THE ANTI-DEITY DEFAMATION LEAGUE STRIKES AGAIN

Four from the depths of "The Separationist", newsletter of the Secular Humanists of the Low Country.

Only one thing to say...good grief.

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Molleen Matsumora, of CSH and other worthy groups, passes on the news that a bill has been introduced in the NY state legislature to make a crime of "vilifying" or making fun of religion, "religious groups", or "the deity [sic]" "in a public place." Nope! Public place isn't defined. Here is the bill and it's a humdinger! The bill is #S02167:

Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding two new sections 245.20 and 245.21 to read as follows:

S 245.20 RIDICULE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR PRACTICES; DEFINITIONS OF TERMS. THE FOLLOWING DEFINITIONS ARE APPLICABLE TO SECTION 245.21:

1. "DEITY" INCLUDES ANY APPELLATION, SYMBOL OR FIGURE OF ANY PARTICULAR FORM OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP, BELIEF, DENOMINATION, SECT OR CLASS OF PEOPLE PROFESSING A PARTICULAR AND WELL-DEFINED FORM OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND PRACTICES, WHICH BY RECOGNIZED STANDARDS OF SUCH DENOMINATION, SECT OR CLASS OF PEOPLE INDICATES THE DEITY OR IS REASONABLY REFERABLE ALONE TO SUCH DEITY.

2. "PUBLIC PLACE" SHALL HAVE THE SAME MEANING AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION 240.00 OF THIS CHAPTER. S 245.21 RIDICULE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR PRACTICES.

A PERSON IS GUILTY OF RIDICULE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR PRACTICES WHEN IN A PUBLIC PLACE, HE:

1. HOLDS UP THE DEITY OR THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, PRACTICES, SYMBOLS FIGURES OR OBJECTS OF ANY RELIGIOUS DENOM-INATION, SECT OR CLASS OF PEOPLE, TO RIDICULE, HATRED, MOCKERY, CONTEMPT OR OBLOQUY; OR 2. PRESENTS, PORTRAYS OR DEPICTS THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, PRACTICES, SYMBOLS, FIGURES OR OBJECTS OF ANY RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION IN AN OBSCENE, LEWD, PROFANE OR LASCIVIOUS MANNER. RIDICULE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR PRACTICES IS A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR.

Now get this: The law is a response to the movie "Life of Brian" by Monty Python. Here is the "justification" listed:

Since Monty Python's "Life of Brian" was boycotted for its ridicule of all religions ..., religious ridicule has been a major issue among the clergy. The movie was seen by religious leaders as a cruel and blasphemous mockery of religion...

Gerry Dantone of the Long Island Secular Humanists comments if you read the statute carefully it says this, omitting the unimportant phrases in-between:

A PERSON IS GUILTY OF RIDICULE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR PRACTICES WHEN IN A PUBLIC PLACE, HE: HOLDS UP ... THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ... OF ANY ... CLASS OF PEOPLE, TO RIDICULE, HATRED, MOCKERY, CONTEMPT OR OBLOQUY....

The above section of the law seemingly would effectively outlaw the public reading or professing of much of the bible in particular its treatment of non-believers. It would definitely outlaw MUCH of what Pat Robertson says about secular humanists on his web site or TV show. I wonder if it would be applied fairly? Nahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Herb Silverman wonders if the law would prohibit preachers from criticizing one very well known deity--Satan.

I just wonder why these guys don't catch on to the fact that such efforts only lead to more ridicule, all of it justified. Ed. (Dave Peterson)

Sun 28 Mar 99 18:39
JUDITH BANDSMA
stupid fundy tricks 2

I think this one speaks for itself. Wonder what Jelly will say. According to him, the KJV is the ONLY proper version.

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RIGHT-WING CHRISTIANS CONDEMN KING JAMES BIBLE

The Family Research Council (FRC), the Christian Coalition, and the Americans for Truth about Homosexuality have told their members to stop using the Bible authorized in 1611 by King James.

Scholars agree that James had sexual relations with many men. The FRC's Gary Bauer, a presidential candidate for 2000, says, anything that has been commissioned by a homosexual has been tainted in some way. And Christian Coalition leader, Pat Robertson, says, it's very important that we stand up to the homosexual wherever and whenever he appears.

