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ABE LINCOLN would think of the children!

Apr 7, 2008
By .
Politics & Current Events

It is the natural state of citizens to be embarrassed by their political representatives. Moreover, regrettably, it is the natural state of many people who believe in God to be embarrassed by the politicians purporting to speak for them. Many days I figure God's got to be pretty embarrassed as well.

Case in point: Assemblywoman Monique Davis of Illinois. During a hearing of an Assembly Committee — an official proceeding of the government of the State of Illinois — here's how she addressed Rob Sherman, a witness called before the committee who had the temerity to be an atheist and to question the use of state resources for religious organizations:

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

Listen to the audio through the link.

Really, this is hideously inappropriate on any number of levels. It's despicable for a member of the state legislature to tell an atheist that he can't speak at a hearing because of his views. It's contemptible for any legislator to treat any witness that way. The notion that the mere existence of atheism is a threat to children is offensive and ridiculous. Monique Davis' freakish rant suggests an establishment of religion — a view that the state, acting through its representatives, will only accept and recognize one religious viewpoint.

Where do they find these people?

Hat tip: Volokh.

Last 5 posts by Ken

8 Comments
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8 Comments

  1. Patrick  •  Apr 7, 2008 @5:27 pm

    Fortunately one idiot does not an establishment make.

    She's a colossal idiot though.

  2. Kelric  •  Apr 7, 2008 @7:28 pm

    "Where do they find these people?"

    Illinois.

  3. plw  •  Apr 7, 2008 @7:54 pm

    "Where do they find these people?"

    On the ballot, unfortunately.

  4. RobF  •  Apr 8, 2008 @11:15 am

    Appalling. I'm a little confused though. Isn't Lincoln a god? There is actually a huge pagan temple built to him downtown here. True story.

  5. tpartier  •  Apr 8, 2008 @7:15 pm

    From the man considered Father of the Democratic Party:

    "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." –Thomas Jefferson: Bill for Religious Freedom, 1779. Papers 2:545

    "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes." –Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1813. ME 14:21

    "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." –Thomas Jefferson to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814. ME 14:119

    "The proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right." –Thomas Jefferson: Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779. ME 2:301, Papers 2:546

    "The declaration that religious faith shall be unpunished does not give immunity to criminal acts dictated by religious error." –Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1788. ME 7:98

    ———-

    Finally, we can't possibly want our children to grow up like Edison, or Tim-Berners Lee (originator of the web), or Watkins of DNA Fame, or Kurt Vonnegut, or Einstein, or the indentors of the transistor – no – those teacherous atheists have totally destroyed the quality of life.

  6. Amanda Wonders  •  Apr 8, 2008 @9:07 pm

    Our greatest enemy at the moment is ignorance and inhumanity. Assemblywoman Monique Davis's insulting tirade is a perfect example of both.

    Amanda Wonders

  7. Rosalea  •  Apr 10, 2008 @6:29 pm

    Yes….a big topic on my atheist moms group…I guess Ronald A. Lindsay, director of the Council for Secular Humanism's First Amendment Task Force, is calling for Davis to resign.

    "In informing Sherman that he had `no right' to be there merely because he was an atheist, Davis confirmed that she is not willing to be a representative of all her constituents, regardless of
    their religious beliefs," said Lindsay.

    "She is unfit to serve in her office, just as a representative who told a Jew or a Hindu to `get out of that seat' would be unfit to serve. If she does not resign, the Illinois House has an obligation to expel
    her," continued Lindsay.

  8. Ken  •  Apr 10, 2008 @6:44 pm

    Lindsay is right. But Lindsay is unlikely to be listened to, given the public opinion of atheists, regrettably.