The world wide atheist community has stood up for Damon Fowler. Providing over 20, 000 dollars toward his post-secondary education. What heinous crime has Mr.Fowler committed that resulted in threats to his person, public defamation by his teachers and being kicked out of the family house? Expressing his rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, to have his school free of the perversity know as the christian religion. Greta Christina writes about the entire sordid incident, I recommend you read the entire article. I post an excerpt here to illustrate how deeply ingrained the religious rot is in the United States.
“Damon Fowler, an atheist student at Bastrop High School in Louisiana, was about to graduate. His public school was planning to have a prayer as part of the graduation ceremony: as they traditionally did, as so many public schools around the country do every year. But Fowler — knowing that government-sponsored prayer in the public schools is unconstitutional and legally forbidden — contacted the school superintendent to let him know that he opposed the prayer, and would be contacting the ACLU if it happened. The school — at first, anyway — agreed, and canceled the prayer.
Then Fowler’s name, and his role in this incident, was leaked. As a direct result:
1) Fowler has been hounded, pilloried, and ostracized by his community.
2) One of Fowler’s teachers has publicly demeaned him.
3) Fowler has been physically threatened. Students have threatened to “jump him” at graduation practice, and he has received multiple threats of bodily harm, and even death threats.
4) Fowler’s parents have cut off his financial support, kicked him out of the house, and thrown his belongings onto the front porch.
Oh, and by the way? They went ahead and had the graduation prayer anyway.”
Good Times to be had down south. I’ve just wondered though, why isn’t the Tea Party all over this? I mean, this is the US CONSTITUTION that is being violated here, where is the uproar?
**Update: Check out Darkmatter’s video on the subject as well.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
3 comments
May 30, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Bleatmop
I think you misunderstand what the tea party people mean when they say they want the constitution enforced. What they actually mean is that they want their narrow ideology of “freedom” to be enforced for them, but everyone else, especially %#!ing atheists can go to hell. At least that’s what I’ve got out of reading their signs and listening to interviews with actual crowd members at rallies.
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May 31, 2011 at 8:08 am
flaarnsturgen
What you’re seeing in this case is the confluence of *two* major societal flaws in the U.S. — our hatred of non-christians and our view of children (even adult children) as chattel. Hence the lack of any broad-based outrage at Damon Fowler’s treatment; we don’t really see anything wrong with the harsh — even abusive — treatment of an arrogant child.
Concerning the Tea Party(-ies), I’m sure you’ll find that they’re of several (million) different minds on the subject. But even the most libertarian among them would probably say that interpersonal relationships are none of the government’s business, *regardless* of what the constitution has to say about it. :-/
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May 31, 2011 at 11:29 am
The Arbourist
Perhaps I was treating them too charitably when it came to the basis of their movement. Using the US constitution as a mandate for your movement would entail keep the parts you disagree with as well, and that does not seem to be the case.
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