That Dangerous Philosophy

"It’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!"

That's the part of the outburst from Rep. Monique Davis to atheist activist Rob Sherman in the Illinois State Assembly last Wednesday that really leaps out at me. The entire outburst is quite amazing but I have to puzzle over why she thinks his philosophy (atheism is not a philosophy) is so dangerous, apparently personally dangerous as well as dangerous to her kids. I say personally dangerous because such an outburst can only come from a person scared down to the marrow of their bones. As if she knows, deep down, that her philosophy isn't going to win any showdown with atheism.

The entire text of it can be read at the blog of Eric Zorn for the Chicago Tribune. Zorn himself says this:

I know from experience that many of you will side with Davis (update -- apparently I was wrong! ), but I ask you to consider what the outcry would have been if a lawmaker had launched a similar attack on the beliefs of a religious person.

The "update" has a link to his comment section where to his, and my own, surprise most of the comments are against Davis:

The vitriol spewing from this legislator is shocking, frightening, and, well, frankly makes me incensed.

Who the Hell does she think she is?

Let Monique Davis run for a new legislature - one located in Tehran.

I especially like the bit about her relocating to Tehran. I fully expected to have all the Christians run to Davis' defense against the evil atheist but that isn't what happened. I have to say it's quite a pleasant surprise and one of those things that restores my very faded hopes for humanity, at least for a moment.

She even made Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person In The World" today.

Scroll further down Zorn's blog and you will find links to the story on the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post. He even has a link as to whether or not Lincoln was an atheist. I always thought he was but didn't talk about it in order to win elections. Even back then no atheist could get elected to public office. And below that the Council for Secular Humanism chimes in.

An atheist getting yelled at and treated shabbily makes the news and outrages everyone! How ironic when you think of all the times that happens every day across the country and it never makes the news. Even the first President Bush said atheists shouldn't allowed to be citizens.