Mayor Forbids Atheist Booth, Comparing Group To KKK And Nazis
Source: Think Progress
The city of Warren, Michigan, and its Republican mayor Jim Fouts are facing a federal lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups after Fouts rejected a local mans request to set up an atheist station in the city hall atrium, and equated the atheist cause to the Nazi party and the Ku Klux Klan.
Since 2009, Fouts has permitted prayer stations run by a local church group that distributes religious pamphlets, discusses religious beliefs with passersby, and prays with visitors to the city hall. When Freedom From Religion member Douglas Marshall submitted an application to city officials in April to set up a similar, yet secular, station for two days each week, it took Fouts less than two weeks to reject his proposal. When interviewed by the Associated Press, Fouts defended his decision, saying:
The city has certain values that I dont believe are in general agreement with having an atheist station, nor in general agreement with having a Nazi station or Ku Klux Klan station. I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here.
Marshalls aim in reserving the space at city hall was to offer information and encourage discussion from a non-religious perspective counter to the prayer station run by the local church group. But in his rejection letter, Fouts wrote that the intent of Marshalls station was to deprive all organized religions of their constitutional freedoms or at least discourage the practice of religion and said the city of Warren cannot allow this to happen. He said that while the prayer station helps citizens seek solace or guidance, Marshalls station wont contribute to community values or helping an individual out.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/07/25/3464169/aclu-sues-gop-mayor-who-compared-atheist-group-to-nazis-and-kkk/
Warpy
(111,282 posts)it's no wonder all you ever see is shit.
Fouts is the worst sort of right wing zealot. I do hope this bites him back in November, but I don't know what his district is like.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)...I will use that!
Warpy
(111,282 posts)so use it well and wisely.
MagnumUK
(37 posts)geretogo
(1,281 posts)americannightmare
(322 posts)Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)fasttense
(17,301 posts)and sings Amazing Grace at its meetings regularly.
Yup, that's why they went for burning crosses on the lawns of people they hated.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)From reading his Wikipedia page he seems to have a real attitude problem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Fouts
bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)Aside from all the other idiocy in the Mayor's position, why is a "prayer station" permitted in City Hall?
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)It's exactly what he is doing to atheists as a religious person.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)of religion. I think the mayor is treading unsound ground. I don't think he knows what he is doing. He is violating First Amendment rights.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)If " I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here." is the justification for his decision; do the republicans have to leave now?
riversedge
(70,246 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Definition of many religions...
"I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here."
Mayor, you just banned any group that claims they are the one, true, religion. That is, unless you are a hypocritical asshole...
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)Oh, the irony.
And we all know that Christians have NEVER been "disparaging of another group".
daleo
(21,317 posts)Which is what church groups routinely do to non-members, especially atheists.
"The city has certain values that I dont believe are in general agreement with having an atheist station, nor in general agreement with having a Nazi station or Ku Klux Klan station. I cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group to have a station here."
shenmue
(38,506 posts)I'm not an atheist, but that guy sucks.