(This originally appeared in the AAH Examiner, the newsletter of the African Americans for Humanism, which is published by the Council for Secular Humanism)

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun 28 Mar 99 18:42
JUDITH BANDSMA
stupid fundy tricks 3

Shades of Holysmoke.

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COURT THROWS OUT LAWSUIT AGAINST GOD

Donald Drusky, 63, of East McKeesport, Pennsylvania, blames God for failing to bring him justice in a 30-year battle against his former employer, USX Corp., after firing him in 1968.

The lawsuit claimed defendant God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and took no corrective action against the leaders of his Church and his Nation for their extremely serious wrongs, which ruined the life of Donald S. Drusky.

Drusky wanted God to return his youth and grant him the guitar-playing skills of famous guitarists, along with resurrecting his mother and his pet pigeon. Drusky argued that if God failed to appear in court, He must lose by default under federal rules of civil procedure.

U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue last week found the suit, which also named former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the television networks, all 50 states, every single American, all federal judges, and the 100th through 105th congress defendants, to be frivolous.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun 28 Mar 99 19:46
JUDITH BANDSMA
stupid fundy tricks 4

Just in time for Thursday; ==============================================================

APRIL FOOLS DAY

(This exchange was in Christian History, a web based, non-fundamentalist, newsletter. For more info go to: https://commerce.cdsfulfillment.com/HIS/subscriptions.cgi)

Dear Mr. Olsen:

I wanted to subscribe to the Christian History newsletter to learn about CHRISTIAN history. Yet with each holiday you write about, no matter how Christian the holiday is, you insist on telling us that the day has pagan origins and then was Christianized. Christmas started as a pagan festivity. Easter too. And Valentine's Day. And even Mother's Day. Okay, so St. Patrick's Day started as a Christian holy day, but that's one of the silliest days of the year! Don't you think that these pagans are just trying to make us look unoriginal by claiming “they thought of it first? Can't you please give us a holiday that we came up with?

Blessings
Chun Chris

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You'll be happy to know that by all accounts, this Thursday, also known as April Fools' Day, has its origins in the Christian church. On February 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII issued a bull requiring all Catholic countries to replace the Julian calendar with the Gregorian one, which we still use today. Julius Caesar's old solar calendar, introduced in 46 B.C., by 1582 was starting to show its age. The equinoxes, for example, were off by ten days. To correct the problem, Gregory told everyone that for one time only, the day after October 4 would be October 15. In Europe people rioted, thinking the church had stolen ten days of their lives. When France's King Charles IX adopted the Gregorian calendar (the first to do so), he moved New Year's Day to January 1. Previously, because of spring, New Year's was celebrated for a week between March 25 and April 1.

Some people refused to accept the new system and defiantly continued their New Years' visits on April 1. Others simply forgot that April 1 was now meaningless; they also continued their celebrations. Good Catholics mocked them as April Fools, or, in France, Poisson D'Avril/April Fish. And because gifts had been exchanged at the old New Year's celebration, joke gifts were given to these silly dissidents. So there you go. This pointless, name-calling, foolish holiday has its roots in the Christian Church. Unless you count the fact that without Julius Caesar, we wouldn't have had a calendar to change...

Ted Olsen
Assistant editor, Christian History

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Dear Mr. Olsen:

While your assessment of April Fools' Day origins is the popular one, maintained by the hegemonic structure of an oppressive, blind society obsessed with believing it has the only correct calendar (what of the Aztec calendar? The Chinese calendar? The Jewish calendar?), you've completely (and predictably) ignored the true pagan roots of April Fools' Day. It was born with the Roman festival honoring Ceres, the corn daughter, whose daughter Proserpine was stolen by Pluto to be his queen in the Underworld. It was a fool's errand because Pluto was so powerful. And that's what April Fools' Day is all about. Although there is also some discussion (mainly from my colleague, Phyllis Teen) that the day has its roots in the Hindu holiday Holi, a day also marked by practical jokes.

Nan B. Leaver

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Nan:
Oh, be quiet.
Ted Olsen