Friday, February 26, 2010

Them There Atheists Are Haters

Some conservative commentators are accusing the Obama administration of inviting "hate groups" into the White House by holding a meeting with a coalition of secularist and atheist groups.

Officials from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments met Friday with representatives of the Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella group that includes American Atheists and the Council for Secular Humanism. The coalition called it "the first time in history a presidential administration has met for a policy briefing with the American nontheist community."

President Barack Obama was not scheduled to make an appearance at the meeting, nor were any policy changes to be announced, McClatchy news service reported.

But that didn't stop a number of religious conservative groups from attacking the meeting as a sign the president has an anti-religious agenda.

"It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," said Council Nedd, chairman of the religious advocacy group In God We Trust.

You see, just because a group doesn't believe in a mythical sky Daddy they get called names like hate-filled. But many of these religious mother fuckers are more hate-filled than any atheist or humanist I've ever met.

But I guess it is OK for the White House to consult "religious leaders" before a speech to Muslims... or for the president to meet the Dalai Lama... or to meet with prominent religious leaders on torture... or to spend over an hour talking and praying with a group of 20-some leaders of America's diverse religious communities...

No, meeting with the deluded is fine... just don't meet (and not even the president, only members of his staff) with the reasonable.

It makes me angry (if not exactly hate-filled).