Recently North Carolina has been in a big debacle over their recent election of an atheist to a public office. It turns out, there are SIX OTHER states which prohibit atheists from holding office. WTF. Most of them are in the South. The states are: Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Maryland.These laws are outdated and illegal. Our United States Constitution overrules any of these state’s religious requirements. For more information, watch this video I found.

At least we have atheists getting elected though. It’s a positive step towards a less biased and more accepting future.

According to the WashingtonPost, a newly elected atheist councilman’s political opponents are already campaigning to have him removed from office. Their reasoning is that he is an evil, godless commie of course. The problem is North Carolina’s Constitution is on the side of the opposition.

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

Sure the United States Constitution will back up the councilman, but there will be a fight through the court system wasting both time and money.

“The question of whether or not God exists is not particularly interesting to me and it’s certainly not relevant to public office,” the recently elected 59-year-old said.

Isn’t that the truth. Who gives a fuck? Just because somebody doesn’t have faith in your God does not make them incompetent. I wouldn’t vote for somebody just because they are an atheist, that is just stupid. His heinous act was being sworn in without his hand on the Bible. Oooohhhhh. I’m sure he can’t be a good leader. Bullshit.

Imagine if a state had the requirement that all who ran must be Catholics. Wouldn’t that be a foolish requirement and one that is against the very idea of American democracy? This seems to be a similar situation to that. What would be so wrong with an atheist councilman? I imagine the other side is pissed that they lost. Now they are making a feeble attempt to reverse it by grasping at straws.

“I mean there are state laws against spitting in the street,” he said. “Why spend the time?”

But the battle is important to Silverman, who says there are scores of other atheist politicians afraid to “come out of the closet.” He cited U.S. Rep. Pete Stark of California, the first and only congressman to publicly acknowledge he doesn’t believe in God.

“We’re trying to change our culture to the point where it’s not political suicide,” Silverman said.

This little excerpt is exactly what I agree with. In America it is practically political suicide to deny God. Stupid shit like the law in North Carolina make this even more difficult. Plain and simply, it violates our Constitution. I see absolutely no chance of them removing him from office with this attempt. A lawsuit will simply find this is a discriminatory law and it will get removed from the books. Doesn’t stupidity like this piss you off?

When I logged onto to Twitter this afternoon I saw the site was all in red and an announcement that today was World AIDS day. I think everybody should take at least one moment today to reflect on this. AIDS is a disease that we will one day cure. It is NOT a curse sent down by God, nor is swine flu. AIDS is a virus that does not discriminate based on age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, social status or wealth. Currently there are 33 MILLION people who have AIDS, with most of them living in Subsaharan Africa. Just because we don’t hear about this disease on the news everyday does not make it any less scary or dangerous. People who are living with it face discrimination, look at the new Uganda policies. I imagine most of this discrimination is from bad information or just a plain lack of education. Google has a whole page setup with links Learn, Act, and Give. Or visit worldaidsday.org. If you are on Twitter, be sure to type in #red to show support. Atleast take a second to think about this situation. 33 Million people is quite a large number.

He was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso.

When I saw this story, all I said was holy shit. I was in shock not only at the crime committed, but by the way the police investigator completely condoned it.

Over the weekend the brutalized body of gay teen George Steven Lopez Mercado was found by the side of a road in Puerto Rico. The police investigator suggested that he deserved what he got because of the “type of lifestyle” he was leading.

Excuse me, but what the FUCK? This is not just assuming that’s what he meant, look at exactly what was said:

The police agent that is handling this case said on a public televised statement that ‘people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen’.

So basically if you are gay, you deserve to be burned, decapitated and dismembered. It is just an inherit risk you have to accept with this so called “life choice”. Bullshit. They need to remove this man from the case, NOW. I cannot see any way for true justice to be served with this bigot running the investigation. The crime is an atrocity, but if the culprit gets away with it another atrocity has been committed. I really wish people could just get along. Differences do not make others wrong, they should unite us as humans. No lesbian, gay, transsexual, bisexual person can be called any less of a human than any other. Please spread this story, I am absolutely appalled.

When I was younger, I used to be part of the Scouts. It was fun and I learned a lot of things about camping and all that. I of course said the Oath which had to do with duty to God. Actually God comes first before your  country and yourself. That sounds like something a suicide bomber lives by, but I digress. I ended up quitting before I could be kicked out for being an atheist. This organization claims to teach things like respect, honor and morals. Yet they forbid any atheists, gays, lesbians, transgender,or bisexual people from joining. That makes no sense at all. Here is a quote from their OWN WEBSITE:

Q.  May an individual who openly declares himself to be a homosexual be a volunteer Scout leader?

A.  No.  The Boy Scouts of America is a private membership organization; leadership in Boy Scouting is a privilege and not a right.  Boy Scouts believes that homosexual conduct is not compatible with the aims and purposes of Scouting and that a known or avowed homosexual does not present a desirable role model for the youth in the Scouting program.  Boy Scouts will continue to select only those who meet Boy Scout standards and qualifications for membership.

Q.  What allows the Boy Scouts of America to exclude atheists and agnostics from membership?

A.  The Boy Scouts of America is a private membership group. As with any private organization, Boy Scouts’ retains the constitutional right to establish and maintain standards for membership. Anyone who supports the values of Scouting and meets these standards is welcome to join the organization.

Okay I will agree they are a private organization. Except for the fact they recieve PUBLIC tax funding! They hold meetings on government land for next to nothing. You can’t be both. If you want to be a private organization, you can’t get any government help. And this whole wave of discrimination is actualy a new thing. Only around the 1990s or so did this really begin in full force. The Mormon church actually has a huge vested interest in scouts. I read they have upwards of 400,000 scouts they sponsor. Some of this bigotry comes from the Mormon values. I am not saying that all your local scout places practice all the rules either, I’m sure some of the troops out there stand by the original merits of scouting and would let an atheist child join. It’s sad that such a great organization is marred by such evil. I think its impossible to be teaching “good” morals while at the EXACT SAME TIME teaching children bigotry and hatred are okay.