Sunday, December 16, 2007

House Resolution 847 Inciting Violence

I came across a post showing a press release from the Council for Secular Humanism denouncing HR 847 - a resolution "Recognizing the Importance of Christmas and the Christian Faith".

The press release included the statement:

Just days ago in the midst of the Jewish Festival of Lights, four Jewish men in New York City were attacked on the subway for replying to a group of ten people who wished them a "Merry Christmas" with a similar greeting: "Happy Hanukkah." For this, these men were first insulted, then beaten. It was a Muslim man who came to their physical defense. The actions of the Congress, by passing the resolution and thus expressing preference to the Christian faith over all the others represented by the diverse population of these United States, encourages this sort of behavior.


Sorry, but this is a non-starter.

This is as nonsensical as saying that the God Delusion (or my own Atheist Ethicist blog) is responsible for the Colorado shootings, or the next act of violence against Christians by an atheist that might some day occur).

It's an attempt to spread the blame beyond those who are actually guilty.

No . . . the people responsible for beating those four Jews are the people who beat the four Jews and any who explicitly endorse or cheer that type of violence. Blaming others who are not guilty only shows that "secular humanists" can suffer from the same sorts of moral blindness that some theists also suffer from.

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