Atheist who spoke against 'In God We Trust' sent hate mail, death wishes

[rug]

The Mobile County Commission met on Thursday for a debate about the In God We Trust display. (Cassie Fambro | [e-mail])

By Cassie Fambro | [e-mail]
on August 09, 2014 at 11:02 PM, updated August 10, 2014 at 1:12 AM

"I hope you go to Hell you filthy Atheist."

That message among dozens of others awaited 21-year-old college student Amanda Scott, a member of the Mobile Atheist Community after speaking publicly against the proposed "In God We Trust" display at Mobile's Government Plaza.

Scott has spoken before the Mobile County Commission twice, once at the June 19 meeting where the display was approved and again on August 7 when she and several others proposed their own displays.

Each time, she was interviewed by the media, which in turn posted stories in their respective venues and social media.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/08/atheist_that_spoke_against_in.html

https://www.facebook.com/mobileatheistcommunity

A sample of threats at the link. There seems to be a spike in these threats lately, directed against people who take an open, public stand. Still, nothing changes unless people are willing to speak up openly.

[cbayer]

1. Shameful, but it definitely makes those that are sending these

look bad, not the target.

Bigots are terrified of change, but they are often cowards.

[Mariana]

2. It makes them look bad to you, perhaps,

but not to everyone. As a former resident of that city, I can assure you that plenty of their fellow Christians heartily agree with those sentiments.

[cbayer]

3. That's very sad. Big kudos to those that are willing to stand up for

what they believe in under these difficult circumstances.

[rurallib]

4. nor do they ever sign them so they can take credit

I have a small file of death threats at our local police station. But none of them are signed, although a few do give enough clues that they can be deciphered.

[left is right]

5. Small quibble with article title

The atheist either received the hateful e-mails and death threats or he was sent them.