Seven firemen killed as a result of their heroic actions on 9/11 were publicly honoured by the American population – they earned the title ‘the Seven in Heaven’, and a commemorative street sign was erected.
Of course, this didn’t please a bunch of atheists, who have now come out and are threatening a lawsuit to remove the sign.
They do have a point – they say that heaven is a distinctly Christian idea, and that city officials, by allowing this sign to be publicly displayed, are going against the separation of church and state.
But they’re wrong. Let’s just start with the Christian concept – Christians believe that we’re saved by grace, not works. So no Christian would say that these firemen have any greater or lesser chance of getting into heaven based on their heroic actions on that day – it’s already been achieved by Jesus.
But in addition to that absolutely basic misunderstanding, here’s a quote from Ken Bronstein, president of New York City Atheists:
It’s really insulting to us…We’ve concluded as atheists there is no heaven and there’s no hell…And it’s a totally religious statement…It’s irrelevant who it’s for, we think this is a very bad thing…
I find it ironic that he’s able to say ‘we’ve concluded there’s no heaven’, then say that belief in heaven is ‘a totally religious statement’. Double standard anyone?
David Silverman, president of American Atheists, said:
It implies that heaven actually exists…People died in 9/11, but they were all people who died, not just Christians. Heaven is a specifically Christian place. For the city to come up and say all those heroes are in heaven now, it’s not appropriate.
And this is where the argument falls short, because it’s going round in circles. First, heaven doesn’t exist, now it’s wrong because they might not have been Christians? Is he basically saying that he’d rather the sign said ‘Seven turned to ash’ if they were atheists?
But it gets better – this is Silverman again:
All memorials for fallen heroes should celebrate the diversity of our country and should be secular in nature. These heroes might have been Jews, they might have been atheists, I don’t know, but either way it’s wrong for the city to say they’re in heaven. It’s preachy.
What? Hang on. All memorials should celebrate the diversity…should be secular. But the vast majority of Americans would say that they have faith in at least one god. So you’ve just contradicted yourself in one breath – either you celebrate diversity in beliefs, or you admit that you think you’re right and everyone else is wrong – you can’t have it both ways.
Again, it’s ironic that using the word heaven on a street sign is preachy, but then demanding that everything should be secular isn’t.
Rant over.
For the moment.
This has gotten a bit of play in the US media lately, and I agree with you Sam. My rant begins with the fact that the idea of “separation of church and state” isn’t part of our constitution at all, but was first put forth in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a group of Baptists (I believe) to make the point that the gov’t shouldn’t meddle in the affairs of the church. Of course, over the years precedent has been set so that ‘separation’ is now part of law, but for a group of atheists to be offended by something they don’t believe in is just absurd, in my opinion. For me to be offended by, say, flying elephants or talking lilies would be equally absurd. No one is trying to enforce religious belief on anyone here, they are only expressing their own hopes and a sense of honour for these heroes.
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