Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion

Robertson: Atheists Want People To Be Miserable And To Steal “Your Holiday”

We have previously discussed the war on atheists and agnostics that seems to be accelerating with the rise of people claiming to have no religious affiliation or belief in God in the United States, according to recent polls. There is a steady stream of statements from the national and international campaign by leaders against atheists, who appear to be fair game for hateful, ill-informed rhetoric. While you may have seen this already, Pat Robertson pushed this trend to a new low: telling his many viewers that atheists want to everyone to be miserable because they are miserable. They therefore what “to steal your holiday [Christmas] away from you.”

Here are his words of wisdom:

It’s, well, Christmas all over again. The Grinch is trying to steal our holiday. It’s been so beautiful, the nation comes together, we sing Christmas carols, we give gifts to each other, we have lighted trees, and it’s just a beautiful thing. Atheists don’t like our happiness, they don’t want you to be happy, they want you to be miserable. They’re miserable, so they want you to be miserable. So they want to steal your holiday away from you.

There is obviously a rising concern among political and religious leaders that faith is declining in society. Thus, even though the non-religous is now a majority in places like England, politicians are ratcheting up such rhetoric. Robertson’s rhetoric is particularly raw and inciteful, as are comparisons of atheists and agnostics to terrorists. It is an ironic twist. The effort to leave religious expressions to each citizen (as opposed to religious displays by the government) is viewed as a war on religion. There remains an insistence that the government affirm religious — and generally Christian — values and objects of faith. Robertson’s comments not only reflect a surprising insecurity as to the place of religion but an open hostility to those who want their government to be secular-based.

146 thoughts on “Robertson: Atheists Want People To Be Miserable And To Steal “Your Holiday””

  1. http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/14697-a-year-in-jail-for-not-believing-in-god

    In Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s Homeland Security Officers to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God-or risk 12 months in prison.

    n Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God-or risk 12 months in prison. The law and its sponsor, state representative Tom Riner, have been the subject of controversy since the law first surfaced in 2006, yet the Kentucky state Supreme Court has refused to review its constitutionality, despite clearly violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.

    “This is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I’ve ever seen,” said Edwin Kagin, the legal director of American Atheists’, a national organization focused defending the civil rights of atheists. American Atheists’ launched a lawsuit against the law in 2008, which won at the Circuit Court level, but was then overturned by the state Court of Appeals.

    The law states, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God as set forth in the public speeches and proclamations of American Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln’s historic March 30, 1863, presidential proclamation urging Americans to pray and fast during one of the most dangerous hours in American history, and the text of President John F. Kennedy’s November 22, 1963, national security speech which concluded: “For as was written long ago: ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'”

    The law requires that plaques celebrating the power of the Almighty God be installed outside the state Homeland Security building-and carries a criminal penalty of up to 12 months in jail if one fails to comply. The plaque’s inscription begins with the assertion, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.” Tom Riner, a Baptist minister and the long-time Democratic state representative, sponsored the law.

    “The church-state divide is not a line I see,” Riner told The New York Times shortly after the law was first challenged in court. “What I do see is an attempt to separate America from its history of perceiving itself as a nation under God.”

    A practicing Baptist minister, Riner is solely devoted to his faith-even when that directly conflicts with his job as state representative. He has often been at the center of unconstitutional and expensive controversies throughout his 26 years in office. In the last ten years, for example, the state has spent more than $160,000 in string of losing court cases against the American Civil Liberties Union over the state’s decision to display the Ten Commandments in public buildings, legislation that Riner sponsored.

    Although the Kentucky courts have yet to strike down the law, some judges have been explicit about its unconstitutionality.

    “Kentucky’s law is a legislative finding, avowed as factual, that the Commonwealth is not safe absent reliance on Almighty God. Further, (the law) places a duty upon the executive director to publicize the assertion while stressing to the public that dependence upon Almighty God is vital, or necessary, in assuring the safety of the commonwealth,” wrote Judge Ann O’Malley Shake in Court of Appeals’ dissenting opinion.

    This rational was in the minority, however, as the Court of Appeals reversed the lower courts’ decision that the law was unconstitutional.

    Last week, American Atheists submitted a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law.

    Riner, meanwhile, continues to abuse the state representative’s office, turning it into a pulpit for his God-fearing message.

    “The safety and security of the state cannot be achieved apart from recognizing our dependence upon God,” Riner recently told Fox News.

    “We believe dependence on God is essential. … What the founding fathers stated and what every president has stated, is their reliance and recognition of Almighty God, that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

  2. PatricParamedic:
    I too am still waiting on those pagans to come for me. From what I have heard, they have a lot more fun than Pat Robertson and his crowd.

  4. Some quotes from Pat Robertson:

    ”Planned Parenthood is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism – everything that the Bible condemns.”

    “Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.”

    “(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

    “I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that’s the way it is, period.”

  5. Balderdash!!! I was raised Jewish, now atheist, and celebrate my own form of Christmas. Why? Because I like the lights, the celebratory feeling, and I think more of others at this time. I celebrate what I choose, and I let others do the same. Why can’t Robertson?

  8. To paraphrase Martin Niemöller:

    First the christians hated the jews
    but hate for the jews became unacceptable.

    Then the christians hated the blacks
    but hate for the blacks became unacceptable.

    Then the christians hated the gays
    but hate for the gays became unacceptable.

    Then the christians hated the atheists
    because they were the only ones left to hate.

    Then atheism became acceptable,
    and christians had no more reason to exist.

  9. “That’s why Regent University is so terrifically important… because you don’t want your child to be brainwashed by these radicals…” -Pat Roberson

    (Thanks for the “Nazi Moment” with Pat, Elaine M., as well as the other videos.)

    At ~2:00:

    http://youtu.be/FUbvc5U-H-I

  14. Simply stunning, Elaine.

    Just when I think I can’t imagine a better display of Pat’s madness, something I’ve missed pops up.

  18. Mike S – I’d make a joke about Chanukah gelt but its obvious. You are dead on in your observation. In what way does saying “Happy Holidays” suck joy out of Christmas? How does having the City not sponsor one religion over others (or none) detract from the celebration someone wants to have? Where is to injury?

    You want to see a joyless Christmas? Examine the folks who spend the season trying to outdo each other, who spend too much time and too much money and too much emotional energy seeking something they can’t really define or trinkets that are forgotten long before Easter. Wal-Mart, Target and ‘Madison Ave.’ have done more to suck the joy out of Christmas than all the demons Patty frets about could ever hope to remove.

    Also, add Patty’s stoking of anger and resentment as a drain on holiday joy. People who listen to him take time away from their putative celebrating to soak in hate, worry and frustration over a non-existent threat

  20. Pats just jealous …. As an atheist can celebrate every day if they choose….

    1. Often, when Pat’s on TV beeging the ‘SUCKERS’ for their money….. I’d like to send him a bag full of Horse Manure……… Now that would make me happy! But don’t anyone do it….. it’s against the law……….. even though he deserves it

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