Atheist group wins lawsuit in Kentucky

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Michael

If you recall, an atheist group sued in Kentucky over a stupid law requiring Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress “dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the commonwealth.”

They won.

State Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, a Southern Baptist minister, placed the “Almighty God” language into a homeland security bill without much notice.

Riner said Wednesday that he is unhappy with the judge’s ruling. The way he wrote the law, he said, it did not mandate that Kentuckians depend on God for their safety, it simply acknowledged that government without God cannot protect its citizens.

“The decision would have shocked and disappointed Thomas Jefferson, who penned the words that the General Assembly paraphrased in this legislation,” Riner said.

Riner doesn’t know his history too well. Jefferson would have hated this blatant attempt to join one religion over the expense of all other beliefs. He also would have rejected the very premise of stressing God’s role in securing the protection of Kentucky. The man did not believe in miracles or the general intervention of a particular, cultural god in human affairs. He was a deist who didn’t have such an incredibly small-minded notion of a creator.

Attorney General Jack Conway defended the law in court, arguing that striking down such laws risked creating a secular society that is wholly separated from religion.

Uh…that’s exactly what Jefferson and the other founding fathers intended the United States to be. I’m glad the court agreed.

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Atheist Group Sues

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Michael

Following up on Kentucky’s homeland defense by a god, it looks like an atheist group is suing to have the offensive (and unconstitutional) language removed.

“It is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I’ve ever seen,” said Edwin F. Kagin, national legal director of Parsippany, N.J.-based American Atheists Inc. The group claims the law violates both the state and U.S. constitutions.

It’s pretty obvious this group is going to win this suit, bar some issue such as legal standing, perhaps.

But Democratic state Rep. Tom Riner, a Baptist minister from Louisville, said he considers it vitally important to acknowledge God’s role in protecting Kentucky and the nation.

“No government by itself can guarantee perfect security,” Riner said. “There will always be this opposition to the acknowledgment of divine providence, but this is a foundational understanding of what America is.”

It’s almost a non-sequitor. Of course no government can guarantee perfect security. The opposition to divine providence has nothing to do with this. No mythical creature is going to guarantee anything other than a deluded populace. Bombs will still blow things up.

State Rep. David Floyd, R-Bardstown, said the preamble to the Kentucky constitution references a people “grateful to almighty God,” so he said he sees no constitutional violation in enlisting God in the state’s homeland security efforts.

This is beyond stupid. David Floyd probably also sees no clouds on a rainy day.

“God help us if we don’t,” he said.

Two hands working do more good than a thousand hands clasped together in prayer.

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