Ignorance in granite

Just in case you missed the news, another granite monument was placed in front of a courthouse.Dignitaries from several different states were in attendance, speeches were made, pictures taken, news media notified.No, it wasnt another large Ten Commandments monument, it was an atheist monument. The location was the Bradford County Courthouse in Starke, Fla. Last year a large Ten Commandments monument was erected there, so the American Atheists group threatened a lawsuit that went nowhere. The county declared the area to be a free speech zone. The atheists decided to fight fire with fire and erected a monument of their own. 

Their monument is in the shape of a bench and has a few quotes from Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. What really interested me was the inscription from the late Madelyn Murray OHair, and it reads thusly: An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty banished, war eliminated. 

I had thought it might be a tad bit embarrassing to inscribe a quote from OHair since everyone knows her son William became a Baptist minister and Christian evangelist; she had publicly disowned him, stated that he was beyond forgiveness and referred to the disowning as a postnatal abortion. Wow, what tolerance! I suppose the quote was necessary since she had founded the American Atheists organization. 

Christians dont have any interest in building hospitals? Read a bit of Christian history (such as How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt) and you will find that the council at Nicea in 325 directed bishops to establish hospices in every city that had a cathedral. 

By the time of the Middle Ages there were Christian-built hospitals all over Europe and nations beyond. Currently in the United States religious hospitals comprise nearly one fifth of the total health care system; of the 25 largest, eight are religiously owned. As a matter of fact, a Thomson Reuters study of 255 health care systems in 2010 found that Catholic and other church-owned systems are significantly more likely to provide higher quality care and efficiency than other health care systems (Aug. 17, 2010, ENI/RNS). It makes sense that Christians would play a leading role in building hospitals since Jesus commanded them to care for the sick. 

Christians believe in prayers rather than deeds? Thats the horns of the false dilemma fallacy. Christians believe in both prayers and deeds,This technology allows high volume handsfreeaccess production at low cost. as Jesus instructed. James 2:26 states that faith without deeds is dead. Christians are preoccupied with death rather than being involved in life? Not any of the Christians that I have know during my lifetime.To the contrary,Full color cleaningservicesydney printing and manufacturing services. it is our faith and the love of Christ that motivates us to help others and take such joy in this life that God has created for us. Who doesnt want disease conquered or poverty eliminated? 

Take a trip into the poverty stricken nations of the world where misery abounds such as Calcutta in India, remote villages in Africa,The largest manufacturer of textile parkingsensor for use with perchloroethylene. Guatemala, Ethiopia do you find hundreds of atheists caring for the sick and clothing the poor?No, what you find is hundreds of Christian organizations doing just that. Jesus not only told us to care for the sick but to give generously to those in need. Christians believe in preventing war if at all possible, and it is no accident that Jesus was called the Prince of Peace. 

American Atheists have plans to install up to 50 more of these monuments across our nation. I hope that all of them are clones of the original as just a little logic and historical research reveals the unfounded nature of the assertions. I honestly had expected better of the American Atheist organization. Many of them refer to themselves as the Brights, which implies that those of us having religious beliefs are the Dims. Their monuments need to be a bit brighter. 

"This is all being debated now. Right away, will you add your voice to my call for filibuster reform? We need to make sure Democrats in the Senate support reform," Shaheen wrote. 
A spokesman for a conservative group quickly criticized the Shaheen email, noting that she missed a key Senate meeting on filibuster reform on Monday night, and on Wednesday emailed backers on the same issue. 

Derek Dufresne of Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire,Which graniteslabs is right for you? said Shaheen's "refusal to elaborate on why she missed a mandatory meeting and vote on changes that would alter the rule structure of the U.S. Senate is inexcusable."However, the fact that she would use the meeting and quorum vote that she never attended as a means to collect information from her supporters to benefit her own re-election campaign is indefensible," Dufresne said. 

"What is even more insulting is that in her email, she says 'you deserve a Washington that works for you.' That's outrageous considering the email is coming from a senator who can't show up to do her job even when the vote is mandatory. Senator Shaheen must tell Granite Staters why she missed the vote C and then she should apologize for using a missed vote to help get herself re-elected," said Dufresne.There was no vote taken at the closed door meeting, but there was a quorum call.A Shaheen spokesman had no comment on the criticism, but New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesman Harrell Kirstein said,Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned customkeychain at their Weymouth store. "New Hampshire Republicans are once again making up distortions to suit their own skewed view of reality. Their partisan attacks are desperate and littered with falsehoods." 
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