Virginia Tam says: Any system that promotes intolerance, exclusivism, misogyny, to name a few, is unacceptable to my mind and makes no valuable contribution to society.


....and I agree wholeheartedly.

And along with Bill D, "I agree very much with John P about This country, and its laws, are overwhelmingly slanted toward Christianity. As a non-Christian, I have often felt strong prejudice against me.... and ...no non-religious person will be elected to high office any time soon. That IS political discrimination, and one that is supported by many otherwise "good" Christians."
-It's quite true that Americans in positions of leadership are expected to practice some sort of religious creed. As a result, churches are plagued with nominal believers, people whose only belief is that God is on their side and supports their views and prejudices.
One reason I became disillusioned with the Boy Scouts of America was their insistence that members and leaders believe in God - again, this led to a number nominal believers who tended toward right-wing "God is on my side" practices. Their opposition to homosexuals was another thing that caused me dismay, and I finally gave up believing they would change.

And JohnP, I agree that there is a semantic problem with the term "atheist." Some atheists just don't believe in a God, and I have no quarrel with them. The people who trouble me are those who are actively antireligious - especially those who insist on defining what it is that I believe and then condemn me for it, not bothering to find out what actually it is that I do believe.

-Joe Offer-

Interesting to see mention of Ellington above. He did some terrific sacred music - (click).