atheists going too far?

[peggy]

I wonder what the response would have been if the street sign had been somehow blatantly atheist - or pagan - or muslim- but honored the firefighters as well?

That would be on Fox too! But I'm guessing the outrage would be on the other foot, so to speak.

[heydude]

I"m an atheist and could care less what someone calls a street. haha.

[Spartana]

I wonder what the response would have been if the street sign had been somehow blatantly atheist - or pagan - or muslim- but honored the firefighters as well?

Me too. This reminds me of a recent Supreme Court case in Texas where a high school Valedictorian won the right to thank God & Jesus as her Lord and Savior in her commencement speeech as well as say a prayer. The Court ruled that as a private citizen she wouldn't be violating Church/State seperation. The school members, school board and most of the state of Texas :-) including the Attorney General - all of which strongly supported her right to pray in her speech - were very happy about this. However I wonder just how happy and supportive of this they would have been if she were a Muslim thanking Allah, A Hindu thanking Ganneesh, or even a Satanist thanking Lucifer. Now THAT would have been a commencement speech. "I wish to thank the Dark Lord for helping me get A's in Algebra". !! Freedom of religion has to cover and be accepting of ALL religions.
P.S. Personally I think the street sign is harmless and a bad target for that group of Athesists to focus on.

[Gregg]

Me too. This reminds me of a recent Supreme Court case in Texas where a high school Valedictorian won the right to thank God in her commencement speeech. The Court ruled that as a private citizen she wouldn't be violating Church/State seperation. The school members, school board and most of the state of Texas :-) where very happy about this. However I wonder just how happy and supportive of this they would have been if she were a Muslim thanking Allah, A Hindu thanking Ganneesh, or even a Satanist thanking Lucifer. Now THAT would have been a commencement speech. "I wish to thank the Dark Lord for helping me get A's in Algebra".

That WOULD have been interesting! It almost makes me want to try it just for fun (except that I'm a million light years from my HS graduation and was almost that far from the valedictorian's seat when I was there).

[catherine]

I, personally, would have no problem if a Muslim speaker thanked Allah, or a Hindu thanked Ganesh. In my mind it's like one person calling a vehicle with an engine a motorcar and another person calling it an automobile.

When I was a director of communications for a public school system in NJ I was in charge of the school calendar. Because my area is SO incredibly diverse, I thought it would be fun to put all the different religious holidays on the calendar--not just Christmas and Yom Kippur (of course, we were already not allowed to call it Christmas Break--it had to be Winter Break. However, Yom Kippur didn't have to be That Holiday in the Fall that Always Has A Different Date).

Well, one person complained about one thing and another complained about another and so the Board of Ed told me not to repeat that in the calendar for the next year.

With 16% of the US "unaffiliated" and 84% who subscribe to some faith, I don't understand why we have to exert so much energy stomping out references that are so important to so many. Permitting people freedom of religion doesn't have to mean denial of the religious and cultural references of the majority by the government that serves them. My two cents.

[Alan]

With 16% of the US "unaffiliated" and 84% who subscribe to some faith, I don't understand why we have to exert so much energy stomping out references that are so important to so many. Permitting people freedom of religion doesn't have to mean denial of the religious and cultural references of the majority by the government that serves them. My two cents.

It may just be your two cents, but the wisdom displayed is priceless!

[Spartana]

I, personally, would have no problem if a Muslim speaker thanked Allah, or a Hindu thanked Ganesh. In my mind it's like one person calling a vehicle with an engine a motorcar and another person calling it an automobile.

As a staunch supporter of sepereation of chursch and state, I would have a problem with ANy religious speech used in a government tax payer supported venue. I think it is disrespectful to all beliefs to assume that a prayer or thanks to a deity other than their own would be the same for everyone. A generic "prayer" which may not have all the aspects of a person's beliefs and traditions of prayer sort of sullies religion overall. I would think that the stronger one's beliefs are, the more they would want that seperation to keep their religious traditions pure.

[kib]

Fallen Heroes Way? Respectfully vanilla.

I have to agree with everyone else here, making an issue of this is a media stunt. And I'd guess it never even occurred to the people who came up with the name that it might be at all objectionable. I'm agnostic and even if I were on the naming committee, I'm not sure this would have raised a red flag with me, I'd probably be thinking, "bleh, you people have no imagination", not, "breach of separation!!!" As a devil's advocate stretch, making people aware of when they're stepping on toes is not necessarily a bad thing, but this is the wrong venue.

[puglogic]

I appreciate all the replys, even the ones I dont agree with. Something as simple as a street sign points out the feelings about anyone expressing anything concerning God.

On the contrary, I think the responses here have proven that there's no conspiracy against religion.
But on every issue - every kind of issue -- there will always be fringe groups protesting against one thing or another. Painting all people with the same brush is unfair. Which is why I dislike Fox News. Look at the facts, and then look at your conclusion: FACT: One small fringe group protested a sign that they feel has religious connotation. YOUR CONCLUSION: Everybody hates any discussion of God. That's what Fox News (and for that matter, Huffington Post) does......encourages people like you to think that everything is black or white, good or evil, all or nothing.

[Gregg]

I can not make the connection that a high school student's expression of faith in a speech constitutes state support of his/her religion. It is simply an expression of gratitude and support from someone who accomplished a great feat. None of us accomplish anything worth doing alone. If s/he thanked parents, teachers, study partners, etc. no one would think anything of it. What if a minister was helpful? What if this person truly felt the hand of God guiding them to do great things? Some will scoff at that notion, but none has the right to deny that feeling in someone else. I can see an argument against any religious figure leading a prayer at a publicly funded event like a graduation, but to tell an individual who they can or can't thank in their speech would be diving head first down that slippery slope.