it is.

Christian zealots are always looking for ways to expand their kingdom.

 

CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER

 

Chapter 272: Section 36. Blasphemy

 

Section 36. Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

 

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/272-36.htm

 

Ya just gotta love those blue laws. I believe it's still illegal to take a bath on Sunday in the city of Boston, You're also not allowed to take your cow to the park or some-such.....

 

Also that could be challenged easily and tossed out and made obsolete if someone was actually charged with said crime and went to court. It clearly goes against the first Amendment, Many MA residents whom are Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, I wont even get into the pagan capital of the country Salem don't follow Jesus Christ, the state can't force it either.

 

Reasons laws like this are never removed from the books... It cost to much money. To hold the session, get people behind the bill, present the bill, present arguments, so much time and effort just to remove a law/ordinances no one will waste their time or tax money. It's how blue laws have always stayed on the books. Besides, US governments (Both local and federal) are to busy adding things, they don't have time to remove things. When everything's illegal everyone's a criminal.

[centauri]

Also that could be challenged easily and tossed out and made obsolete if someone was actually charged with said crime and went to court. It clearly goes against the first Amendment,

 

Someone recently reminded me of these two gems, and given the aggressive nature of religious zealots with political aspirations, I'm not convinced that a blasphemy law would be overturned by a court packed with Christian fundamentalists. Given the right conditions, it might be upheld.

Proclamation 5018 -- Year of the Bible, 1983

February 3, 1983

 

By the President of the United States of America

 

Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.

 

Deep religious beliefs stemming from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible inspired many of the early settlers of our country, providing them with the strength, character, convictions, and faith necessary to withstand great hardship and danger in this new and rugged land. These shared beliefs helped forge a sense of common purpose among the widely dispersed colonies -- a sense of community which laid the foundation for the spirit of nationhood that was to develop in later decades.

 

The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible's teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual. This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own Nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

 

For centuries the Bible's emphasis on compassion and love for our neighbor has inspired institutional and governmental expressions of benevolent outreach such as private charity, the establishment of schools and hospitals, and the abolition of slavery.

 

Many of our greatest national leaders -- among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson -- have recognized the influence of the Bible on our country's development. The plainspoken Andrew Jackson referred to the Bible as no less than ``the rock on which our Republic rests.'' Today our beloved America and, indeed, the world, is facing a decade of enormous challenge. As a people we may well be tested as we have seldom, if ever, been tested before. We will need resources of spirit even more than resources of technology, education, and armaments. There could be no more fitting moment than now to reflect with gratitude, humility, and urgency upon the wisdom revealed to us in the writing that Abraham Lincoln called ``the best gift God has ever given to man . . . But for it we could not know right from wrong.''

 

The Congress of the United States, in recognition of the unique contribution of the Bible in shaping the history and character of this Nation, and so many of its citizens, has by Senate Joint Resolution 165 authorized and requested the President to designate the year 1983 as the ``Year of the Bible.''

 

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, in recognition of the contributions and influence of the Bible on our Republic and our people, do hereby proclaim 1983 the Year of the Bible in the United States. I encourage all citizens, each in his or her own way, to reexamine and rediscover its priceless and timeless message.

 

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventh.

 

Ronald Reagan

 

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:10 a.m., February 3, 1983]

 

This one is even more blatant:

 

CONGRESS DECLARES THE BIBLE

“THE WORD OF GOD”

97th Congress Joint Resolution

 

[s.J.Res. 165] 96 Stat. 1211

Public Law 97-280 - October 4, 1982

 

Joint Resolution authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim 1983 as the “Year of the Bible.”

 

Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people;

 

Whereas deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of our Nation;

 

Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the constitution of the United States;

 

Whereas many of our great national leaders—among them Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, and Wilson—paid tribute to the surpassing influence of the Bible in our country's development, as the words of President Jackson that the Bible is “the rock on which our Republic rests”;

 

Whereas the history of our Nation clearly illustrates the value of voluntarily applying the teachings of the Scriptures in the lives of individuals, families, and societies;

 

Whereas this Nation now faces great challenges that will test this Nation as it has never been tested before; and

 

Whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people: Now, therefore, be it

 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a national “Year of the Bible” in recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our Nation, and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.

Approved October 4, 1982.

 

1 U.S. Cong. & Adm. News '82-29 96 Stat. 1211

 

Legislative History - S.J. Res. 165:

Congressional Record. Vol 128 (1982)

Mar. 31 considered and passed Senate.

Sept. 21 Considered and passed House.

 

http://www.moseshand.com/studies/reagan.htm

[Luke Wolf]

As bad as Indiana can be at times, I would hate to be in the thick of the Bible belt.

 

I just learned to have fun with it. This does require alot of rudeness on my part, but sometimes the responses are times I'll remember until I die. Such as telling some JW missionaries that Satan follows them very closly, and is the one who is actually in charge of there lives.

Even if someone approaches me with a smile and handshake, they will leave knowing that I hate there god more than anything, and I will gladly burn in hell should heaven and hell be my only post-death options.