American Atheists

On the day of his swearing-in, Alabama Republican Gov. Robert J. Bentley raised concern among the state's non-Christians by declaring that people who had not accepted Jesus Christ were not his brothers and sisters. Speaking to a large crowd Monday at Montgomery's Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church ? where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached ? Bentley said that "if you're a Christian and you're saved ... it makes you and me brother and sister," according to a report in the Birmingham News.

Visitors came to Balboa Park on Monday afternoon to see the traditional Nativity scene that was vandalized with blue spray paint, but they were surprised to see that everything was restored and freshly painted. "It looked better than it did before," said Barbara Johnson of Lakeside. "It's wonderful how people came out to help, especially the artists." Darcy Konold of San Diego said if she had heard about the vandalism on the creche earlier she would have helped with the restoration.

Just because many people are deserting the ranks of organized religion doesn't mean they're signing up with organized atheism--a trend the militant unbelievers hope to change. A widely discussed recent book, "The Culture of Disbelief" by Stephen Carter, says U.S. society largely ignores religion, and studies show that the news and entertainment media give short shrift to spiritual matters today.

The San Diego chapter of American Atheists says it will sue the city over a recent city attorney's opinion that crosses on Mt. Soledad, in La Jolla, and in Presidio Park, near Old Town, do not violate the Constitution's separation of church and state. "A legal opinion is just that . . . the city attorney's legal opinion," said Stephen Thorne, director of the local chapter of American Atheists. "The key thing is the city of San Diego doesn't have an exemption from the Constitution."

Eleven people have entered the race to fill the 76th Assembly District seat held by the late Bill Bradley. The candidates for the seat, which covers northeastern San Diego County and parts of southern Riverside County, include a Poway City Council member, a San Diego police lieutenant and a legislative aide to state Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside). The list also includes a well-known atheist activist and a retiree who is involved in the controversy over the name of the new San Diego Convention Center.

For years, it has been a staple of the White House calendar. On the first Thursday of May, dedicated as the National Day of Prayer, President George W. Bush hosted an ecumenical service in the East Room. (The event is different from the National Prayer Breakfast, held elsewhere in Washington on the first Thursday of February.) President Obama opted not to have a service in the White House this year.

Voters in parts of San Diego County will decide two special elections today, one a state Senate race that has attracted nationwide attention and the other for a seat on the Escondido Union High School District board of trustees. Polls in the 39th state Senate District and Escondido will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Persons uncertain of where to vote or who experience other Election Day problems can contact the voter registrar's office at 565-5800 for assistance.

Re "Cheering for Jesus," Opinion, Oct. 23 When asked about the Texas public school cheerleaders who placed Bible verses on large banners displayed at school functions, Gov. Rick Perry averred that students could do likewise with non-Christian religious passages. His response raises other questions. How about students who don't believe in God? Could they display passages, say, from the Church of Satan's scriptures or highlight inspirational quotations from American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair, whose 1962 lawsuit famously squelched mandatory prayers in public schools?

Decrying the erosion of the country's moral standards, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman made his most emphatic call to date Tuesday for Americans to embrace faith-driven values and power a "spiritual awakening" in society. "Our nation is only as strong as our values, and right now, despite our material abundance, there is a persistent sense, which I share, of unease about our moral future," the Democratic vice presidential candidate told a crowd of 600 at the University of Notre Dame.

As the largest organization of American atheists, agnostics and other religious skeptics gathered in Los Angeles this weekend, there was a predictable amount of scorn heaped on Christians, Jews and Muslims. Religion was dismissed as "nonsense" and "superstition"; those who believe were described variously as "ignorant" and "stupid. " Fellow nonbelievers were not spared, however, as lines were drawn between "new atheists," who encourage open confrontation with the devout, and "accommodationists," who prefer a subtler, more tactical approach.