Tennessee barely escapes bible bill.

    Tennessee got one right.. kind of.  Tennessee House votes no to overturn veto The article talks about the Tennessee House vote to overturn the veto on Tennessee's bible bill. The bill would have made the christian bible the official state book.  The vote to overturn the veto was only short 7 votes to get the 50 they would need.  The above article cites diminishing the significance of the bible as the reason for opposition. The bible lost its significance the moment we realized slavery was bad, when women weren't property, and mixed fabrics is a bad reason to kill someone.
  The bill was dead on arrival because it violates both the United States constitution and the Tennessee state constitution.  With Tennessee being a majority evangelical state, it would be safe to say that the poor reasons given were more than merely pandering. Our secular constitution separates the church from state. This separation will serve dual purpose to both protect the religious from a state that forces a belief they don't have, and to protect those with no belief from following religious dogma.
The bible is a terrible book to place in any position of reverence or relevance to anything in today's society. It promotes slavery, rape, incest, and genocide. Why do we even have people trying to make this the official....anything?    Sure you can dig through and pick the lines you happen to agree with, but that is just the secular morality of the modern era forcing you to throw out the atrocious.  With Tennessee's bathroom bill still looming, we have a long road ahead to eliminate big orange bigotry. But as an atheist in east Tennessee, I will take whatever progress I can find.

Persecution complex

Gods not dead 2 is just a further evolution of the persecution, and torture porn fetish that is Christianity. It started in the original gospels and is now being portrayed with modern technology instead of campfire fables. True GND2 is not a retelling of these ancient stories, but still seeks to frighten the masses with tales of persecution. These false narratives are drivers in the political will that is behind some of these egregious new laws popping up in the more evangelical states. Laws like the Tennessee bathroom bill, and Mississippi's Christians can shoot people bills. A staggering majority of the populations in these states are evangelical, and indubitably buy into the “if I can't be a bigot I'm being persecuted” message the proponents throw around. The truth that I wish they could see is that the world around them is moving forward and leaving Christian privilege behind.

 No group should have rights that harm other groups. The evangelical majority has held positions of privilege and power over others for far too long, and the rest of the country is fighting back to make America “one nation, indivisible ,with liberty and justice for ALL ” again. This does not mean everyone has to agree on everything just that every one enjoys the same liberties.  

Tennessee theocracy strikes again...

Tennessee fails again with their new "bathroom bill". This bill requires
transgender students to use the restrooms that match the sex on their
"original" birth certificate. Effectively, this prevents transgender students
from using restrooms in public schools.  The bill sponsored by Tennessee
theocrats highlights the need for the secular community in Tennessee to make
themselves known.  We are an ever growing number and must show politicians that
we are a viable voting block.

With the presidential elections looming over us,
it is easy to over look the importance of participation in local elections.
It is on the local level where our legislators cause the most problems, or
potentially make the most progress for our communities.  Tennessee has been
ruled by theocrats for far too long. We must organize and stand behind more
progressive local leaders. We need to support leaders more willing to stand up
for the rights of the minorities. The evangelical majority has harmed too many
and needs to be removed. We need to clear the way for Tennessee to move out of
the dark ages.

The necessity of secularism

Secularism has become a necessity in a world of such diverse beliefs as ours. These beliefs lead to irreconcilable political differences. The various sects of religion all have expressed a desire to legislate their oppressive doctrines. Secularism solves this by leaving room for all to participate, while preventing any from becoming oppressive. A truly free and open society will thrive only when all are represented, and none are privileged. The theocratic regimes in the world are being seen with a new clarity as the world is shifting toward global communities. People are communicating and connecting with people around the world in ways never before seen in all of human history. And from this global community we are slowly learning to accept people of various cultural backgrounds. In fact, a new culture is forming. An interconnected global culture shifting toward reason, acceptance, and above all equality. It is on the lips of all forward thinking humanists, who desire to make this life here and now the best life possible. After all is that not the true meaning of life, the life your lead, the decisions you make, and the people you help. These are the factors that give our lives purpose.


The laws for any society must be written with pure secularism, reason, and compassion. Any sectarian ideals that are not conducive to equality should be left off the table. Equally any anti-theistic ideals that would suppress the practice of religion should also be dismissed. Now I would like to make this point clear , there is a distinct difference from private citizens and government. Legislators and other government officials should absolutely be restricted from influencing laws on any religious or anti-religious grounds. I would also like to make clear what is meant here by anti-religious. By anti-religious, I mean against or oppressive to private citizens who wish to practice their faith traditions. Lawmakers, however, should be barred from using their faith or lack thereof as a political tool.

