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Just curious but does anyone know what would be the purpose of the atheist booth would be?
Not everyone goes to the clery for guidance. If I were having a dilemma, I'd certainly want to visit the booth that would discuss proactive options instead of prayer, blessings, and hearing biblical quotes. For example; it's like hearing someone say, "I prayed for a job and my prayers were answered!" As if god were in some sort of divine employment networking system and told the boss who he should hire. With or without god, a person is hired because he/she possesses the skills that were needed for the job.
Not everyone goes to the clery for guidance. If I were having a dilemma, I'd certainly want to visit the booth that would discuss proactive options instead of prayer, blessings, and hearing biblical quotes. For example; it's like hearing someone say, "I prayed for a job and my prayers were answered!" As if god were in some sort of divine employment networking system and told the boss who he should hire. With or without god, a person is hired because he/she possesses the skills that were needed for the job.
If I were having a dilemma, I wouldn't visit any type of booth but if that was my only choice, I too would not want to hear about prayer or god or anything like that. Considering though that Christians make up 79.5% of the US population I can see why the community may find this type of booth useful as the message most likely appeals to a large portion of the community's population.
My question though has more to do with the reason for it being specifically an atheist booth? 99% of the time, when I ask someone for advice they don't mention anything about religion. Does atheism have the market cornered on "advice" or something? I am just not seeing the connection to the purpose of the booth and atheism. According to Pew Research Polls, less then 2% of the population identifies as atheists which shows that this type of booth would not be particularly appealing or useful for very many members of this community.
Is the usefulness to the community members a factor worthy of consideration when deciding what to accept and what to reject? Or do they just allow every single booth to have a place. For example, If I wanted a booth to talk about the dangers of vaccinations, should they allow me to have one knowing full well that the majority of US citizens believe strongly in favor of vaccines and knowing full well that the booth would create controversy and would be disruptive and would not be of interest to most in the community anyway? Where do they draw the line in being able to choose what to approve and what to reject?
If I were having a dilemma, I wouldn't visit any type of booth but if that was my only choice, I too would not want to hear about prayer or god or anything like that. Considering though that Christians make up 79.5% of the US population I can see why the community may find this type of booth useful as the message most likely appeals to a large portion of the community's population.
My question though has more to do with the reason for it being specifically an atheist booth? 99% of the time, when I ask someone for advice they don't mention anything about religion. Does atheism have the market cornered on "advice" or something? I am just not seeing the connection to the purpose of the booth and atheism. According to Pew Research Polls, less then 2% of the population identifies as atheists which shows that this type of booth would not be particularly appealing or useful for very many members of this community.
Is the usefulness to the community members a factor worthy of consideration when deciding what to accept and what to reject? Or do they just allow every single booth to have a place. For example, If I wanted a booth to talk about the dangers of vaccinations, should they allow me to have one knowing full well that the majority of US citizens believe strongly in favor of vaccines and knowing full well that the booth would create controversy and would be disruptive and would not be of interest to most in the community anyway? Where do they draw the line in being able to choose what to approve and what to reject?
No, atheism doesn't have the market cornered on advice, just sane advice. Why wouldn't you want options and different points of view? The Atheists deserve a booth because not every person's life evolves god/gods. Atheists would enlighten people on a different point of view. In my opinion there shouldn't be any booths, however if the booths are on government property, they should represent all views, including atheists.
My question though has more to do with the reason for it being specifically an atheist booth? 99% of the time, when I ask someone for advice they don't mention anything about religion. Does atheism have the market cornered on "advice" or something? I am just not seeing the connection to the purpose of the booth and atheism. According to Pew Research Polls, less then 2% of the population identifies as atheists which shows that this type of booth would not be particularly appealing or useful for very many members of this community.
Perhaps part of the reason he wants to set up the booth is to try and convert people to atheism. Regardless, whether you or I or the Mayor see usefulness in this man's speech is irrelevant.
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Is the usefulness to the community members a factor worthy of consideration when deciding what to accept and what to reject?
When it comes to free speech in a public forum, it is absolutely not a factor.
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Or do they just allow every single booth to have a place. For example, If I wanted a booth to talk about the dangers of vaccinations, should they allow me to have one knowing full well that the majority of US citizens believe strongly in favor of vaccines and knowing full well that the booth would create controversy and would be disruptive and would not be of interest to most in the community anyway? Where do they draw the line in being able to choose what to approve and what to reject?
For the most part, yes, the city would have to allow all booths. That's what happens when you decide to turn a space into a public forum for speech. If you do that, then you can't discriminate based upon the content of the speech (especially in a way that favors speech that promotes religion).
]No, atheism doesn't have the market cornered on advice, just sane advice. Why wouldn't you want options and different points of view? [/b]The Atheists deserve a booth because not every person's life evolves god/gods. Atheists would enlighten people on a different point of view. In my opinion there shouldn't be any booths, however if the booths are on government property, they should represent all views, including atheists.
You can get that from talking to anyone with an open mind though. My point being that atheists do not have the market corned when it comes to having different points of view. It's not unique to them as a group. Sane advice can come from many different types of people. It has nothing to do with atheism, specifically.
If the booths are going to represent all views then we would need to enlarge the buildings because people tend to possess a very wide variety of viewpoints.
Atheism isn't a religion, except when its convenient for Atheists. Christians want to put up a booth to help people; Atheists want to put up a booth to attack religion.
These incidents usually arise when attention-grabbing Atheists see a public display of religion and use it as platform to put up an anti-religion display rather than honestly promoting Atheism. It comes across as petty and condescending, making all Atheists look like mean-spirited jerks.
Atheism isn't a religion, except when its convenient for Atheists. Christians want to put up a booth to help people; Atheists want to put up a booth to attack religion.
These incidents usually arise when attention-grabbing Atheists see a public display of religion and use it as platform to put up an anti-religion display rather than honestly promoting Atheism. It comes across as petty and condescending, making all Atheists look like mean-spirited jerks.
Well, why does the mayor of this town have to discriminate against atheists? You don't even know what the atheist booth was actually saying.
Christians are the ones whose belief system relies on converting people to their faith.
Atheism isn't a religion, except when its convenient for Atheists. Christians want to put up a booth to help people; Atheists want to put up a booth to attack religion.
Atheists want to but up booths to help people; Christians want to put up booths to attack atheism.
You can get that from talking to anyone with an open mind though. My point being that atheists do not have the market corned when it comes to having different points of view. It's not unique to them as a group. Sane advice can come from many different types of people. It has nothing to do with atheism, specifically.
If the booths are going to represent all views then we would need to enlarge the buildings because people tend to possess a very wide variety of viewpoints.
Thus the after my statement. Many view points, many booths.
Well, why does the mayor of this town have to discriminate against atheists? You don't even know what the atheist booth was actually saying.
Christians are the ones whose belief system relies on converting people to their faith.
I've seen enough public Atheist displays that set up next to Christian displays to know why they're doing this. Its either to insult religion or an attempt to "one-up" them.
Why do Atheists spend so much time and energy promoting Atheism if their belief system doesn't require converting people? Shouldn't people come to Atheism naturally as they come to reject religion of their own accord? There have been Atheists throughout history, long before Reddit and Penn Gilette were telling them why Atheism is smart and religion is stupid.
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Why wouldn't you want options and different points of view? The Atheists deserve a booth because not every person's life evolves god/gods. Atheists would enlighten people on a different point of view. In my opinion there shouldn't be any booths, however if the booths are on government property, they should represent all views, including atheists.
