Posted by
Bob Siegel on Friday, November 13, 2009 12:27:02 PM
A couple of days ago, I was interviewed by The San Diego Union-Tribune for the purpose
of responding to an atheist sponsored billboard. Here is a brief excerpt from their article of Thursday Nov.
12:
“Don’t Believe in God?” the billboard asks atop a background
of blue sky and white clouds. “You are not alone.”
We hope the message will get everyone thinking,” said Debbie
Allen Skomer, coordinator of the San Diego Coalition of Reason, an umbrella
organization for nine groups of nonbelievers. “Some people will have a negative
reaction to the sign and others will be inspired to check us out.”
And here is the part of the article where I enter the scene:
Bob
Siegel, a member of Skyline Church in La Mesa and a self-described “Christian
apologist,” said he doesn’t find the billboard offensive.
“But
I do see a double standard from the atheists,” he said. “They can put up a sign
like that, but during Christmas, if a manger goes on public land, they act like
their civil liberties are being taken away.”
Siegel
added: “It’s not unreasonable to believe in God, and it’s a myth that people
who do are guided by blind faith. There are many good reasons to believe.”
Of
course, I did not make such a comment without a willingness to back it up. I
gave out my website and assured the reporter that people can find archived
articles defending the existence of God from a rational, intellectual point of
view. It might have been nice if this portion of the interview had not been
conspicuously omitted. No matter. Let me make it clear on my own blog: If you want to see evidence for God’s
existence, go to www.bobsiegel.net
and click into the sub-section entitled “Answers For Skeptics.”
Meanwhile,
the following E Mail response was received at Skyline Church the same day as
the newspaper publication:
From
Jim (I’m withholding his last name)
Please
tell Bob Siegel he is missing the point, or, more likely, intentionally
ignoring it, when he compares the San Diego Coalition of Reason billboard to a
nativity scene. I have yet to hear of anyone seriously protesting the holiday
billboards that remind people that Christmas began as a religious holiday. What
some people do find objectionable is the placement of religious images on
property supported by public tax money, since the government is not supposed to
support any particular religious belief.
Actually,
Jim, I am not missing the point at all.
The Establishment Clause merely protects you from mandated religion.
Nobody is forcing you to become a Christian by putting up a symbol and in the
days of our forefathers, religious symbols were on public property all the time,
so we can see rather clearly how they interpreted their own First Amendment.
What the constitution meant to them is what the constitution means, period.
As
for tax dollars, I am sympathetic to your position. I really am. But consider
this: Our tax dollars go for many things and none of us are happy about all of
the distributions. My tax dollars, for instance, fund public schools and some
public universities, where the teachings are incompatible with Christianity at
the very least and downright hostile to Christianity at the very most. Interesting how this
“separation between church and state” never cuts both ways, isn’t it? On the other hand, should a school put up Christmas
decorations or should a county build a manger scene, your taxes do not go
up, but remain the same.
Besides
(although there are always exceptions) I have seen vast evidence that this goes
beyond the issue of taxes in the minds of many atheists. Take a look at the decades
old controversy surrounding Mt. Soledad’s cross. This was built as a World War
2 memorial. Everybody knows that. Yes, it includes a cross because in the aftermath
of WW2, most people and many vets were buried with a cross or had a cross as
part of the memorial. Atheists knew full well that this was not any kind of
government mandate toward a particular religion and they still wanted to take
the cross down. While debating an atheist on my own radio show, I asked him
what harm the cross was causing inasmuch as he can merely turn away if he does
not want to look at it.
He
replied, “That cross might make people think we have a national religion.”
See
my point? Now they want to pass laws based upon what people might think. Add
the fact that some have attempted to purchase Mt. Soledad, so that it could become private property, instead of public property, and were still met with
resistance. Finally, I have heard many atheists use as their ultimate reason,
“I find these symbols offensive.”
Well, guess what? Free speech offends. Why did
the constitution bother to protect free speech if speech was always going to
be benign, and not rattle anyone’s cage?
Also by Bob Siegel:
Questions and Concerns About Christianity
The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at
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