I’ve been living in this area for almost 20 years and I rarely say I’m an Atheist in public. After observing that the City of Lake Elsinore can’t even erect a memorial for veterans without adding some sort of religious symbol enhances my paranoia.
I can understand it when an average person speaks based on misinformation, but I expect more from a committee designated to represent all our neighbors when making a decision like this.
Here are the facts according to Defense Manpower Data Center, which works under the Office of the Secretary of Defense: Over 26 percent of military personnel indicate they are not religious, but add to that over 7,000 say they are Atheists, over 3,500 follow Islam, over 5,300 are Buddhists, over 1,300 are Agnostic, 771 are Hindu, 522 Unitarian Universalists, and almost 2,500 belong to WICCA (Witchcraft).
One of my friends, who is a Lake Elsinore resident, a Muslim, and a five-year veteran of the Navy, is petrified to speak about being Muslim in his own city. A plan like the veterans monument subtly tells people like my friend and me that we are not welcome in the city.
I also spent three years in the Army, where I met President Clinton after a successful deployment as a U.N. Peacekeeper in the Former Yugoslavia. I later joined the National Guard for an additional five years when I finished my contract in the Army.
Nobody is saying religions cannot exist. I would fight for the right for any religion to exist even though I’m an Atheist. I firmly believe in the right of religious freedom in America, but I also don’t understand why, if the city truly wants to honor veterans, there is a need to add any religious emblem?
Am I going to sue the city because I disagree? No. But I ask the City Council, do you want to perpetuate the feeling that my Muslim friend and I have about the City of Lake Elsinore? I served this country with pride, and I’d do it again, but that monument doesn’t represent me. I never kneeled in front of a cross and prayed after a mission.
You place your hate and vindictiveness as your number one priority, and are willing to lie, you are also evil. Jesus will deny you, and I doubt God is ROTFLHAO, instead God is sad and dissapointed in you.
I tried to convince Mr Weber to report her for stalking him the tape is the proof, and at least have her fined for posting carbon paper on telephone polls. He said he was to busy to do it at this time, but he was very nice when I spoke to him.
The cross doesn't represent people who don't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our soldiers, who put their life on the line for our freedom, have a right to be represented in a way they would have wanted, not in a way you want. The memorial is not about you at all.
An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up conversation with your fellow passenger." The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?" "Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly. "OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?" The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know s--t?" And then she went back to reading her book. Nuff said..........
You need to understand what you're reading instead of taking the words out of context for your own gain.
transitive verb 1 a: to establish or apply by authority <impose a tax> <impose new restrictions> <impose penalties> b: to establish or bring about as if by force <those limits imposed by our own inadequacies — C. H. Plimpton> 2 a: place, set b: to arrange (as pages) in the proper order for printing 3: pass off <impose fake antiques on the public> 4: to force into the company or on the attention of another <impose oneself on others> intransitive verb : to take unwarranted advantage of something <imposed on his good nature> How does the image of a cross force/impose religion on you? I'm curious because proselytizing would be so much easier if displaying a cross was all that it took.
transitive verb 1 a: to establish or apply by authority <impose a tax> <impose new restrictions> <impose penalties> It uses tax dollars imposing a Christian symbol upon the non-Christian veterans and other non-Christian citizens.
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing. Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem. Th Jefferson Jan. 1. 1802.
Also, want to add that I am not a random outsider posting on a local topic. I live in Pasadena, CA and my children spend many weekends in the Lake Elsinore/Perris area as their grandparents live down there.