In America , people often fail to realize that although we hold democratic elections ,we are a republic. Public servants are chosen to represent everyone in their communities, not just the majority. The constitution outlines the protections that individuals and minority groups are given. Often miss-understood is the first amendment protections for religion. And it is important to understand, that without freedom from religion there is no freedom of religion. Many progressive Christian groups understand this. If one is to interpret it as a freedom to legislate dogma it will lead to oppression of minority religions. The atrocities of bloody Mary alone show the dangers of sectarian leaders. When they implement dogma as the law, reason goes out the window.

Love beats bigotry: supreme court rules marriage as a right

Love beats bigotry, at least according to the supreme court ruling today. The ruling was a historic moment in the gay rights movement. The divisive laws in states like Tennessee have been overruled by this decision. The evangelical Christian majority is already crying foul. It's this backwards narrative they have that by removing their ability to oppress people is somehow “oppressive”. However, let us not allow them to bring down the joy this ruling will bring to the people who want nothing more than the freedom to love. The union of two people in marriage is the ultimate expression of love they can share, and at least for now the evangelical bigotry can't stop them.   

Reminding the Religious "Right", they got their ethics "wrong"

The Christian majority is pushing back against equal rights for the LGBT community. The rhetoric is extensively negative, and they play the victim card vehemently. All we seem to hear is how granting equal rights to all, is somehow infringing upon their rights. It is a very shallow claim, considering that in Tennessee where the Southern Baptist Commission will hold their national conference there is an 81% Christian majority. The push back has been increasing over the past few years, with their anti gay sentiments getting even stronger. From the pulpits, the hatred is disguised in the “hate the sin, not the sinner” doctrine. The message is that in order avoid eternal torture LGBT youths and adults must deny who they are. The LGBT community must commit to a life of solitude and repress any feelings or longings for someone they love. This is an abject message to “preach” to anyone, and for the Christians majority to act as if Christians are the victims is abhorrent. They have overplayed their victim card while ignoring the true victims of their hate message.

The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network and WBIR report that in Tennessee alone the teen suicide rate has increased to a five year high. While not all of teen suicides are related to anti LGBT sentiments, there is a strong correlation. When a LGBT youth is told they must deny who they are to avoid eternal torture, it is emotionally damaging. Often, these youths are shunned from their communities and homes, and left with no one to turn to for help. The teenage years are an emotionally challenging time for any teen, but being shamed simply for who they love is overwhelming to some. Some hot lines and organizations exist, but a broader message of equality is being shouted down by those in the religious majority pretending to be the oppressed rather than the oppressor.

In the south, the fight for equality and LGBT acceptance is increasingly uphill. Every day it seems a new headline about anti-gay hate speech emerges. Like the report from North Carolina, where a teacher is forced to resign over a “pro-gay” children's book. The teacher introduced the book, King and King, to illustrate respect and equality. We can clearly see from the reaction this teacher received where the anti-gay sentiments and bullying originates. LGBT adults and youths are constantly being threatened with eternal torture by fire. They are given labels such as “abomination”, and “birth defects”.

The insidious response of the religious needs to stop, and we need to raise awareness

of the actual harm being done. We must support organizations helping to protect and counsel

LGBTQ youths, and work to create an atmosphere of acceptance. The LGBT community has made incredible strides forward, but the religious majorities are pushing back even harder. Please do what you can in your local communities to stop the wave of inequality trying to creep back into society.

Tennessee - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics

     The Pew Research Centers data on religion in Tennessee shows a disjoint between the number of religious non-affiliated (none's) and those willing to come out as atheist. The data found at, Tennessee - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics , shows that with 14% identifying as none, only 1% were comfortable calling themselves atheist. Tennessee is a difficult place to be openly secular. I realize that there are other places around the world where being an atheist would be more dangerous. Yet, in Tennessee being an atheist or openly secular can have some serious repercussions. Although it failed to pass, Tennessee legislators have been pushing to have the bible the official state book.( NPR  RT)  The Tennessee constitution even gives a biblical definition of marriage( Tennessee Marriage Protection Amendment) The interesting thing about this vote is that it was 81.25% for the amendment and 18.75% against. The Pew research data shows that Tennessee is also 81% Christian.
   
     The Roane county Tennessee county commission put up "in God we Trust" in the courthouse with only a single person in opposition.( Patheos) Tennessee has another bill introduced to allow counselors to discriminate based on their "sincerely" held religious beliefs.(Tennessee Equality Project) Tennessee isn't the only state with this types of laws. Yet, Tennessee appears to have only evangelical protestants controlling the government.  Tennessee also allows creationism in public schools under the guise of "teach the controversy". Included in Tennessee's "teach the controversy" law, is a legal blanket to teach climate change denial. Tennessee law makers need to "evolve" and teach factual science and leave the pseudoscience up to the churches.