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.”
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.
Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: American Atheists of Parsippany, david floyd, Edwin F. Kagin, Jack Conway, kentucky, Louisville, Thomas Jefferson, Tom Riner | Leave a comment »
For the Sake of Science 