I have to respond to John Carlson’s Nov. 16 opinion column, “Bigots or Civil Libertarians.”
As is too often the case, with Mr. Carlson, he feels the need to portray anyone who disagrees with his opinions as “the other side of the political spectrum”. His argument that the bus ads that state “Yes Virginia there is no God” paid for by the Freedom from Religion Foundation are, rather than about the separation of Church and State as the Foundation claims, are actually about “targeting children”. He goes on to state that if the ads read “Yes Virginia … Homosexuality is wrong” the people of Seattle would be up in arms.
He goes on to claim that “… so long as the intolerance comes from the other side of the spectrum and is cloaked, however porously, in politically correct dogma about separation of church and state the bigotry is essentially shrugged off.”
Wow I didn’t know all atheists were liberals, I didn’t know that the separation of church and state was solely a liberal belief, and I didn’t know that raising your voice against something offensive was the single right of the left.
Carlson claims that Seattle folks essentially shrugged off the offensive “No God” statement. Is it possible that maybe they find the words unnecessary to acknowledge?
Someone saying there is no god falls well within the purview of free speech and most people don’t see it as a threat against them. If someone chooses to believe there is no god, that is their right. It effects my beliefs not one iota and if I am a good parent I certainly can alleviate any concerns my child may have regarding that statement.
However, while the statement “yes Virginia homosexuality is wrong” also constitutes free speech it is also a direct attack on a specific group of people who are constantly under attack in this country. In this situation we have allowed beliefs to perpetuate a current and offensive bigotry, one that, for some, validates their belief it is OK to judge others lives.
I think that is a huge distinction from the statement “….there is no God.”
Mr. Carlson often seems to find it necessary to portray all social disagreements as us versus them. He might be surprised to find that all individuals that consider themselves conservative are not religious and all liberals are not atheists.
I believe that the people of Seattle recognize that the country has nothing to fear from groups who claim there is “no god” while we do fear that religious fundamentalism, not only from other countries but also from within our own country, threaten our freedoms more dramatically.
Jeffrey Masnari, Bellevue
